Scotland the brave

Well, Scotland is where scotch comes from so it makes sense that there is quite a bit of it around. There are whisky bars everywhere all inviting you to differentiate between dozens of types. I have not particularly noticed drunk people or enormous amounts of drinking, but I am told that it is happening right under my nose all the time. Having just learnt the difference between a single malt and a blended whiskey, I am seriously out of my depth. Apparently though Scotland is one of the most alcoholic countries on the planet and all attempts to change this are simply laughed at.

There are tartan stores up and down the high street all the way from the base of Arthur's Seat to the Edinburgh Castle, but I have not seen many Scottish people decked out in it. In fact I have only seen one person actually weaaring a kilt and nobody wearing those really bad tam-o-shanter hats. Still William Wallace and Robert the Bruce loom large and the point of every story from Scottish history seems to be that the English are really nasty. The Scottish seem to enjoy telling stories of how badly treated they have been, and the whole thing reminds me of home.

When a bunch of Scotts stole the precious Scottish Stone of Destiny from Westminster in the 1950s, Scotland didn't quite know what to do with it so they gave it back and waited for Tony Blair to come along and officially give it to them. It is a bit like Australians who finally got the chance and then don't vote to become a republic.