Back from St Andrews But Not Really

On 11.02.09, In Hamilton Hall, Scotland, St Andrews, Travel, United Kingdom, By Mike

scotland-flag

On Wednesday morning when I arrived in Scotland’s Edinburgh Airport slightly knackered from my overnight 2-legged journey, I privately sighed. I was now back in a country that I not so privately love.  I don’t want you to get the wrong impression, I love America too. But if America owns my heart, for some reason, and one I can’t truly articulate, Scotland owns my soul.

The purpose of my visit was to meet up with the Monarchs House (our home in St Andrews) team of Angus and Kevin. Kevin has been the chef at the house since we bought it in 2001. If well over a thousand visitors to Monarchs House can be trusted, Kevin is St Andrews’ best chef. I wholeheartedly concur but his demeanor, in addition to his cooking, make Kevin a treat to be around. Angus Mitchell, our general manager since taking over from his daughter Amanda six years ago, is the best go-to-guy one could ever dream up. He has lived in St Andrews for his entire life and knows where all the bones are buried, no small feat in medieval St Andrews. Angus is knowledgeable, thorough, trustworthy, loyal and hard working. If you’re an absentee homeowner and this fellow was looking after your interests, you could sleep at night. He is also retiring at the end of November. Figuring out what to do without Angus in the mix was the meaning behind the trip.  BUT it was far more than that.

Waiting for me as I came around the corner signage proclaiming Edinburgh’s beauty was Club Cars, the taxi company Angus had sent to retrieve me. The driver was a familiar, friendly face that was keen to know how long it had been since I last visited. After a few comments about the fate of Hamilton Hall, the iconic red sandstone building I was involved with, the conversation turned light, warm and breezy just like the weather that day. As much as I talked and listened, my eyes searched the rolling hills of Fife as we made our hour’s journey into St Andrews. Farms, distant ruins, and a steam billowing train running vein-like through the middle of the county made everything seem so familiar. It was familiar because not much had changed since I last made this journey 2+ years ago and 33+ years ago.  Would St Andrews be the same? I had very little time ahead of me to before I could bear witness.

As we circled the Guardbridge roundabout for the final leg of the ride, I noticed my breathing. It was shallow. Once I saw the Eden Estuary, I knew it would be moments before I saw the church spires and the Hamilton Hall dominated St Andrews skyline. And then, there it was, in the distance, the building that was my dream project, Hamilton Hall. I shook my head in a final indignation at how unceremoniously the restoration had abruptly ended for everyone but it was right there in the taxi that I decided to put this disaster behind me once and for all. Of course, it wouldn’t be easy because everyone I saw in the ensuing 4 days had questions and lots of them. But it was a starting point.

Monarchs House was the final destination and as always, Kevin was there to greet me with a toothy smile and a warm welcome. Though I wanted to crawl into bed for a short nap, I also wanted a Monarchs House French press coffee. I was exhausted and I knew that if you are over tired, you can forget about getting sleep. (There’s your special bonus travel tip du jour.)  Shortly afterwards, Angus walked in displaying the warm Scottish hospitality that Monarchs House is known for. Both Angus and Kevin looked precisely as they did when I last saw them. It was like my ride into town. Nothing changes. We agreed to meet at 1 PM and Kevin would join us at 3 PM. We needed to get Angus outfitted with the sloped shoulders that retirement would bring him but we needed a plan for Monarchs House. I went upstairs to the Robert the Bruce bedroom and quickly released myself into the arms of Morpheus. Visions of Scotland danced through my head.

After meeting with Angus and Kevin, I decided to go for a walk around the town. It was a cracking day and unseasonably warm, perfect for exploring. Directly to the left of our house is Lade Braes Lane, a ten-foot walled in passageway into the town. On occasion, it is used as a smoking outpost and hideaway for the young students of the next-door Madras College. The really great thing about the lane is that it starts in town, runs by our house and ends 2.5 miles down the road at the Botanical Gardens.

