Bobby, Dobby, and a whole lotta lobby - a Scotland Tour (UPDATED 12/9)

[londontime]

Pre-amble

Firstly, welcome to my trip report. I am an arch procrastinator outside of work, so I will humbly apologise in a few days time for not keeping up with this endeavour. Probably. Seriously. I'm legendary at it. I got a birthmark at age 3.

But, God loves a tryer, so let's at least attempt to get to the end of the introductions, without me embarking on another project. Off we go.

However, as the great Genie (the one that doesn't hoover your wallet, topical eh?) says....



1. You may want to set your Google translate (other services are available) to Cockney. I type pretty much as I talk, which is some garbled mocked up mix of London/Essex slang. If you don't recognise a word or phrase, by all means reach out to me during working hours (in Europe this is roughly 1030am to early lunch) and I will endeavour to help. Google may help you. It may not. As with so many other things.
Or as my dear own mum does, ask the better half, she seems to have decoded my nonsense after 14 long long years of eye rolling and teeth gnashing, and praying that any offspring inherit her accent, brains, and wit. In that order.
Failing that, ask one of the guys on the Disboards, but be warned, they have the scars of looking at my phrases, searching them on Google and seeing the results pop up in their windows. I'm not sure Darcy is recovered from the whole "Budgie Smugglers" incident.

2. I'm English, as you may have guessed by now. I will try and give you a little window into the nuances of our culture along the way. So here's one. When we take the mick (there's your first google reference, if you didn't pick up the Budgie Smuggler gauntlet) we do it from affection. If you are in a bar with a load of Brits in a social gathering and you are being mocked, you're in. Part of the furniture. A mucker. A China. If you are being spoken to politely, you can bet your bum to a barn dance that you are probably not being invited back, even though you walked out of that bar thinking we were nice. So if I make a glib statement in here poking fun at something or other, and it's normally the set up to a pretty poor punch line, that's all it is, dear reader. No malice intended. It comes from love.

3. I am a terrible photographer. Nature, in all her majesty, created some beautiful spots on these islands steeped in History, and I have in no way, shape or form, done them any semblance of justice in this report. I humbly apologise to (insert your creator of choice here) for my miscarriage of their work.

Right, that's all the contractural stuff out the way. Welcome aboard. Let's meet the team. We'll get you fitted for a T Shirt after orientation. Lunch is in 10 minutes. Who's up for a pint?

Your Players



Right. That's us. All OK? Awesome.

Ah, rats. I just read others. I have to talk about us? This makes the English uncomfortable.

The one in the front, is Arabella, or Bella, and is also known as the Curly Haired Ninja. Don't be fooled by that smile. There is a will of steel in there. We both have it written on our care plans that Bella is not gonna make the call on pulling the plug on the life support machine. She would do it if you looked at her in a moody way, in your coma. Aside from that, she is the sociable one in the group, most likely to strike up a conversation in a strange environment.
Currently unemployed, or as she calls it, "going to school". Slacker.

The cheeky little chappy next to her is George. George, from what we can deduce, is an aspiring restaurant critic, given his constant feedback on the quality of his meals. The flip side of Bella, George has a very warm heart, and worries constantly. Mainly about where his next meal is coming from, or if there are snacks on the journey to the restaurant. A constant chatterer, and can talk the hind legs of a donkey. He's in that lovely assimilation phase to me, where he is trying to be older, and trying to get into stuff that he sees me doing. I'm watching the Bourbon cabinet like a hawk. I can't be sure, but one the bottles, although full, looks lighter in colour than it used to. Hmmm.
Again, despite my protestations, he seems reluctant to contribute to society and insists on this whole "learning" thing. I have no idea how they will pay for their next trip, I already cleaned out their savings.

The vision on the right is the Lady Katharine, or Lady K as she is known round these parts. A woman of breeding and culture, and a predisposition to put up with the nonsense I embark on. To give you a quick reference into our relationship, this is us on our first date.



She is the successful one in the family, having risen through the corporate ranks to be Deputy Queen of the World, or something like that. Lady K would describe herself in planning terms as 'overall creative vision" and leaves the detailed planning to us mere mortals, while she ponders global dominance. A Potterhead, and an English Literature graduate. Also the playlist master and co-driver.

So that comes to yours truly. I'm Dan, born and raised in London. I work for a company that has a habit of creating pain in your feet. No, not Reebok. Lego. I design and build stores for them. I am passionate about West Ham (my local childhood football team), the Chicago Bears and Cubs, Smoking ridiculous amounts of meat, Bourbon, and of course Disney.

