Recharging batteries

Well... after my last bout of thoughtfulness I realised, to actually concentrate on the task at hand I need to get away from London and recharge my batteries. With exams looming large on the horizon it really was important for me to get down to the dirty task of sifting through notes and lecture presentations of the term gone by to ensure that I knew enough of the stuff to get a good score. However, the mind refused to concentrate. It was at this juncture that an old school friend of mine turned up as a saviour. He has been studying medicine at the University of Glasgow for about three years and that's where he was inviting me for the weekend. Having last met him nearly 4 years ago, when he was had come around to India (he was finishing up with BSc from King's College, London), this indeed was a trip I would have been more than glad to go for.

A little check on the modes of transport available - road, rail n air, I settled for an overnight journey by road on a National Express coach scheduled for departure on Friday night (that's exactly a week before). Needless to say, the journey was pretty sleepless. Barely having slept on the journey, I was disappointed to find Glasgow being drenched by the weather gods on Saturday morning. And we were early. So, I just about waited around at the Buchanan Bus Station till my friend turned up (we shall refer him as R henceforth). Right after, R turned up we went for a coffee. Being about as early as 7:30 in the morning, hardly a few shops were open. Luckily, the nearby McDonald's had just started business. Saved our caffeine parched souls. A little bit of chit chat, while we waited at the bus stop. It was at this point that it struck us, that we could take a walk back to his accommodation. It was a 45 min walk, but given our past track records from schooldays, this was probably a warm up walk (which indeed it turned out to be later). A long walk and a nice chat!!

A little bit of rest, a breakfast and we were off for a bit of walking tour of the University of Glasgow's Gilmore Hill campus. What ensued was a long walk of about 3 hours. Back to quarters and it was lunchtime. Evening saw us headed out to nearest pub, where his chums had gathered. As the evening rolled by, more trooped in as did the number of our drinks go up. Now R, has decided to get me drunk (I still wonder why) and had sworn not to leave the pub till so (despite my warning him against it). As fate, would have we left when the pub close around midnight, R a bit high, while the old self being absolutely normal. I faintly remember him calling a gutter later that night before we retired to bed. A dinner of haggis with gravy was on the cards though. Now haggis is a traditional Scottish dish, so a must have if you are in Scotland. Its made of pork, so in case, you are sensitive to it ask for variations if they have it.

And so, lazing by and basically being the useless gits that we truly are, the next couple of days rolled by, till it was time to trudge back to London on Tuesday night. Thankfully, I had a co-passenger who didn't snore and the bus was fairly comfortable to allow for a good night's sleep. Now my co-passenger while returning was an 80 year old lady, who was travelling all the way to Kent to attend her elder sister's 90th birthday. Quite a commendable effort on her part, as she was travelling all along. Had a nice chat with her and was quite amused at her expression of "Oh dear", which perhaps punctuated most of her sentences. An old english habit?? I am not so sure.