Town is exactly like I remembered it, which is not to say there wasn’t changes, it is just that the changes were small and subtle. Things move glacially at St Andrews on purpose. If it went any other way, you’d see a McDonald’s on the corner. I noticed that many shops had closed and more storefronts than ever before were now available for let. After much resistance, the town has parking meters now. They installed the tower system, which serve multiple parking spots replacing the archaic voucher system. Another change I noticed is that it appears like St Andrews has become the coffee-drinking epicenter of the free world. There are coffee shops everywhere. In a town of over 15,000 university students, you can now get coffee or beer at multiple locations on any street in town. One pub that did close was the ubiquitous Aikman’s on Bell St. KT Tunstall used to gig there in the early 2000s but after 20+ years, it seems shuttered. On a further look around, I did see a couple of new buildings but all in all time stands still in St Andrews.

All of that walking made me a bit thirsty myself. I could have stopped at any of the many pubs that I passed on my way around town but I wanted to put in an appearance at the St Andrews Golf Club where I am a member. I knew that I would be interrogated at the Club but I wanted to drop in and say hello to my inquisitors.  After entering the club with a swipe card, I walked into the main room where there is usually epic socializing taking place. I glanced down at the blue couch to my left and sitting there, as expected, were the four horsemen of the apocalypse, my drinking mates for that early evening. I will spare you their names only because they would hate to get a reputation for being nice to me. But being nice to anyone without a couple of well-considered and good-natured digs is the modus operandi of this group. After greeting me with  “we were just talking about you 10 minutes ago,” I was then told that my (new) haircut was “poufy” and that the “extra weight looks good on you.” Welcome back.

Later that evening, I met up with an old friend and one that I have kept in touch with for years. Since he had something else on his diary that evening, our best option was for drinks at 9 PM at the Russell Hotel. My friend suggested it, though he knew it was my favorite local place, in order that we could be in the company of the lovely and friendly manageress there, Helen. Later in the evening, my friend’s wife popped in for a final drink and some final laughs. What a great way to spend my first day back in St Andrews.

Rather than bore you with a day by day accounting of my travails, I will leave it at this. My trip was everything I expected and more, just as it always is. When I paid my final visit to the St Andrews club on Saturday, one of my friends there, the most curmudgeonly of the lot, came over to me and hugged me as he was leaving for the day. He leaned over and quietly said so that no one else could hear, “next time, don’t be as long, lad.” It was like the first time I had been to St Andrews 33 years ago, when a total stranger invited me off the street and into his house to have supper with he and his wife. Nothing changes. And I like it like that.

Possibly Related Posts:


Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 
4 Comments
Leave A Response

Aye Wonder Pre-Flight

On 10.27.09, In Aye Wonder Tuesday, Scotland, By Mike

wonder1I feel pressed for time but I am determined to keep up the flow of posts here at Aye Wonder. I am especially sensitive to the fact that Tuesday’s Aye Wonder is aways the most read posting of the week. You must like incoherrent ramblings. Well, there will be great rambling today with little sense to be made of it all.  So here goes nothing, literally and figuritively.

☞I am going to start with the song of the week so that you can have a soundtrack for the posting. The artist’s name is Ma’ayan Castel and I know very little of her story. I do know that she works here in Boston to supplement her music career but is originally from somewhere else. My source says Israel but I don’t know for sure about that either. What I do know is this, she has a lovely voice, kind of a cross between Sade and Everything but the Girl. Her EP is available on iTunes and is worth picking up. You’ll definitely crave more Ma’ayan Castel. The song here is Broken Mr. False Pretense. Have at it.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

☞Don’t know if you saw this, a French Court has convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud. Unlike the US, France has always refused to recognise Scientology as a religion, arguing that it is a purely commercial operation designed to make as much money as it can at the expense of often vulnerable victims, the BBC’s Emma Jane Kirby reports from Paris. More to come on this for sure.

☞On October 13, I wrote about David Letterman’s masterful public handling of his affair and postulated that his affair would be out of the news in no time. Mark Sanford, Steve Phillips, et al. take note. Take responsibility and let the chips fall where they may.

☞Yesterday, I read with interest Rick Newman’s piece on the US News & World Report website entitled 9 Signs of America in Decline. No one wants to hear this, of course, but it is the undeniable course of events as evidenced by history. Take Athens, they advanced the City-State concept and the Greek Empire flourished. Then in comes Rome and builds an army for the ages and rules the world. Along comes Spain with its Armadas, followed by the British Navy and followed by America with its natural resources and work ethic. At every point in history, some country led because of the strength of its commodity. The new commodity and the world’s new leader is China and their work force. Read Newman’s article here. Depressing but true.

