Jansport and I were talking last night and I realized something. Jansport said, “Sometimes you take a negative tone, Isherwood. I’m sorry to have to tell you this but it is rather off-putting, all of this sarcasm. It makes life rather tedious.” Dear readers, I don’t want this to be the case! Jansport and I have embarked on a true adventure here in Scotland and I don’t want you to think that I am not having a good time. I am having the BEST time a man can have talking to his backpack in a foreign country. The coolness of Scotland is found in the simple, subtle, but interesting differences between this country and the US.

Take Tesco, the British Supermarket, as a case in point. At Tesco there are three registers open and one central queue, which is of course a British word for “line” and one that is really fun to spell. Q-U-E-U-E. See how much fun! In the states we have ten lines with ten checkout people at Giant, but here they have one central queue with three tellers. It seems to make sense, though it makes for a longer line. One thing I don’t miss at all is the sudden flush of severe, disabling, anger in realizing that I’ve picked the slowest line in the whole supermarket. The central queue suits the British as they have what I believe to be a hereditary ability to wait in groups for service.

I am no Top Chef. This has been reconfirmed with each trip to Tesco. I don’t know what has happened to me, but without my wife, I am like a lost teenager walking around and buying random items that I think will eventually comprise a meal. I thought I was more self-sufficient that this, but it turns out I’m not, so I buy things like baked beans, digestive biscuits, and mustard. Later I wonder why I don’t have anything to eat. It’s kinda sad. Sam probably thinks it’s a little endearing too.

Anyway, here the hot cocoa (a dietary staple for me) is, of course, “drinking chocolate” and made by Cadbury’s. Is it terrific? Of course, and relatively cheap for the amount of exhilaration that this elixir induces. The pre-made meals at Tesco are pretty good – I have a couple of Scotch pies I’ll be eating later – and some of them look reasonable fresh. There are plenty of pre-made Indian dishes for relatively cheap and they cater to the British and Scottish love for Asian cooking. My flatmate told me that Indian food was the second food of the UK, and judging from the six curry shops in two blocks around me, this is indeed the case.

Here’s my point: so far the only shopping I have done here has been for sustenance. In the States, when we’re bored, we tend to go to the malls or look around shops for something to do, and this can eventually end up with a purchase of something we don’t need. I have been here for two weeks now and except for a book from the Oxfam shop on Byers Road, I haven’t bought a thing other than food. I haven’t even poked about the shops. I don’t have a flat yet, of course, but my point is, I think, that when a place is so fresh, the very act of walking and watching is entertainment enough. Sam and I haven’t lived in a “city” since we first graduated from college, now eight years distant. I think I forgot how interesting a city is to just absorb. And this makes me very grateful to be here.

Okay, no more sappytime. Keep the questions coming for this week’s postcard contest. You can e-mail them to iaisherwood@gmail.com, or post in the comment section. I think I’ll do this postcard thing weekly depending upon the interest of the crowd, so everyone will get a chance to win a “touch” of Scotland for their refrigerator.

Cheers,

Ian