After a whirlwind trip to London and various parts of Scotland, I’m back. Got in a bit of writing for the new John Black books, sprinkled among these other happenings:
- Saw a large number of castles; slept in two.
- May or may not have heard a ghost in second castle.
- May or may not have seen Nessie at Loch Ness.
- Got hit by a double-decker bus in London, just outside Westminster Abbey. Really. Thankfully it was more love-tap than running-over.
- Saw the Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo.
- In the rain.
- Watched street performers juggle, balance, abuse themselves, and make fools out of the public.
- Tried several new whiskeys.
- Trained across the English countryside.
- Hit Loncon3, the World Science Fiction Convention, and attended the Hugo Awards ceremony.
- Saw a life-sized TARDIS. Guess where.
- Tried to hit opening night of Kate Bush’s run at the Hammersmith Apollo, but alas, they require you to have this strange British thing called a “ticket.”
- Stopped by the Elephant House in Edinburgh, where J. K. Rowling purportedly wrote some of the original Harry Potter book. Of course, I pulled out my iPad and wrote a bit myself, just to see if there was real magic there.
- Learned a Scottish catch phrase: “No umbrellas! Only misery!”
- Hiked a Scottish waterfall.
- Drove on the “wrong” side of the road. Even when the road was two strips of gravel with grass growing in the middle.
- Did a dramatic reading of the Swamp Castle scene from Monty Python’s Holy Grail, outside of Duone Castle, site of the filming.
- Took some selfies. With castles. And a loch. And my family.
- Tried haggis. It was good.
- Had several English/Scottish breakfasts.
- Popped into the pub for a pint.
- Snuck four copies of my book The Oasis of Filth – The Complete Series into English bookstores. Will be interesting to see if anyone ever picks them up and contacts me.
Now I need a vacation to recover from my vacation. Er, I mean holiday.
Cheers!
K.