Who says a science degree won't get you anywhere?Well I've almost shaken my cold, which imposed a bit of a restraint upon my activities the last week. I took it pretty easy until Friday, when I figured I was ready for a gentle run - I'm now officially in training for the Balmoral 10km race on 28 April, as Sara and I signed up during the week. Apparently I'm meant to wear a kilt to be in the running for the first across the line in a kilt prize. We'll see.
Friday night was a big farewell dinner (50 people) for a few upcoming departures from the Macaulay, including Alan Duncan, who I've known since he spent 6 months in Canberra quite a few years ago. even though the dinner marked several redundancies, it was heartening to see such a happy and friendly bunch of work mates all together.
When Sunday came around, it was time to venture forth from the Macaulay again, so I took a trip with Richard and Russel to Forfar, 1hr south of Aberdeen to watch Rusty's team, Greenock Morton, take on Forfar. It was not an even match. I guess one clue would have been the fact that although the game was in Forfar and Morton fans had travelled 3hr
s or so from beyond Glasgow, there was not a Forfar fan to be seen. In the end Morton won 4-0, but 10-0 would have been fair enough. At any rate, a bit of local culture never hurt anyone and I had a good afternoon of it. I even scoffed a 'famous Forfar bridie', which is something like a cross between a pie and a pastie, filled with something that tastes a bit like haggis, but which I presume is similar to the contents of most pies you'd buy at the footy in Australia (lips and arseholes). I'm not sure if that's better or worse than supermarket haggises, of which the first listed ingrediant is lung. We had a quiet beer after the game, followed by a visit to a chippie that offer such delights as scampie (my choice), "mock chop" (?!?) and pizza (batter 30p extra). To top it off, we saw a pair of peregrines roosting on the church tower in Forfar's main street. A fine day, and incidentally the days now run until about 8 in the evening, which is a big improvement.
s or so from beyond Glasgow, there was not a Forfar fan to be seen. In the end Morton won 4-0, but 10-0 would have been fair enough. At any rate, a bit of local culture never hurt anyone and I had a good afternoon of it. I even scoffed a 'famous Forfar bridie', which is something like a cross between a pie and a pastie, filled with something that tastes a bit like haggis, but which I presume is similar to the contents of most pies you'd buy at the footy in Australia (lips and arseholes). I'm not sure if that's better or worse than supermarket haggises, of which the first listed ingrediant is lung. We had a quiet beer after the game, followed by a visit to a chippie that offer such delights as scampie (my choice), "mock chop" (?!?) and pizza (batter 30p extra). To top it off, we saw a pair of peregrines roosting on the church tower in Forfar's main street. A fine day, and incidentally the days now run until about 8 in the evening, which is a big improvement.That's it. I'll try to be more exciting next week.
2 comments:
30p extra for batter on your pizza...does that mean they batter the entire pizza and then deep fry it? Sounds terrible, but they seem to deep fry everything up north, so highly likely. I remember when I was in Wales a few years ago the item on the fish and chip menu we though was most strange was deep fried faggots. Definiately a different meaning in Wales to Australia...
Yeah it probably has a different meaning, at least assuming that Little Britain paints a honest depiction of society in small Welsh villages.
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