We're in Scotland!

I've just got back home to Marsden after visiting Scotland, with lots of memories brought back just from the drive.  Driving is still quite strange for me now, especially long distances.  Siobhan couldn't sit in the front seat of the car, because the movement from the traffic and the road would mess with her vision, and make her dizzy.  She always sat in the back seat on the passenger side, and so I've always been used to an empty passenger seat in the front, glancing back in the mirror to see Siobhan.  And now, in some ways, it's one of the times that I feel she's more 'present' to me.  Apart from the glancing back, everything about the drive feels the same, I can even hold my left hand back and imagine grabbing her hand.  Even though I'm making myself cry a bit now, it is a comforting thing in the car.

We lived in Glasgow for almost a decade.  So driving to Scotland was always a homecoming of some kind: either literally going back to our flat in Dennistoun, or excitedly to visit friends and family after we'd moved to England.  The same things always surprised us, like just hearing Scottish accents in shops and on the street.  Anywhere in England, Siobhan's ears would prick up whenever we heard a Scottish accent, and it's difficult to reacclimatise to the situation where it's not a novelty.  Usually the weather told you that you were coming back to Scotland.  So many times that we could see ominous clouds on the horizon while we were heading North.  But you're also heading back to longer days in the summer, a bit cooler, subtle shifts that signpost the change in environment.

One of the main treats on anyone's drive to Glasgow along the M6 is Tebay Services.  I don't think anybody needs to be told, but it's not like any other services, it's more like a cool farm shop and has none of the regular chains that you have to tolerate at a normal services.  After I learnt to drive, and we discoverd it, it was like our little secret.  I really do still think that not many people knew about it at that time.  

We used to call it Westmorland Services, but when other people discovered it they called it Tebay (it seems like it's sort-of called both).  And it just became one of those things - you can't awkwardly have conversations where you're each calling something by two different names - so Tebay it was.  They used to serve a chicken curry, that was a really nice old-school style curry with a mainly curry powder base.  If someone at Tebay reads this, then bring my chicken curry back.

In the car, as in all aspects of our lives, we were quite ritualistic.  Almost verging on the superstitious.  Silly games, like the game of horse, where you just have to shout 'horse' when you see a horse.  Or the game of Delph, where you have to be the first to shout 'Delph' when you're driving through Delph.  

But maybe my favourite was reserved for driving to Scotland.  The start of the ritual was all down to me, and I would have to time it right.  When we were approaching the 'Welcome to Scotland' sign, with the big Saltire, I would start chanting "we're in England, we're in England, we're in England, we're in England..." I'd start quiet and slow, and build the pace up as we approached the sign.  But I wanted to do it kabaddi-style, without taking a breath, that would definitely make it a failed attempt.  And you can't get away with just a few "we're in England"s, you're just not building the drama.  And of course, as soon as we pass the sign: "we're in Scotlaaaaaaaaaaaand!" both together as loud as we could.  

There is just a bit more excitement about arriving in Scotland than there is in England.  If I've been away, I'm always happy to get home, but I don't have the same happy surprise the first time I hear an English accent.  And we never attempted the same kind of celebration when we drove south of the border.  Prove me wrong, but I don't think anyone has excitedly shouted "We're in England!".

Love Pete x