On 20th-23rd, December, four of us went to Scotland. Honestly speaking, we didn't travel a lot. It was my second trip to Scotland. We didn't see the highland cow, nor did we go to any national parks. And we didn't go to any distillery factories. So what did we do?
We had to stay on the train for three hours from London Euston to Glasgow. Before that, we got up at four a.m. Alex, my roommate, who is a nice guy, before he went to bed, said to me, "Shiny, If I don't see you tomorrow, which I probably won't, then Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you next term." I am so delighted that there are so many kind people around who care about each other. I really feel grateful. I didn't sleep the night before our departure, or I will say I only took a nap in hall for two hours as I didn't pack up my luggage till late.
I tried to sleep on the train for several times. Why? As we sat next to the door or carriage, the toilet and also the loudspeaker, people made sound when they opened the door, when the conductor checked our ticket, and when "pooh-chi!" the toilet was being flushed. Every time, I was woken up by this noise, which was indeed irritating. And my neck lost support and shook and rotated from side to side with the movement of the train, so every time I woke up, my neck was like got snapped.
Every time I opened my eyes, it was dark outside the window. Peter said, "It's only 8 o'clock in the morning." I think we are already in the high latitude area on the globe, at least to the north of England on the northern hemisphere. I can't remember how many times I've been waken up.
The sun eventually rose. The greensward rowed rapidly in straight lines outside the windows. The train was shaking like a cradle and the scenery outside window changed a lot between sky and the lawn. The weather was not ideal. According to the BBC weather forecast, there would be a drizzle in Glasgow. It seems to be one of the few correct forecasts. As we see, the weather in Britain is so changeable. Moreover, almost every time, it rains on the first day I go traveling, or when my friend comes to visit me.
When we reached Glasgow Railway Station, it was almost noon, we could only see a shabby hotel in the station. And more unpleasantly, Chi-hin told us it was the hotel that we were going to stay in for three nights. When we entered the main entrance, one side of the first automatic door was broken, so it was partially opened by manual. Then there was another entrance which looked awful as well. It seemed to be a hopeless place.
Now that we came, we stored our luggage first and then we looked around. There were a few elevators. I mean there were a few dilapidated elevators. And there was only one that was still in use. And the door was a bit deformed and defective. When we entered the lift, we pressed the button four but the background light wasn't on. It was a bit hard to tell whether we had pressed four or not.
On the fourth floor, there was a long corridor like in the horror movie with the weird decoration. When we walked along, we saw some rooms unlocked and with light on. We took a glance inside and it was terrified. The wall was dark due to a lack of refurbishment. Some parts are about to fall off, but the rooms look like a small warehouse. Oh, come on! It's Christmas and how can they decorate the hotel as if we were having Halloween?
In Geo-technics course, we had our own "British Standard" to classify rocks and sands. On this island, there seems to be a "Scottish Standard" for hotels. The so-called "four star" hotel has been devastated to such a large extent that I can't think of any other possible derogation which will make it look worse.
For the first day, we went to the Modern Contemporary Gallery in Glasgow. There is much artwork inside, but the abstract artwork can't be well understood by us. From this point of view we are amateur, honestly speaking, if those paintings or crockery were put into a public place in college, it might have been used as a dustbin.
But there were also some designs that really impressed me. And I am fond of two simple pieces of work near the entrance. They are simple but a bit philosophical. Below the paintings there were two lines of words: Are we driven by the desire for pleasure? Are we aware of the pain caused by us? Here comes to the point made by Dr Butcher before. There is a scarce resources for time and "We don't do things only because we can, but most importantly do it when we need to." Similarly, we don't do things because we want to, do it when we need to and meanwhile consider about the consequences on others.
I kept walking, until I saw a blouse. I then braked to read the words on it. "Life is easier now, but are we happier?" The design of the blouse isn't very outstanding or eyeball-catching, but it makes us stop and restart inspecting our life. What makes us unhappy? Is it the accelerating pace of life or the growing desire for joy?
The most tiresome outdoor event on earth is not going shopping with a girl or girls, but buying clothes with boys. In fact, the clothes in shops all looked huge. Oh yeah, it's in the UK… when I walked towards the zone for children's wear, the size seemed to fit me because the models were more or less as tall as me. Can you imagine that one of us took a T-shirt and went into the fitting room for a quarter hour? I was utterly shocked.
On the second day, in the morning, we got up late, but then we took a train to Edinburgh. The only place we went was the Castle after which we went to buy some scarves and Haggis. Then it was 6pm already and we decided to have dinner after we went back to Glasgow, so we took the train back. I was totally speechless.
On the third day, there was another three hours on the train to Inverness. It was a bit humdrum. Peter and Zhelong had fallen asleep whilst Chi-hin was listening to music. The coat on me no longer kept me warm; instead, they turned into my burden in the warm carriage. It seemed to be a hurried trip, but also it wasn't a hurried trip. We wasted most of the time doing meaningless things.
What on earth can re-fire our passion on this trip and redeem my mood? There was something missing. Even the scenery outside the window could not interest me. Anything and everything (including the snow on top of the mountains) looked normal and too ordinary. The beauty outside the window seems to be so temporary, and every time I raised my camera to capture it, it fled and slipped away or sometimes got blocked by the trees. Sigh. Opportunities sneaked unconsciously as well as time. When you try to grab it back, some cruel obstacles block you on they way.
After moving to London, I obtained a new mania which is imitating the announcement on every single train or tube. Usually different lines of tube or trains in different areas have different ways to say out the announcement and also in different stress. Now I am getting used to pronounce a bit Train Language, London accent and of course Singlish (Singaporean English). It sounds a bit silly, but I did learn something through an entertaining way. It's better than staying on the train all the time doing nothing. In the underground, it says, "Please mind the gap between the train and the platform." But for the Scot-rail, they say "Please mind the gap when alighting from the train."
Moreover, the pronunciation for names of places are also bizarre. Some of them don't have a rule. For instance, Islingword Road, somewhere I used to live in. It's not quite difficult to tell though, but I can show more examples. "Clapham Junction, Gloucester Road, Leicester Square, Tottenham Court Road, Edinburgh" and so on. It is tough for English language beginners to pronounce. I stared at the screen in the carriage.
Through the whole journey from Glasgow to Inverness, I didn't stop writing my diary. I tried to look carefully at every passenger nearby and I tried to describe them in my diary. People have different living style and diverse behavior, even when they are on a train. Alright, I should learn some psychology.
It was so windy near the Loch Ness, perhaps more windy than in Brighton. The gust can make one dizzy or even cause a headache. It could probably blow us away if it got a little bit stronger. In my city, at this time of the year, the grass might have turned yellow, but here, the lawn was more than green and lively. Perhaps it's because the climate here is relatively humid.
Ok, I think I won't continue writing this blog although I feel like doing so, but as some people have told me, when your blog becomes too long, people lose patience to read it, especially when I am not writing an impressive novel.
