What I'll Miss

I'm leaving on Monday for San Francisco. This is very sad for everyone involved, except for my mother, who's picking me up at the airport.

There's a lot to miss about being here. My sweetie, whom I'm abandoning for a while until I figure out a way to come back. My friends here, who have been a lot of fun and whom I've promised I'll be back. Scotland... the bogs, the mountains, the islands, the spring wildflowers.

And so many little things... just hearing Scottish people talking while walking down the street or in the store. Actually, I missed this over Christmas when we were in Leeds. Of course, I enjoyed the Yorkshire accents, but I missed Scottish voices.

I'll miss the sound of the train blowing its horn as it comes around the bend into Oban, just below our house. I'll miss the curvy, single-track country roads with drivers that considerately wait for you in the pull-outs and then wave when you pass.

Our house, and the hawk that lives in the tree above and screams while circling the hill. Going for runs up the glen and running past all the sheep browsing around. Seeing the view of islands from the top of the hill and watching the clouds change.

I can't bear to be missing the ECKO spring orienteering series, which was such a great challenge for me last year and gave me a ton of new experience in Scottish terrain. I can't believe I'm missing Andy's Oban street-o in just about a week.

On the subject of food, I will certainly miss the overwhelming variety of available teas, marmalades, meat pies, weird condiments, scones of all kinds, oatmeal, curries, chutneys and of course, haggis.

Yes, I do like haggis. I've eaten meat haggis twice, I think (once deep-fried) and vegetarian haggis a couple times. Andy and I made a veggie one for New Year's eve and ate roasted potatoes and parsnips with it. Traditionally the "haggis, neeps and tatties" calls for mashed turnips and potatoes, but I'm making a case for parsnips instead. Just to confuse things.

Finally, I will say, speculatively, that I might not miss the weather very much. Our week's forecast:


It's not so much the rain that's annoying as the damp, if you know what I mean. This place could be tropical, if only it were warm.