Bernie is
insistent on the placing a trip advisor review of the Fraser Suites – she
pleads for the comments that I made on the blog – I transfer them to her and
she uploads them but not before adding one additional sentence as follows:
… “The
bathroom doors so heavy that it requires a caber tosser to open it”
She decides
to upload the review under my name – I receive a terse email from Trip Advisor
– your posting contains a profanity! – please amend and resubmit – we study the
review – what are they talking about?– it finally dawns on the geriatrics that
the English language has evolved over their lifetime– we amend the final
sentence of the review as follows:
…. The
bathroom door so heavy that it would require a competitor in the camber
throwing event at the Highland Games to open it” – so far – so good – no more
terse emails from Trip Advisor!
We arise -
the weather in the auld reekie has turned – gone is the sunshine of our first
tw0 days replaced by the cold sleet that the Scots accept as their winter lot – we summons an Uber – two minutes and we off to pick up the hire car – in a flash
we are off over the Forth of Fife bridge and onto the Fife Tourist Road – the
sleet continues – the clouds low – the paddocks green with grass or chocolate
brown with newly turned soil – the hedges just starting to display the first
traces of their spring attire - the outlook bleak and drab save for the yellow
of the daffodil and gorse.
Slowly the weather improves – just improves –
it still threatens! –
It is Saturday morning – things are quiet on
the roads and in the villages – the locals clearly rise late on weekends – the
cafes that usually dominate the town centres of villages on such tourist routes
have their doors firmly closed - our
hunger pangs are raised to new levels upon the transit of each village until
finally we find a bakery come coffee shop prepared to soothe them albeit with
hardly a smile and with a distinct absence of conversation – I wonder if the
bleak regression of the emerging spring weather was having a demoralising
effect on the locals _ a Haggis and
Steak pie for Bernie – something more conventional for me – while we consume
the produce of this local bakery we trust that their manner does not reflect
the normal demeanour of Scottish traders and is indeed a product of the day’s
gift of the weather gods.
We leave the bakery and proceed along the Fife
Tourist Route – the weather shows a greater tendency to improve than to regress
– we follow the coastline – we marvel at the shades of grey of the ocean and
the skies on its horizon – we note the oil rigs located surprisingly close to
coastline.-
By the time we reach Pittenweem the sun has
overcome its opposing elements and is trying its best to brighten the hearts
and minds of the travellers – we emerge from the hire car at the historic old
harbour at Pittenween – it is lunchtime – we brave the chilly winds to join a few
Germans – a few Scandinavians – a few locals – all admiring the boats and
wondering at the paraphernalia of the crab fishermen – scallops and smoked
salmon for lunch – our eyes too large for the capacity of our bellies.
Onwards – the weather improves to the stage
were it could be described as tolerable – along hedge bordered road – along
roads bordered by land turned by
mouldboard plough -along roads bordered by wide open paddocks of uniform green
– along roads that follow the ocean.
We reach ……. And head inland – Bernie sees a
tourist sign “Scotland’s Secret bunker” – she cannot resist – we follow the
signs – we pay the 30 pounds entry fee – we whince – the fees are large in
Scotland – an early nuclear was bunker declassified in 1993 – the operations
room in the even of a nuclear attack – long past its use by date – a testimony
to man’s folly – we contemplate the facilities that must have replaced it – we
assume their location and details are known only to those n the know!
Onwards – the sun shines - St Andrews – by the
sea - through her architecture and atmosphere she politely points to her tradition as a
university town – not quiet Cambridge
but a traditional university town nevertheless - busy on a Saturday
afternoon – students – locals – golfing tourists sporting their golf bags
screaming “look at me – I am finally fulfilling a lifetime of dreams”
Across the Tay – into Dundee – to Perth and the
Auld Manse Guest House