☞I have a joke for you that I have been telling for years. It is a rare joke in that it’s clean AND it’s funny. Here goes:

One day, a father was addressing his three sons on the fantail of the sampan in the Yangtze River where they lived. “Honorable sons,” he began earnestly, “who throw honorable outhouse from fantail of sampan into Yangtze River?”

Not one of his sons responded.

He repeated, “Honorable sons, who throw honorable outhouse from fantail of sampan into Yantgtze River?”

His question was met with silence.

“Let me tell you story,” his parable began. “Many years ago, father of independence of United States of America, George Washington chop down cherry tree. George Washington father say, ‘Who chop down honorable cherry tree?’ George Washington reply, ‘honorable father, I cannot tell lie, it was I that chop down honorable cherry tree.’ Now, because George Washington tell truth, he no receive punishment or retribution from father. SO, I ask again, who throw honorable outhouse from fantail of sampan into Yangtze River?”

The middle son looks at his siblings on either side of him and steps forward, “Honorable Father, it was I that throw honorable outhouse from fantail of sampan into Yangtze River?”

With that the father leans back and punches his middle son square on the nose knocking him to the ground.

Embarrassed, the son leaps to his feet and hurriedly and nervously says, “Honorable Father, you say George Washington tell truth and no receive punishment or retribution YET I tell truth and receive punch in nose. Why is that, honorable Father?”

The Father looks at his son with a professorial look and says, “that because, George Washington Father not in cherry tree when George Washington chop down cherry tree.”

I don’t know why but I have been wanting to write that one down forever. Poor you. Tell it at dessert on Thanksgiving.

☞It looks like is it all but assured that Apple will introduce a new tablet computer in the first quarter of 2010. Expect it to save the newspaper and magazine industries. Imagine an iPhone (without a calling facility) that is 10.5 inches long and weighs less than a pound and a half. It will surely be the new product everyone will want.

☞Did you know the World Series still hasn’t been played? I say that just to get under the skin of my friends who are Yankee fans. It just seems to me that baseball should be over by now.

☞Here’s another throw back into the field of play from deep center field. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi annoy the hell out of me. That is all.

☞I am bringing a small Hi-Def video cam along with my regular camera with me to St Andrews. Expect another photo montage. I apologize in advance.

☞And finally the AYT quote of the week.

Scotland, thank God, is not for everyone.
~Robin Douglas-Home

And that lads and lassies is this week’s bit. Hope you liked it.
Aye Wonder.
What about you?

Possibly Related Posts:


Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 
2 Comments
Leave A Response

Post Marathon, Aye Wonder Tuesday

On 04.21.09, In Aye Wonder Tuesday, By Mike

wonderIs it Tuesday already? Goodness. If you live in Boston, you no doubt know that the Marathon was in town yesterday. That’s upwards of 26,000 official runners and their friends and families coming into town. That means it’s time to party. I’ve long said that Boston is a drinking city with a sports problem and yesterday proved it once again. The cash registers never stop ringing for bars and restaurants at or near key viewing points of the race. Nothing comes close to Marathon Monday with the possible exception of New Year’s Eve. It makes for a very long Tuesday. Trust me.

While Marathon Monday’s Tuesday hangover prevented me from writing earlier, I am here with the regularly scheduled Aye Wonder posting. Some of my random thoughts may be muddled (like one of the drinks I had yesterday) but I trust you will make sense of them. So here goes.

☞When he pitched in Boston, I loved him but when he left I saw Roger Clemens for what he is. Now, the world will get another look at him through the soon to be published book entitled American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime. Sports Illustrated is publishing an excerpt from the book that will undoubtedly raise further talk of Clemens’ lies to a Congressional committee. I wouldn’t want be him.

Can you help me? I can’t inject in my booty.

Those were the fateful words that began the friendship between legendary pitcher Roger Clemens and the trainer who would ultimately betray him, Brian McNamee.

☞I want to say I don’t believe in torture but something inside of me asks this question: If the balance of the country’s stability and safety can be upheld by getting information from one person, would I torture to get that info? I would have a difficult time saying no, I think. I know it is inhumane but a terrorist attack of innocent people is more inhumane. Is this a simple case of two wrongs don’t make a right?

