Blog — Roaming with Roth

[A quick note to explain how it is I have not gotten off a blog over the past month. Adele and I have been so on the go, our schedule timed with movement from one town to the other, a morning tour of a city, a planned walk, etc. that I have simply not been able to think about writing. Therefore, I have decided to cram some highlights into a single blog to provide a taste of what’s going on this side of the pond. As always your comments are welcomed. Thanks.]

FALSE ALARM
September 18, 2023

We checked into The Clayton Hotel in Glasgow, a one-year-old contemporary hotel, the likes of which have caught on all over the world - a kind of jivey, cool, youthful vibe that blends well with traditional elegance and warm ambience. It layout is quite clever and extremely well thought out - the bar and lounge right up front so you cannot miss the happenings as you go to the elevators, nor can you miss the young and vigorous people gathering in their most fine threads drinking the latest cocktails, and laughing those uncomfortable, forced laughs that are sure signs or either boredom or desperation, There is lots of recessed seating that keeps you in the game buts adds a bit of privacy. Anyways, our room was quite nice, comfortable and also cool with cool grey walls and multi-hued grey duvet that gave you the impression you were spending the night in a cool hotel…which it was…really. Cool.

**View from our room at the Clayton Hotel overlooking Glasgow rooftops.**

Adele and I were out carousing the city in lousy weather just bearable enough for us to take our laundry to the laundromat and after three weeks of traveling unload half of what we started with into the wash, soap, rinse and dry cycles. Following this rather long, moist and inclement day, we had burgers and “triple fries” (a thing in Scotland) at the hotel. Sleep was welcome. And, sleep came quickly.

“What the hell”? The alarm was piercing, high-pitched, metallic, pulsing with brief intervals and accompanied by a flashing light. I bounced up from my slumber feeling a sense of urgency although I didn’t have any idea what was happening. Turning to Adele, I said, “Honey, get up”. She still needed a little shaking and a moment to get oriented. “We have to get dressed”. I checked my Fitbit – 4:14 AM – I was in my birth uniform but went to the door to see if it was only my room alarm that was persisting to bleat loudly enough to want to escape. I opened the door only slightly, peering out and initially saw no one, but in the few moments my door was opened other doors began to open with people already dressed and proceeding out of their rooms in quiet, orderly fashion.

Adele and I quickly dressed and like the rest of the retinue of evacuees looked as if the dress code of the day was “grab what you can and get the hell out”. Our room was on the 14th floor. We followed the steady flow of people on our floor directly to the stairwell. The stairwells were already filled, surging in a steady flow of people coming from the two floors above. We joined the stream of folks who were discharging in a most unphazed business-like fashion – some finding humor in the circumstance, some calculating their rest of days’ activities, or making phone calls to express love and possibly convey their last wishes.

Round and round we went until floor #7 when the current suddenly turned and some of the people downstairs began to walk upstairs. “False alarm”, they called to those of us above. The tide then shifted as everyone turned and started heading upstairs and back to their rooms. The next morning, I inquired about the cause of the false alarm and was told that sometimes, rarely, someone might be taking an extremely hot shower, when upon opening of the shower door, the steam is released and sets off the alarm. I know this is somewhat of a blah, disappointing ending. Just know, I too wanted something more dramatic in conclusion. Still, I have to be grateful that no one was hurt and all got to keep their belongings.

Fifty Shades of Green…and Counting

Remember when you were growing up your parents would say that “the grass isn’t greener on the other side” or in common parlance “all is not as it appears”. Except, in Scotland where the grass IS actually greener. Not only is it greener, it is thickly carpeted. It is dense and full and cushiony. And, most remarkably, is the diversity of color of meadow and lark, pasture and hills, mountains and forest - dark, almost emerald; it is light and dirty, almost mossy; it is reflective and neon bright; it is golden hued like straw; it is coppery like rusted metal; it is fruit colored like lime or green apple; and vegetable colored like kale or broccoli. One is endlessly discovering new shades of green.

**The peaceful and perfect countryside scene…seen everywhere.**

Mind you, all this greenery comes, well, I was going to say at a cost. But, Scotland is not like Seattle or Portland where suicide rates are the highest in the nation due to the consistently rainy weather and fewest sun days. No. The Scots seem fully adapted to the weather. Just the other day, we spent two nights at the Trigony House, set in rural Dumfries region. On the way, in the cold drizzle, we saw two older couples out on their lawn having tea, conversing in laughter, having a good old time in shorts, and short-sleeve shirts, as if in the Bahamas.