So that's us.

Where's that pint?

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

 

[londontime]

View attachment 599120

Welcome there, Chief, good to have you aboard. Just waiting for a new dock today so I can upload some pics....

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Thanks for the link, since I apparently couldn't be bothered to scroll down more than half an inch to find it.

Firstly, welcome to my trip report. I am an arch procrastinator outside of work, so I will humbly apologise in a few days time for not keeping up with this endeavour. Probably. Seriously. I'm legendary at it. I got a birthmark at age 3.

I think you've found the secret to prolonging life.

Failing that, ask one of the guys on the Disboards, but be warned, they have the scars of looking at my phrases, searching them on Google and seeing the results pop up in their windows. I'm not sure Darcy is recovered from the whole "Budgie Smugglers" incident.

I still don't understand half of it. But context clues do help occasionally.

If you are in a bar with a load of Brits in a social gathering and you are being mocked, you're in.

I feel like this is universal in a group of guys.

Who's up for a pint?

He's in that lovely assimilation phase to me, where he is trying to be older, and trying to get into stuff that he sees me doing.

Sending angry emails to management?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

 

[londontime]

Thanks for the link, since I apparently couldn't be bothered to scroll down more than half an inch to find it.

Classic Disdad effort there sir. Well played indeed. And welcome!

Sending angry emails to management?

Management, Politicians, suppliers, familial members, children who refuse to work...... the list is long, but distinguished.

Good man. And the interesting thing, a British pub pint is a whole 90ml bigger than a US one. Yet another reason to hit London.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Well, I'll be readin' along.
Might even speak up every once-an-a-while.

Lookin' forward to seein' how the Ninja get the better of y'all, and expanding my trove of colloquialisms.
If ya' can't speak the language, it at least helps to know some of the slang.

 

[londontime]

Well, I'll be readin' along.
Might even speak up every once-an-a-while.

Lookin' forward to seein' how the Ninja get the better of y'all, and expanding my trove of colloquialisms.
If ya' can't speak the language, it at least helps to know some of the slang.

Welcome aboard sir, nice to have you along, if you learn anything on the way, well I'll just take that as a bonus. No promises though. Or refunds.

 

[londontime]

The Setup Part 1 - the Cell Block Tango

Dateline: January 2021.
Your players: The Lady K and Yours truly.
Mindset:


Now I'm not sure if you've heard, but there is a bit of a bug going around.
Relatively nasty (and there's a helpful serving of good ol' English understatement)

The UK was in full lockdown. Kids at home. Working from home. Cooking at home. Entertaining...wait for it.......at home. You catch my drift.



Amazingly, and I know this will shock you, but myself and the good Lady do not go to work for the fun of it. I know, right? I'll give you a minute to pick yourself back up off the floor.
We absolutely live for our holiday time together. We are those people who are planning the next vacation, while we are on vacation. So, as with so many others, 2020 was not a good year for us.

A selection of cancelled trips for 2020....
April - California - Cancelled
June - Shanghai (admittedly this was work) - Cancelled
July - Dallas (work again) - Cancelled
August - Florida - yep.

At the end of August 2020, the whole country started to open up again. We (maybe foolishly) saw this as a good sign, and that we would be able to hit the annual Disdads Event in January. But as October rolled in, and those rates started spiking again we knew that 2020/Early 2021 was a write off. We are lucky enough to have been able to visit the States at least once a year. First world problems, but we really needed a break.

Which led to this conversation, on a random Saturday in January.

Me - Right. That's it. I'm booking some holidays. This thing can't last forever.
Lady K - Right. So lets do Disney for Halloween, and take Jo (one of our good friends who had a nightmare year)
Me - No probs.
Fast Forward 2 hours - Booked and locked.
Lady K - What about skiing at Xmas? France?
Me - Canada?
Lady K - Hmmm, OK.
Fast Forward 2 hours. Booked and Locked.
Me - What about the Summer Holidays?
Lady K - OK. Why don't we book somewhere like Greece, on a beach? You know, leave America alone for that one?

Me -

I admit it. I hate Beach holidays. Getting sand up my arris is not one of my bucket list items. I am like a small child, who has no facility to just lay on a deckchair and read or listen to podcasts, or take photos of my legs, or whatever it is people do. My parents dragged me to various Spanish beaches as a kid, and a fair bit of Europe, so it was a bit of a 15 and done for me.
So, I did my usual thing, which is to pretend to agree, and then do naff all about it.
Or drop in conversations like "Jesus, have you seen the prices of European Holidays at the minute? Yeesh!"
So guerrilla tactics. Slow burn. Sow the seed. Play the clever game, Danny Boy....play the clever game....

