Castles and gorse
Friday we went to Berwick on Tweed for the weekend. Too much fun! nicci_mac picked us up, we piled in her car, and made our way south to meet yragg, sazzle_02, and historyterry at this cute holiday cottage. We had less than 60 miles to go, but it took us over 4 hours.
We stopped at the coolest ruin I've seen. Most castles have just a few walls left, but this one had enough that I could really get a sense of what it must have been like to live there. Many of the rooms were still intact-- most with attached toilets! It seemed very luxurious and well appointed. The rooms were large, but still cozy, with fireplaces all over, an amazing amount of windows, nice level floors, and amazing spiral staircases all over the place. There was a group of schoolgirls just leaving when we got there so we had the whole place to ourselves. We were sitting and looking over the castle walls when we noticed sunlight shining through a couple of holes high up. I think I'm the one who asked, "What's that for?" Cats and I looked at each other and said at the same time, "Glory hole." *g* It turned out to be a gutter, but it still cracked us up.
We had lunch at the local cafe, and oh wow, talk about *bad*. Cats spent pretty much the whole time humming the banjo theme from Deliverance under her breath. It was terribly expensive, the food tasteless, and the service terrible. We had to ask for spoons for the soup, and the guy looked very put upon when I asked for salt and pepper. When we finally did get the pepper bottle there wasn't any pepper in it, so I had to ask for more. I don't think I've ever heard such a large, heavy sigh in my life. *g* Needless to say, we didn't leave a tip, although I did consider writing him a note-- something along the lines of, "If you'd treat your customers better, you might make more money."
At some point Cats had told me about gorse, a bush that smells like coconut. I was skeptical, but she insisted, so we kept an eye out for 'convenient gorse' along the road. We found some finally and had Nicci pull the car over, except that it wasn't really convenient. There was a rock wall and gate between us and the bushes. Cats poked and prodded until I finally relented and clambered over the gate. I went up, bent over, sniffed, and then looked back at her with the deepest suspicion. "You just wanted to see if you could get me to climb a fence, didn't you?"
"What?"
"It doesn't smell like coconut."
"Yes it does."
"No it doesn't"
*g*
So I pulled off a blossom and handed it to her. She sniffed and said, "Oh, this must be broom instead of gorse."
Uh huh. Yeah, right.
So I climbed back over the fence and got back in the car. She *insisted* that she was right. I didn't believe her. *g*
We finally got to the cottage, and what a lovely place! It was surrounded by rolling fields filled with sheep and cute little lambs. It was cold inside, and since I'm the ex-Girl Scout, I took it upon myself to start the fire. Once it finally started to warm up, we all settled in-- on the most *uncomfortable* couches I've ever had the displeasure to sit in, I might add. However, after the booze started flowing, I didn't notice so much.
We all gathered around for a wonderful curry that yragg had made, stuffed ourselves, then all settled in for the night.
One of the things I adore about this group of people is that we're so very comfortable with each other. We don't feel the need for all of us to be doing the same thing at the same time. Everyone just sort of does what they want. At one point Cats and Nicci were huddled in the corner with two laptops doing photoshop tutorials while the rest of us were watching movies. A group went out for a walk while the rest of us stayed in, being lazy. Saz and I stayed up until 4am watching SPN while everyone else was snoring away.
The next morning Cats came into our room for something and I woke up enough to say, "What time is it?"
"Too early for you to be up. Go back to sleep."
So I promptly did. *g*
The next post will be about the search for true gorse, more lambs, and St Abb's. :)
We stopped at the coolest ruin I've seen. Most castles have just a few walls left, but this one had enough that I could really get a sense of what it must have been like to live there. Many of the rooms were still intact-- most with attached toilets! It seemed very luxurious and well appointed. The rooms were large, but still cozy, with fireplaces all over, an amazing amount of windows, nice level floors, and amazing spiral staircases all over the place. There was a group of schoolgirls just leaving when we got there so we had the whole place to ourselves. We were sitting and looking over the castle walls when we noticed sunlight shining through a couple of holes high up. I think I'm the one who asked, "What's that for?" Cats and I looked at each other and said at the same time, "Glory hole." *g* It turned out to be a gutter, but it still cracked us up.
We had lunch at the local cafe, and oh wow, talk about *bad*. Cats spent pretty much the whole time humming the banjo theme from Deliverance under her breath. It was terribly expensive, the food tasteless, and the service terrible. We had to ask for spoons for the soup, and the guy looked very put upon when I asked for salt and pepper. When we finally did get the pepper bottle there wasn't any pepper in it, so I had to ask for more. I don't think I've ever heard such a large, heavy sigh in my life. *g* Needless to say, we didn't leave a tip, although I did consider writing him a note-- something along the lines of, "If you'd treat your customers better, you might make more money."
At some point Cats had told me about gorse, a bush that smells like coconut. I was skeptical, but she insisted, so we kept an eye out for 'convenient gorse' along the road. We found some finally and had Nicci pull the car over, except that it wasn't really convenient. There was a rock wall and gate between us and the bushes. Cats poked and prodded until I finally relented and clambered over the gate. I went up, bent over, sniffed, and then looked back at her with the deepest suspicion. "You just wanted to see if you could get me to climb a fence, didn't you?"
"What?"
"It doesn't smell like coconut."
"Yes it does."
"No it doesn't"
*g*
So I pulled off a blossom and handed it to her. She sniffed and said, "Oh, this must be broom instead of gorse."
Uh huh. Yeah, right.
So I climbed back over the fence and got back in the car. She *insisted* that she was right. I didn't believe her. *g*
We finally got to the cottage, and what a lovely place! It was surrounded by rolling fields filled with sheep and cute little lambs. It was cold inside, and since I'm the ex-Girl Scout, I took it upon myself to start the fire. Once it finally started to warm up, we all settled in-- on the most *uncomfortable* couches I've ever had the displeasure to sit in, I might add. However, after the booze started flowing, I didn't notice so much.
We all gathered around for a wonderful curry that yragg had made, stuffed ourselves, then all settled in for the night.
One of the things I adore about this group of people is that we're so very comfortable with each other. We don't feel the need for all of us to be doing the same thing at the same time. Everyone just sort of does what they want. At one point Cats and Nicci were huddled in the corner with two laptops doing photoshop tutorials while the rest of us were watching movies. A group went out for a walk while the rest of us stayed in, being lazy. Saz and I stayed up until 4am watching SPN while everyone else was snoring away.
The next morning Cats came into our room for something and I woke up enough to say, "What time is it?"
"Too early for you to be up. Go back to sleep."
So I promptly did. *g*
The next post will be about the search for true gorse, more lambs, and St Abb's. :)