I Feel Like a Gray Donkey

Before we get to today's post I have exciting news. I have now just done my first guest post ever. You can see it today over at Building Camelot by clicking here. I feel like such a big shot.

I have a short post of my own today so here it is as well.

The people here in Scotland are among the nicest I have ever encountered on my travels. They are very friendly and easy to talk to. I have had strangers at the hotel chat me up just to be nice. One of them even bought me a beer. One of my favorite things is that they actually wave at each other when driving. Many of the streets are narrow two lane roads that have one lane blocked by parked cars. This is practically every side street I have seen. When you go down them you have to be alert and get out of the way of oncoming traffic. You must duck into openings until others pass. When you let a car go by the driver waves thanks every time. This is the only place out of small town Arkansas that I have ever seen the friendly wave. I love it.

Even with the friendly folks I am down in the dumps a bit lately. The whole situation is reminding me of a certain cartoon donkey. Do you remember Winnie the Pooh’s buddy Eeyore the donkey. He was a gloomy old chap. In his little world it was dark and rainy every day. He was tired. He was sad, and he ate thistles.

Well I feel like that gray donkey myself these days. It does physically rain every day in the West of Scotland. The only difference each day is whether it will rain hard or mist. Some days if you are lucky the sun comes out long enough to dry your clothes out before it starts raining again. In another Eeyore related note the thistle is big here in Scotland too. The flower is featured on every historic Scotland sign. It is the symbol or trademark for the national monuments or something. So here I am nearing the end of this trip thinking about a fictional donkey. If some people claim to see Nessie I don’t know why I can’t believe that Eeyore must be from this grand old place as well.