Fast forward 2 months. COVID is raging everywhere (again), and our destination list is getting smaller and smaller. Greece is now 5k a week.

Lady K - So what are we doing about Summer? You clearly don't want to go on a beach holiday, do you?
Me - Well, it's not that I don't want to my love, it seems bad value for money (it might not have been earlier, but this point was thunk, but not made). For that money, we might as well go long haul.
Lady K - Where can we go then? Assuming all of this opens up?
Me - (Slyly opening up my mental file of "Places I can get away with in the States") What are the parameters?
Lady K - I want a beach.
Me - (Now trying to seem like I am not bothered) No problem. With a city nearby, or a resort?
Lady K - A city could work.
Me - The Hamptons?
Lady K - No.
Me - (Offering up a sacrifice card) Not Florida, surely.
Lady K - No.
Me - (Offering up a 50/50, i.e. if she said yes, I wouldn't have been upset) - Cali?

You will, Dear reader, now notice that 3 of the options offered have not received the "We are not going to America". Let's call this Dan's Law of Implied Acceptance. I'm in here.

Lady K - Too far.
Me - (Goes for broke) You know where we haven't been for years? Chicago.
Lady K - pause............
Me - (thinking don't push it Dan, play it cool)..pause.........
Lady K - pause............
.......

......

You could cut the atmosphere with a knife.

Lady K - Could be cool.
Fast forward 1 hour. Booked and Locked.

And that, my friends, is how it's done. The Cell Block Mental Tango.

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

The Setup Part 1 - the Cell Block Tango

 

[londontime]

Well thats just a little bit cool chief. I look forward to you coming up with a saucy princess YT video at the end of each section. Challenge issued.

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Well thats just a little bit cool chief. I look forward to you coming up with a saucy princess YT video at the end of each section. Challenge issued.

 

[jaqsdad]

Hopping on board this crazy train.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Now I'm not sure if you've heard, but there is a bit of a bug going around.
Relatively nasty (and there's a helpful serving of good ol' English understatement)

It's all made up. Put on a tin foil hat and you'll be fine.

The UK was in full lockdown. Kids at home. Working from home. Cooking at home. Entertaining...wait for it.......at home. You catch my drift.

Taking a walk...at home. Playing sports...at home. Staring at the walls...at home.

Amazingly, and I know this will shock you, but myself and the good Lady do not go to work for the fun of it. I know, right? I'll give you a minute to pick yourself back up off the floor.
We absolutely live for our holiday time together. We are those people who are planning the next vacation, while we are on vacation.

I believe I can relate to this.

A selection of cancelled trips for 2020....
April - California - Cancelled
June - Shanghai (admittedly this was work) - Cancelled
July - Dallas (work again) - Cancelled
August - Florida - yep.

Well, your backyard is pretty nice.

I admit it. I hate Beach holidays. Getting sand up my arris is not one of my bucket list items. I am like a small child, who has no facility to just lay on a deckchair and read or listen to podcasts, or take photos of my legs, or whatever it is people do.

I can do a day at most on the beach. And that's only if it's good swimming conditions. How people can spend an entire week just sitting on sand baking in the sun is something I'll never understand. There are much faster ways to get skin cancer.

So, I did my usual thing, which is to pretend to agree, and then do naff all about it.
Or drop in conversations like "Jesus, have you seen the prices of European Holidays at the minute? Yeesh!"
So guerrilla tactics. Slow burn. Sow the seed. Play the clever game, Danny Boy....play the clever game....

This is like 3-D chess. I never graduated past checkers.

Lady K - Too far.
Me - (Goes for broke) You know where we haven't been for years? Chicago.
Lady K - pause............
Me - (thinking don't push it Dan, play it cool)..pause.........
Lady K - pause............
.......

......

You could cut the atmosphere with a knife.

Oh, I thought you both fell asleep on the couch. That happens here all the time.

And that, my friends, is how it's done. The Cell Block Mental Tango.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Relatively nasty (and there's a helpful serving of good ol' English understatement)

Well, good...
I'd have been mightily disappointed if some proper understatement didn't show up somewhere along the line.