Weather, like all climates around the world, are subject to forecasts. However, forecasting in Scotland makes Americas’ inaccuracies seem like laws of physics. Scotland’s weather really requires, not day by day forecasting, not hour by hour forecasting, rather minute by minute evaluations. Oh hell. The notion of forecasting is specious. The whole damn thing should be scrapped. We have never experienced variations in the weather as we have here. We are not talking simply of clouds overhead clearing making way for the sun. We are speaking of nearly instantaneous changes from clear to sun showers to pouring rain in mere minutes. Sun that is followed by total cloud coverage that breaks and is sunny once again in minutes. Temperatures that require layers including scarves and windbreakers that must quickly be removed because the sun’s appearance raises the temperature making the incredibly chilling weather hot.

**Our private sun room and access to private garden**

We took a boat ride down Loch Ness after visiting Urquhart Castle that stands high overlooking the Loch. The castle itself is a ruin in the technical sense - no innards - but the remains are copious and tie together in a way that make the empty spaces come alive. You can imagine being greeted in the grand entry; dancing in the great hall, being imprisoned in the isolation of a stone cell hardly large enough to move. Then the view from the boat speaks to the grandeur, status and nobility of fallen stone.

A Loch By Any Other Name
We have finally arrived in England’s Lake Region. Famed for its scenic beauty, the landscape is, indeed, gorgeous. We are spending five nights here to absorb the many towns, villages, falls and lakes. Then, on the fourth day, while a mere 1 1/4 miles from where we were staying in Ambleside, and while a huge double wheeler was passing in the other direction with its wide cab creeping over the dividing line, I veered onto the shoulder which, in this case and commonly, had a dip created by rainfall and drove over a rock or some such when we heard a loud gunshot like “POP”, and in that moment knew I had blown a tire. The car began to wobble as we were fortunate, in a very short distance, to find the generous private entrance to a gated home and were able to pull over.

This is a story of deliverance. We exited the vehicle and stood viewing our flat tire…and I mean flat. We had an emergency number to call and got through to an “AA”, a company partnered with Hertz, to provide emergency services ONLY. That is, they go to the car and bring you to the nearest affiliate garage throughout the UK. However, garages do not necessarily replace tires and they certainly do not stock tires. We were due in Chester in two days, so had this day and the next to solve a problem. We chalked it up without dismay to time lost and got down to business.

I contacted AA and were told that help would be on its way in about six hours. They suggested I drive the car the short distance to a garage I identified as able to get a tire within the day right there in Ambleside. He said that given the wheel’s alloys, there should be little in the way of damage if I proceeded slowly. Which is what we did. We arrived at the garage and put our order in for a tire to be delivered later that day and the vehicle handed over to us in that afternoon. But, then the real crusher occurred. We got a phone call from the garage saying that after the new tire was installed, the owner discovered that the wobble was not related to the flat tire. The wobble was being caused by the front end being damaged, possibly a strut or cross arm. That meant the car was not safe to drive.

Now began a journey of persistence and clever manipulation. Since we needed to replace our vehicle, we would need to take the car, on a Saturday, to a Hertz that was open and had a vehicle for replacement. And, AA would not take us any place without our having a replacement vehicle so that we would not be stranded. It was a Catch-22. This episode now has only begun and extends well into the evening and the morning. Suffice to say, the next day, we were able to persuade AA to take us to the Hertz at Manchester airport where we fortunately were able to exchange cars. Yes, and drive on to Chester a day earlier than scheduled. The owner of the B&B where we were staying even said that he would post the room and if let for the evening would return our charge. The lessen is, “When you journey, anticipate detours.” How fortunate were we to be able to proceed according to plans?

**We were rewarded with this room’s view at the beautiful Chester Grosvenor Hotel in Chester.**

September 26, 2023
In closing for now, our trip has been whirlwind. Not in the sense of having little time and failing to give due to our visits by scurrying through. Quite the contrary. Our “busy-ness” is having the time to do more and having to choose what not to do. I hope some of the photos below fill in to a degree a sense of the fullness and richness of our journey.

POST PANDEMIC DIARY

POST PANDEMIC DIARY

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