Getting Ready

Only a week to go! Since The Trip is so much on my mind, I figured there'd be no blog entries unless I blog about it. E-mails are flying back and forth, advice is being offered, and this is the weekend for packing, just to make sure I have everything I need, as there won't be much shopping time during the week - and we leave early Saturday morning.

We received a "welcome pack" from the resort where we will be staying for a week in Scotland. Hmmm. Do we want to play golf? "Only" £60 per person. (Club hire an extra £20). No thank you very much, we can play for about a tenth of that in New Zealand, should we ever get the urge. Not something I'd cross the world for (unless maybe I was a golf fanatic, and the course was St Andrews?)

Do we want the hot water and heating turned on before we get there? There is a charge for that, too. Do we want to order a "welcome pack" of groceries from the village shop. There is an order form but no prices. Choose from a list, or order the £25 Arrival Pack which includes tea, coffee, biscuits, milk, cornflakes, bread, butter, cheese, bacon, sausages, eggs, olive oil, orange juice and a bottle of wine. Or for £50 they will add a bottle of spirits, oatcakes, haggis, sliced ham, a whole cooked chicken and a box of fruit and veg. Again, this is looking a lot more expensive than our local prices. The there is theleaflet from the local butcher, again with no prices. I may just try the haggis, but for the basic groceries we plan on shopping in the cheaper supermarkets, so "no thank you, no thank you, and no thank you" to all their helpful offers.

I note that the village shop offers vegan haggis. Vegan haggis? Isn't that an oxymoron? Can someone please explain vegan haggis to me? The thinking around here is that it is various grains mixed up and packed into the stomach lining of the soybean plant.