Besides, that and outright dark humor have become about the only way to deal with that blasted bug any more.

myself and the good Lady do not go to work for the fun of it.

You'd make poor Americans then.

And being a poor American (I know this to be so, as I've actually had folks point it out to me, including around here), I'd say that I like your way of lookin' at things just a smidgen better then what's being taught at the more prestigious business schools.

We are those people who are planning the next vacation, while we are on vacation

Wait...
You're tellin' me that everyone doesn't do such things?
That we might be considered - <gasp> - un-normal?


What a relief.
Normal is just flat out annoying.

A selection of cancelled trips for 2020....
April - California - Cancelled
June - Shanghai (admittedly this was work) - Cancelled
July - Dallas (work again) - Cancelled
August - Florida - yep.

Heartbreaking...
I'd liked to have heard about even some of those.

Business trips don't exist in my world, and fairs out of the hub-airport I live close to make the thought of flying almost unreachable.
Those are all spots I may well never see.

I admit it. I hate Beach holidays.

I get that. Now, I'm one of those folks who does like a bit of time descending into a vegetative state (it's a self preservation tactic, admittedly) , but I do see right clearly the lack of appeal that it might present.

So, I did my usual thing, which is to pretend to agree, and then do naff all about it.

It's a bit like dealing wit the honeydew list...

with similar potential consequences if not done properly.

So guerrilla tactics. Slow burn. Sow the seed. Play the clever game, Danny Boy....play the clever game....

When you ain't the one that's actually in charge...
It's the only tactic that will work.

Not that it always works, but it's the only one that has an even shot.

Me - (Slyly opening up my mental file of "Places I can get away with in the States") What are the parameters?

This fits into my general rules of relative questions...

The order of presentation matters.
Asking the right one first, and you don't have to ask the next three.
Reduces the level of frustration inflicted on the questionee, while also letting them believe that they are the one in control of the process to begin with.

Let's call this Dan's Law of Implied Acceptance.

Well dang...
I've been using this law for years without giving you proper accreditation.
I'll be sure to give you a foot note mention when I use this one going forward.

You know where we haven't been for years? Chicago.

And technically...
It does include a beach.

I don't see y'all going out there to sit on it, but a strip of beach there surely is.

And that, my friends, is how it's done.

And nicely done at that.

I take it that plans will be forced to change again as Chicago ain't Scotland (by any stretch of the imagination), but I'd love to have heard about this trip as well.

 

[londontime]

Hopping on board this crazy train.

Welcome mate! Good to have you aboard. You can blow the whistle at the front if you are particularly good.

It's all made up. Put on a tin foil hat and you'll be fine.

Don't tell me I've got to wear a hat. That's not what my forefathers etc etc etc

Well, your backyard is pretty nice.

Thanks, but I'm pretty sure its not as nice as California's back yard.

I can do a day at most on the beach. And that's only if it's good swimming conditions. How people can spend an entire week just sitting on sand baking in the sun is something I'll never understand.

We will do a few days on Anna Maria, but that is broken up with the shopping trips and chilling out. I'm with ya, I think its only a small element of a holiday. The general rule in the UK is off to Spain, on the beach, drink and eat, back on the beach, dinner. Rinse and repeat. For 2 weeks straight. Not for me.

There are much faster ways to get skin cancer.

Wearing a tin hat I would imagine is up there.

Besides, that and outright dark humor have become about the only way to deal with that blasted bug any more.

Mark seems to have a solution (see above)

You'd make poor Americans then.
And being a poor American (I know this to be so, as I've actually had folks point it out to me, including around here), I'd say that I like your way of lookin' at things just a smidgen better then what's being taught at the more prestigious business schools.

I think the UK has it about right. We are not "shut down in August and December" like most of mainland Europe, but do realise that most people "work to live" rather than "live to work". Both me and Lady K work hard, but, to paraphrase an Americanism, you will have to prise our vacation days out of our cold dead hand.

Normal is just flat out annoying.

Amen.

Now, I'm one of those folks who does like a bit of time descending into a vegetative state (it's a self preservation tactic, admittedly) , but I do see right clearly the lack of appeal that it might present.

Believe me buddy, I wish I could just shut down and potter about or sit and read. I'm just not wired that way.
And your right, a smidgen of self-preservation is a blessing. I can think myself into a right ol tizzy sometimes. The addition of multiple espressos sure doesn't help, either.

When you ain't the one that's actually in charge...
It's the only tactic that will work.

This is how revolutions are successful. If you don't own the means of enforcement, by any means necessary.

