Failte gu Brod

Welcome to Scotland! (at least that is what the airport sign said) So this week I have ventured up to Glasgow, Scotland for work. I caught the trains over to Heathrow and was getting my tickets when I heard a bit of a commotion. I quickly realised that it was a gang of adolescent girls, with a few older ones thrown in for good measure. The commotion was actually them talking but as it quickened and climbed the octave charts, I had flashbacks to the Discovery Channel citing the trumpeting of elephants before they stampede. They were looking and gesturing in my general direction. Surely, I thought, there was no way that I had done something to make this many girls so upset or excited to see me. The slowly started drifting in my direction, a sense of apprehension and curiosity about them. As I grabbed my ticket, I noticed a young boy about 16 years old next me with his hoodie pulled down over his face. I caught him in the eye and recognised the look of despair, exhaustion and acknowledgement that he had heard the gaggle of girls. About then a few of the girls had purposefully, with newly gained courage, passed me to confront my neighbour. He looked as though he had expected it but was hoping to avoid them. After an instant of puzzlement, I was amused to realise he was a finalist on X Factor (think American Idol), Eoghan Quigg (pronounced Owen). It also dawned on me the rather strange noise I had heard emanating from the group of female admirers was heavily Irish accented, excitedly spoken English. apparently the had recognised him from a distance, stalking him down the terminal. So to my relief and disappointment, they weren't after me. For the next few minutes Eoghan posed for mobile phone pictures and words of encouragement.

Then off to my gate and quickly realised that I had been upgraded to business class. Even though it was only slightly over an hour flight, I think I am truly spoiled now. Not sure if I can ever survive economy class again. This is only compounded by the fact we are staying at a Hilton property, which means I can actually abuse the membership rewards that I worked so hard to accumulate in the US. I ended up with an Executive room upgrade (top floor, hard woods entryway and marble bathroom) and access to the Executive lounge (no waiting for food, free drinks). No mingling with the commoners for me!

However Glasgow is a wee bit cold. Real cold. Think it managed down to -5 Celsius which is like cold enough to cancel schools in NC Fahrenheit. But all in all it is a nice enough place and enjoyable. Couldn’t help but laugh at the wee flashing neon signs selling kilts. Aye Quality stuff. (the prolific use of "wee" - even if something is not wee... and aye - like canadians and "eh" but cooler constantly makes me laugh).