☞Geez Norm. Haven’t you had enough appeals by now? Apparently Norm Coleman doesn’t think so because he is now appealing a lower court ruling from last week that awarded the Minnesota senate seat to Al Franken. Minnesota has been underrepresented now for 4 months because of Coleman. I would be willing to bet that if the election were held again, Coleman would lose in a landslide because all throughout the process, he has put his own interests ahead of the interests of the Minnesotans. People generally don’t like that.

☞I had a great laugh when I read this story. It reminded me of the time that there was a bank robbery in a Massachusetts north shore community and police were waiting for the criminal when he got home to Charlestown. Apparently, the genius thug was wearing his Charlestown High School football jacket when he perpetrated the robbery in full view of the bank’s surveillance cameras.

☞A week ago, I never heard of Shawn Lee. Now, I can’t stop listening to his new album, Shawn Lee Presents Soul in the Hole. It’s amazing to me that Lee recorded this album in this decade. It has such an authentic 70’s soul sound with some electronics thrown in. Have a listen to the same titled opening song and see if you agree. WOW.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

☞If you live in Boston or plan to visit, make certain the new Lansdowne Pub is on your dance card. It is a brand new Irish Pub with a 67 foot long bar. They will be serving traditional food and lots and lots of beers including 2 Guinness taps. The fixtures are stunning and they will have live bands starting this Friday night. Endway does a residency there for 5 weeks. Here’s the poster. (of course, it’s a self-serving post!)

lansdowneendway

☞In my effort to keep it real here, I found this video about waterboarding. The journalist bets he can endure 15 seconds of waterboarding. Its not difficult to watch but it is enlightening.

☞And lastly today’s Aye Wonder quote is from Michael Levin, philosophy professor at City University of New York. He writes in favor of torture here.

There are situations in which torture is not merely permissible but morally mandatory.

Aye wonder about this.

And I am certain you do too.

Possibly Related Posts:


Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 
1 Comments
Leave A Response

Woe is Me

On 04.16.09, In Mind the Gap, Scotland, By Mike

saltire

Woe, Woe is MeI really miss Scotland. I do. My cynical friends from England will read this and think I’ve gone off my meds. But England and Scotland have been wedded for just over 300 years and have predictably grown apart (like the US north and south appear to be doing now!).  Truth be told, it’s Scotland that is the self sufficient county. They have great cattle, game, fish, poultry, vegetables, ale, whisky and most importantly, oil. Like England, it is a beautiful country but Scotland has a much more diverse topography. The Highlands are breathtaking as are the Inner and Outer Hebrides, an archipelago of islands off of Scotland’s northwest coast. Visit once and Scotland will get into your bloodstream faster than a dram of Glenmorangie. It’s an amazing place and a place that I haven’t visited in 20 months, the longest dry spell since I visited there for the first time 30+ years ago. Go behind the tab for more…

Why I miss ScotlandSometime ago I wrote a post about the 10 Reasons I Love Scotland. You can read part one, here and part two, here. Today, I’d like to tell you, a year and half removed from the country, what I miss the most about Scotland; why after all this time is it a place I think about every single day.

I have considered this scrupulously. I know what I love about Scotland but the reasons can’t entirely be why the country is so under my skin. No, my rapturous love for Scotland is all about the way of life. One of the things about living in America that we take for granted is that everything is so incredibly convenient. We have huge fridges that store a week’s worth of food.  We live in a world where the town center is no longer important; the mall is important or the Super Stop & Shop. In Scotland (and England) the town center is the cog of life. I must admit that when I was younger, the town center was even more important there than it is now. But for better or worse (I say worse), the US way of doing things is rubbing off in the UK. I think there’s something really great about walking to the butcher, the fish monger, the produce store, the cheese and bottle shops to pick up the evening’s meal. You see your neighbors, stop for a pint, share a laugh with your pastor or make golf plans along the way. The town center has a pulse, its own life. I positively LOVE that. In St Andrews, where my home is, I can walk everywhere. If I wanted to go out for dinner, I could walk to 25 restaurants and an equal amount of pubs. If I wanted to see a movie, I could walk to the local cinema where three current movies are on offer. I wouldn’t have to jump in the car and drive to the multiplex where there are 15 films vying for my attention. OK, so I don’t have as much of a choice but is that a terrible thing? I could wait until next week when all three movies change. Even though I live today in the middle of a large city, I long for a simpler life. But I don’t want to live in isolation. A small town, where I can walk to everything, suits me. I can walk to golf, the beach, the botanical gardens, the theater or the cafe. Is that available anywhere in the US? Maybe in a resort town but then you are faced with isolation in winter. Scotland has everything I want.