This is like 3-D chess. I never graduated past checkers.

And yet, on Friday night, I walked into the house with "Cell Block Tango" playing and a little Greece flag, and Lady K smirking. I believe they call that Checkmate. She read the first chapter. Hey ho. It was good while it lasted.

Oh, I thought you both fell asleep on the couch. That happens here all the time.

you and us both my friend. I look like some kind of overzealous nut when you look at my viewing history on programmes, its just that I have to watch them multiple times as I keep falling asleep in the middle.

The order of presentation matters.
Asking the right one first, and you don't have to ask the next three.
Reduces the level of frustration inflicted on the questionee, while also letting them believe that they are the one in control of the process to begin with

Absolutely. I use this tactic often at work. A bit like Find the Jack on the street. There is an illusion of choice, but the dealer knows which one you're gonna pick.

And technically...
It does include a beach.

I don't see y'all going out there to sit on it, but a strip of beach there surely is.

In Project terms, this is called, "Fulfilling the brief".

And nicely done at that.

I take it that plans will be forced to change again as Chicago ain't Scotland (by any stretch of the imagination), but I'd love to have heard about this trip as well

I've got a feeling you are a little ahead of the plot line here....but without too many spoilers, yep, that particular trip report is now back in the deck awaiting fulfillment. Maybe 2023. All of our 2022 vacation slots are now filled. Did I mention we like to plan vacations ahead?

 

[londontime]

The 5 Stages of Cancel Chicken.

No, I'm not giving you a breakdown of our to-do list before we went away. Well maybe if I need a bit of padding out, like in my old University Essays, I'd go off on a tangent just to fill up paper space. Hence me doing subjects where there is no right or wrong answer.
Anyways, I digress. About digressing.

I think the best analogy on our mental view on this vacation is akin to the 5 stages of grief.

Stage 1.


We booked the Vacation in May. And like many others in this here pandemic, we turned instantaneously into fully fledged data analysis experts, predicting trends and the thinking of national governments. I could have filled in for CNN, OAN, or the BBC on any given Sunday on how a policy shift in a random large city in the states was going to affect the chances of me getting away to Chicago, with a well thought out, logical and yet ultimately inaccurate argument of how the dominos would fall.
Now don't get me wrong. We booked this one, with the full knowledge that it may well not happen. When we did book it though, we were on the side of more confident than not that borders would be open, Biden would be 6 months in, learning to live with it, LDN/NY corridor most profitable in the world...la da da da da.
We did what we usually do when we are going back to somewhere we haven't been in a while or have never been before. We will make a list of 'must-do's' (Thankyou Stacey, and enjoy your retirement), our 'Nice to haves', and our OK, 'we'll take one on the Chin for the kids' lists.

These generally take the form of (in this order)
Hotels
Restauarants
A Sports Game (usually MLB or NBA because of the timeframes we go)
Local Flavour
Non tourist random places.

Our sources of information are:
You Tube
Instagram
Tripadvisor (just for the One star reviews when people turn up without checking the opening times and it was shut, which is still struggle to see how that's the fault of the restaurant)

..and whatever super cool hipster 8 quid latte travel book/blog the Lady K is reading, that says something like "oh my gawd dahhhhling you simply must visit this quaint craft vegan Hemingway themed non GMO organic waffle hut run by 2 refugees from kasakwherever" that are using the same mix you can buy off Bezos for 12 pound a sack, and charging you 40 notes for the privilege.

(Again if you are reading this my love, I am extending for comedic effect). Not much comedic effect admittedly, but beggars can't be choosers.

So there we were, in our good ol' Stage 1 ignorance, in the happy bliss of:
Staying at the Hilton
Going to eat at Twin Anchors Ribs (one of my favourite spots in Chicago)
Going to see the Cubs versus the Brewers (maybe twice, one day game for the family and a night game for me and the boy)
Hitting some amahhhhhzing street food
And soaking up Chicago with the kids, as the last time we were there, we were childless. And rich. And really, really drunk.

Stage 2.

(this it actually pretty true. I believe Dante has a special circle for these people on the way down to the Devil)

Coming into June, our "ticked off" meter was shifting gears. Delta had hit the UK, and everything was going a bit pear shaped. Vaccinations were ongoing, myself and Lady K had been double jabbed, but this particular line wasn't really hitting the mark of the CDC and countries were opening and closing more times than a jilted lovers ice cream carton lid.
We were raging at the TV at people shutting down and saying we couldn't come in. In all fairness, not my finest hour. I should have taken the higher moral ground, understanding that any Government's primary responsibility is always the protection of its people, rather than the protection of my travel itinerary.

