Flower of Scotland

I made the trip up to Edinburgh on the weekend. That makes it five times in a row that I haven’t spent a full weekend at ‘home’. My new friend and next-door neighbour Bruce is from Edinburgh and he invited me to go up with him to watch the England vs. Scotland match of the Six Nations Rugby Championship which was to be played at Murrayfield stadium. The name Bruce is a lot like Fosters’ Larger, both are supposed to be stereotypically Australian and yet, just as nobody in Australia actually drunks Fosters’, nobody I knew (until now) was actually called Bruce. Despite being Scottish, Bruce is a great guy (Scotland lost the game, so I’m still in the ‘pay Bruce out about Scotland’ mindset).
Bruce, Graeme, Ben and I got a train up to Edinburgh Friday afternoon. Graeme and Ben are two scousers who also live in Newark Hall (I’ll get around to talking about all my new friends properly sometime soon).It was an easy five hour trip, during which we managed to watch almost a whole season of Friends on Bruce’s notebook. The trip was also made easier when Graeme convinced some friends of his who were getting off at Newcastle to get the friend of theirs who was picking them up to bring a carton of beer with him. So when we rolled into Newcastle a quick exchange was made and as we pulled off we were a rolling in the beer. Ten minutes later we finally got a bottle opener and the drinking began. Suddenly we were in Edinburgh, and it was freezing, and I had to pay to use the toilet at the train station. 20p! Bruce said that when I go to London I’d see that it was pretty standard.
We were staying at Bruce’s house for the weekend, which was about a fifteen minute walk from the station. This place was huge, even for Australian standards. It had four floors and seven bathrooms! It was also completely empty. Bruce’s parents were in Dubai (that’s where his dad is currently working) and his brothers both live elsewhere. I don’t think anyone realised before how minted (British slang there) Bruce’s family is. Anyway the fridges were stocked, lots of beer and Irn-Bru (the Scottish soft drink that apparently outsells both coke and pepsi) and we all had beds to sleep in. You couldn’t have asked for a better base camp. Bruce and Graeme went out for some deep friend food and returned to fish, chips and haggis. I didn’t have any haggis, the normal stuff puts me off, deep fried… no thanks. We stayed up drinking and watching TV late into the night before deciding to get some sleep. The game didn’t start until 5:30 the next night so we didn’t have to be up particularly early.
Cut to 1pm the next day. Bacon cooking, eggs cooking, a good fry-up breakfast. After we ate our fill we went down to this pub called The Standing Order, where we promptly ordered some pints of beer. This pub was packed, people lined four deep back from the bar, and it took about 20 minutes to get served, so when we did we bought three drinks each. On of Bruce’s friends showed up, and as we were talking we suddenly heard bagpipes playing. Out of nowhere this troop of Scottish Bagpipers marched into the bar and started playing all the tradition bagpipe songs. Soon everyone was singing along. It was fantastic! I really wish I had brought my camera along because it was a sight to behold. I was ecstatic; bagpipes, kilts, Scottish accents and good beer, it doesn’t really get much better. We had a few more pints (well more than a few) as well as some food, and suddenly it was 4pm. The game started in an hour and half and we were well on our way to being very very pissed. We decided that was enough for the pub.
Edinburgh before an England vs Scotland rugby game is similar to Kyoto before a Gion festival. In Japan it’s rare in normal circumstances to see people wearing Kimonos, however on the eve of the big Gion parade you see them everywhere. Likewise in Scotland it’s rare in normal circumstances to see men wearing kilts, however on the eve of a big international rugby game you see them everywhere. The rugy brings out the patriotic Scotsman, in particular a battle against the English brings out the patriotic Scotsman, and on Saturday night, in the freezing cold, before a big game, the tartan abounds. Bruce didn’t wear his, which is a good move, because we would have surely lifted it up for the world to see if he had.
Murrayfield stadium, with the Scottish flag, the bagpipers, the atmosphere, the spectacle. Scotland lost, 35 to 13.
At Bruce’s place again, drinking the rest of the beer in his fridge. Ran out of that, so we moved onto the Scotch (this is Scotland after all). Eventually we worked up the energy to go out, so we walked up to the castle (a long and cold walk) and then down to this pub called The Three Sisters. We had way to much to drink here, but we did meet up with Bruce’s brother, who is a policeman, and who had his jacket stolen at the pub. Lots of jokes were made. The pub closed up shop at 1am, so we moved onto this club called Faith that was just down the road. This place cost a whopping £7 to get in (that’s almost $20!!!) but by that point we were all extremely inebriated, so we didn’t really mind. The club was pretty cool, great music, real dance music, not like the Cheese they play in Nottingham, and the drinks were expensive. More drinking ensued. The club closed at 3am and so we began the long walk home. Arrived home. Went to Sleep. Good night.
Next morning I get up while everyone else is still asleep and I go and have a look around the city. I go to all the famous places, the important places, take lots of pictures, get caught up in the history of it all. I’m tired now, so I’m not going to go into all the details but let’s just say it’s a beautiful city, I loved being there, blah blah blah.
Ok cool, so we did more stuff and later we went home.
Sorry about being abrupt. Normally I leave these sorts of things if I haven’t got time to finish them and then resume writing later on. But right now, I’m so close to the end, and I’m so late already for this thing I’m supposed to be at. So there it is.
I’ve been humming the Scottish national anthem recently; I actually know the words now as well!
Flower of Scotland
O Flower of Scotland,
When will we see your like again
That fought and died for
Your wee bit hill and glen.
And stood against him,
Proud Edward’s army,
And sent him homeward
Tae think again.
The hills are bare now,
And autumn leaves lie thick and still
O’er land that is lost now,
Which those so dearly held
That stood against him,
Proud Edward’s army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again.
Those days are past now
And in the past they must remain
But we can still rise now
And be the nation again!
That stood against him
Proud Edward’s army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again.
O Flower of Scotland,
When will we see your like again
That fought and died for
Your wee bit hill and glen.
And stood against him,
Proud Edward’s army,
And sent him homeward
Tae think again.