We’ve ventured north of the border on a couple of occasions in the last six months.  Perhaps we’re getting to like the place.  Who knows!

Last week saw us at The Scottish Baby Show at the SECC in Glasgow, where we stood for three days bedecked in all our finest regalia and interacted with the many thousands of visitors.  I like to think we did well.  There was loads of interest, lots of people came over to chat and ask questions and of course to take advantage of the little freebies we were giving out.

But do you know what the best thing about it all was?  The people themselves!  What a lovely bunch of bods the Scottish contingent is!  We’ve done similar shows in various other parts of the UK over the last couple of years, and I can say without doubt that the Glasgow event is the friendliest and most enjoyable of them all.

Hearsay has it that the Scots are a dour bunch; miserable as sin, they say!  I’m sure there must be some who fit that mould, but we didn’t find them last weekend.  We found loads of happy, friendly, affable, smiling people who shared our jokes, smiled when we talked to them, were polite and courteous and they made the whole event an absolute pleasure for us.

I have an old friend from years gone by, Bill, who hails from the great Kingdom of Fife.  He was at our wedding bash and we try our best to meet up at least once a year to ‘swing the lamp’ or whatever it is that old friends do.  He always said that his fellow countrymen (he didn’t quite phrase it in that way) were a friendly bunch of souls, but it had been so hard to really find out the details due to his almost incomprehensible accent, or should I say dialect, as accent is far too mild a term.  I often laugh at Mrs C when he speaks to her because I know for a fact that only about 20% of what he says is actually registering.  However she continues to nod, smile, laugh occasionally and promote continued conversation.  None of that was necessary last weekend though, she must be learning through experience.

What were the negatives?  Almost certainly the 15 hours on the road to get there and back.  It’s a long old drag from Cardiff to Glasgow, but we had the use of a magnificent piece of automotive beauty in the form of one of those Octavia VRS Estate machines from Skoda.  Forget their history of the seventies and eighties.  This was some piece of kit, I assure you!  Quiet, comfortable, blisteringly fast and as thrifty as Scrooge, managing almost six hundred miles from one tank.  I was well impressed!  

However it’s all over now.  We’re back in the office, soldiering away.  It seems the more we do, the more needs to be done too.   It keeps us on our toes though and life would be dull otherwise. 

I have to conclude with reference to a couple of our site ‘regulars’ who came to see us.  (You know who you are!)  Many thanks for the charitable donation, and it’s a shame the old pink jumper didn’t make a show, but I’ll remember the moist muffin for years, not because it tasted delicious, but when you put your fingers into it, it was so fresh that it seemed such a shame that it had to be eaten. 

The mind absolutely boggles over!

N.