Stage 3.



Our "bargaining" phase, as referenced in the title, is a little game we are constantly playing with our airline of choice over the last 2 years, namely, "Cancel Chicken".

Just to be clear, that's the game, not the Airline. Although Cancel Chicken Airways would possibly have the best marketing in the industry.

Cancel Chicken, as you may have guessed, is a simple game of who blinks first. Your choice is simple. You (an individual with a limited time, means, and understanding of international travel protocols) and the other player (an huge conglomerate of former flag carriers with bountiful wealth and an army of lawyers) see who is the one who admits first that you are not really going on holiday, and that countdown timer on your app to your flight time has about as much relevance to reality as the argument that Harry Styles is an under appreciated musical genius.

Why do we play this game, dear reader? As with many other things, it is all about context.

If I have the temerity to take away my £2k of money from a £multi billion tunrover, they apparently desperately need that money to feed poor ol Tiny Tim down the orphanage. And they will, quite rightly, take a large portion of my money for the inconvenience of paying someone in India about £3 to log into a computer and put my ticket back on the open market, sell the ticket again, and trouser the difference. All fine and Dandy here. Can't see any flaws in this argument.

If they inconvenience 500 or so people by not flying a plane somewhere, they will altruistically, and out of the goodness of their hearts, allow me to spend the money again. To compound this shining beacon of generosity, they will allow me the opportunity to spend the money only with them at another time that is convenient to me. As long as that convenience is before 2023.

So given the choice of being hit by a bat or a fully charged cattle prod, I tend to run down the clock on cancelling. We were around 6 weeks out, in mid July. When we moved into......


Stage 4 - Sadness.

so we all know that depression is a very real thing and not a subject for memes or in a trip report, so lets just cause this sadness. I know they are not the same thing.

The email came. The same title. Every time.
"Ref: XXXXX - Updates to your flight"

Update is an interesting choice of words. I guess if you totalled a car into a brick wall, you have updated its road worthy status. Or Kim Kardashian updated Kanye West in that video.

So. yet again. David beat Goliath, and has given the Goliath the resounding kicking he had coming to him, by agreeing to give him thousands of pounds in the next 18 months. That'll learn him.

And therefore, we inevitably to moved into....

Stage 5.


So, this stage involved us telling the young 'uns that we were not going to America. The Curly haired Ninja looked at us a little bit, and said...

"so we are going to Cornwall?".
Me and the Lady K realised that in the time that the kids have been around, apart from Paris and Rome a couple of times, their holiday destinations have been pretty much been Florida, New York, and Cornwall. We came to the realisation we probably weren't going abroad. And Cornwall was full. And we live in London, and although we talked about 'London as a tourist', it wouldn't be the same as going away.

We therefore came to the conclusion, that a UK tour was on the Cards, as this is possibly the one time we would actually do it, and not sack it off for a long haul for the same money.

As a construction dude and opening shops all over England, I am familiar with many English towns. In that I have a deep knowledge of the Shopping centres, the Car Parks and the local hotels that are within my old companies miserly rate parameters. So I wasn't really keen on the whole England country walking thing.

And then, the answer was upon us. What about a Tour of Scotland?

Trip Planning 2.0 reboot was on.

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

The 5 Stages of Cancel Chicken

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Hello Dan! Well, I came back to the club house for the first time in ages and happened to notice you had started a trip report.
I don't get on the boards much these days, but keeping up with your shennanigans might just be the reason I need to stop by more often.

 

[declansdad]

Thanks for the link, since I apparently couldn't be bothered to scroll down more than half an inch to find it.

Apparently I couldn't work the scroll button either, just saw the link this morning. Somebody could have warned me I was mentioned on page 1.

Oh wait, we're still on page 1.

 

[londontime]

Apparently I couldn't work the scroll button either, just saw the link this morning. Somebody could have warned me I was mentioned on page 1.

Oh wait, we're still on page 1.

Told you I was a procrastinator.
And buddy, nice to see you here!

Hello Dan! Well, I came back to the club house for the first time in ages and happened to notice you had started a trip report.
I don't get on the boards much these days, but keeping up with your shennanigans might just be the reason I need to stop by more often.

Nice to see you around these parts my friend. If me doing this gets you on the boards more often, I will feel less guilty about inflicting my TR on the world.