Yet, I am still here.

18updateHere’s a quick joke for you:

What’s one thing you will never hear in Scotland?

Oh that car? That’s the bagpiper’s Porsche.

Possibly Related Posts:


Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 
3 Comments
Leave A Response

Forewarned is Forearmed

On 11.24.08, In Economics, Economy, The Long Road, By Mike

I am not going to sugar coat this. I am scared out of my mind about what is going to happen to this country over the next decade. We are now in the process of making an incredibly painful transition from an economy built on credit to one built on cash. This will be a long drawn out process where you will see failure after failure in our banking system. If Citi can have issues so too can Bank of America and Wells Fargo. We are nowhere close to this being fixed and done. In the past couple of months, I have heard several of my friends optimistically and hopefully say that it will get better in late 2009. This is wishful thinking at best.

Imagine if you were the head of a foreign government that bought our bonds.  Are you going to put your money into a country that has a trillion dollar deficit? Would you really buys bonds from a country where every one of their financial institutions is in trouble or has failed? Some think that America’s work ethic and resourcefulness will carry us out of this recession because it has in the past. I believe that but the hole we have dug for ourselves is deep and will require time to refill.

When I started in the money management business in 1985, I was always optimistic. You couldn’t find a more bullish person in America. It lasted for 20 years. In 2005, I told Christine that I was worried. I was worried about a collapse in home prices that what would put incredible pressure on our financial institutions and our citizens. We were clearly over built and over borrowed. One of the drivers for this was the Baby Boomers. The Baby Boomers are the largest demographic group to ever move through any society in the history of the world. They bought, they bought and then they bought some more. Then, they started turning 65 and they wanted to sell. But to who? Who was going to provide the demand? Which group had the numbers…and the money. I have a home on Cape Cod that is our summer place. We have been there for 15 years. I’d love to sell this home and lower my living expenses. The chances of selling my Cape house? Zero. The other side of the economic market was just as grim. For a long while, we were lending money to a laborer making $42,000 a year in order that he/she might buy a $750,000 home. This “new” math won’t work.

Peter Schiff, the President of Euro Pacific Capital has been saying many of the same things that I have been saying. Two years ago, Schiff was eviscerated by Fox News for making projections that at the time seemed outlandish. Today, Schiff is lauded for his insight. If you watch this video be prepared to be depressed. This is Schiff’s latest thoughts and they are not reassuring. Just remember: forewarned is forearmed.

Possibly Related Posts:


Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 
4 Comments
Leave A Response

 

beachwalkerst.andrewschurchdundeebicyclelamp post 

I have written…. 

  • Time for an AWT Good News Edition
  • A New Decade AWT – I Feel Better Already
  • Happy New Year One and All
  • AWT is on the Record
  • The Insanity Continues
  • Two Days Remain
  • Marvellous. Just Marvellous.
  • The Decade in Review – The AWT version
  • I Feel So Good, I’m Gonna Break Somebody’s Heart Tonight
  • Has Anyone Seen the Winter Sun
 

Categories 

 

Archives 

 
Locations of visitors to this page
 

Stats 

Pageviews: 634
Hosts: 67
Users: 5
 
Go To Top »

Looking for something?

Use the form below to search the site:

Still not finding what you're looking for? Drop a comment on a post or contact us so we can take care of it!

Visit our friends!

A few highly recommended friends...

Archives

All entries, chronologically...

11 visitors online now
11 guests, 0 members
Max visitors today: 13 at 06:51 am UTC
This month: 13 at 09-03-2010 06:51 am UTC
This year: 40 at 05-29-2010 09:13 pm UTC
All time: 40 at 05-29-2010 09:13 pm UTC

Video & Audio Comments are proudly powered by Riffly