Scotland Day22: Greenock

I am delighted to be back in Greenock where I have so many wonderful memories of my time as a student minister.  The filled roll at West Station Café is as good as ever – jokingly, I told the waitress I came all the way from America for it.  I recommend hard-fried egg, tomato, bacon and cheese, the mere description of which makes friend Charlie cringe at its artery-clogging capacity.  But trust me, if you like greasy fried foods, this is not to be missed.

Standing atop the Lyle Hill still manages to take my breath away; it is a sight that never grows old.  A bench bears a commemoration to a man, the memorial reading, “He loved it here . . .”  I can give this place no more fitting descriptor.  The Cross of Lorraine combined with an anchor commemorates the Free French naval forces who fought for their lands from Greenock in World War II.  On this day, it is as if the clouds opened to shine upon the scene and I wonder what exactly God is blessing in this moment.

Friend Stuart and his faithful companion Jura, a wonderful gal of a dog in her old age catch me up on all the happenings since last we met.  Cameron, Rachel and Fraser just grin at my awe at the changes time has brought to them – even three years is an eternity in the life and framework of the young and they are barely recognizable from when last I saw them.

Christine and Charlie regale me with tales of their own travels and when I leave, Christine presses into my hand a wooden angel made as dedication to God by a Catholic man and I am more moved by her gesture than my words can say.

Alison feeds me, houses me, walks me briskly round the Esplanade, and generally nourishes my soul.

There are more friends to see, but they’ll have to await another time.

For now, I stand in front of the tenement building where I lived, occupying the top right flat (auspiciously now for sale) and just soak it all in.

Scotland has always been good to me.

Lucky, blessed, am I.

Bucket List (UK)

Well, I’m cheating, really.  I don’t have a ‘bucket list’ about the UK, per se, but I do have a list of things I’d like to do next time I’m there.  Having already explored a lot of the main tourist attractions and historical sites, I’m on the hunt for the local, the interesting, and the uncrowded.

If I were to truly design a bucket list for the UK, it would simply include the list of Scottish friends I would visit, for they are what draw me back again and again.

That said, there are a few things, new and old (to me) that I’ve simply got to explore my next visit.

On the must see list are:

1. Dickens World in Chatham.  It’s the 200th anniversary of Dicken’s birth; I ask you, how can I not go to Dickens World?
2. Hay-on-Wye for the book festival.  If you’ve never been and you love books, it’s a must.
3. Fast Castle/Dowlaw Farm, a place, if not the place, where I have been stilled and known God was God.
4. Guernsy- locale of the book The Guernsy Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  Some of the best places I’ve been I’ve learned about in books.
5. Eating my way through Inverclyde: the best filled roll in the world at the West Station in Greenock, the haggis appetizer and banoffee pie at the Inverkip Hotel and the Ceylonese Curry (so, so spicy good) at Taj Mahal in Gourock, to name but a few.

Things in Scotland that call out for more exploration:

1. Puppet Animation Festival in Banff
2. Beltane Fire Festival in Edinburgh
3. Gilmerton Cove, Drum Street, Edinburgh
4. Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, Edinburgh
5. Anything, any time, anywhere, with music, preferably involving a fiddle and dancing