Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

I go on vacation and all that suffers in my blog. Having taken the last few days off I have some catching up to do. Where Tarentino would start now and work to the beginning, I feel that chronologically best suits me. This is a long one, if you need to use the washroom you should do so now.

So back to Thursday where I spent all day in classes one of which was my international financial management which I think I will enjoy, despite it being far more difficult than the others. I then bussed to Buchanan station to grab another bus to get me to the airport where I caught a plane to Birmingham to catch a "Rail-shuttle" to the train station in order to catch a train to Birmingham city center where I hailed a cab to get me to Gail's flat. Yep, that's what I said to. Everything would have been perfect if London airports tower radar had not gone down which then in turn held up air traffic in 90% of the UK for three days. The flight was delayed to the point that I barely caught the final train of the night into Birmingham. However, I did make it and was welcomed by the ever smiling Chez who lives next to Gail and may be one of the happiest and kindest women I have ever met. She made me a lasagna that could have fed a family of 4, Sheppard's pie, soup, Chicken stew (with a whole chicken in it), and all the juice, tea, coffee, bread, eggs and milk I could handle in a weekend. Being a starving student I worked my through all of it and think I put on around 9 pounds this weekend as a result. Above all, the lasagna was unparalleled, and I have had some damn good lasagna care of my own mother. I don't know what was in it, but wow! (Note to self - acquire that recipe.)

After getting settled in I went to visit Gail who was in great spirits despite her present living arrangement. I have to had it to her, by anyone standards she has had more than rough past couple of years, and yet, she is still doing as much as possible on her own and is happy that she is still better off than most of the other people in the Neuro ward. We had a great weekend end of visits which included, some walks around the grounds, me going through all my photos from the past few years, talking about the family as well as life in general, a few visits from some of Gail's friends, a trip into town where we went to a pub and had a true British Sunday lunch (I had the roast lamb with potatoes, veggies and a pint.) and just general chatting, something every Taylor is good at. After each days visit with Gail I would have the cabbie drop me at a pub near the flat and have a pint while watching the afternoon football match with the locals. They don't sell Tennents as it is brewed here in Glasgow so I was forced to expand my horizons. I still can't bring myself to drink warm Guinness and still get enjoyment out of the fact that the bartender asks me if I would like my pint "regular", "cold" of "extra-cold". In Canadian those mean "Piss warm", "chilled beer in a regular glass" or "Chilled beer in a chilled glass."

Monday I was unable to visit with Gail as she had a full day of appt's and I had an early afternoon flight so I took the morning and spent it exploring in the city center. I walked all over the place and saw the majority of downtown. I walked to the "Think-point" which is the science center but decided against spending the day in there. Instead I walked clear across town to the Sea-life discovery center. I refused to pay the 18.50 pounds (that's about $37) they were demanding and instead joined a private school group and walked in with them. I had more fun with them as I helped one group with their scavenger hunt, and although I didn't wait around for the results, I am sure we dominated those other 9 year olds. I saw the entire center for free and then continued my walk back to the train station to do the whole trip in reverse order. In walking back I stumbled across what might be the most ingenious or craziest concept ever. Birmingham, being a land locked city, felt that the citizens would appreciate a beach. So, they created a beach right in the middle of the city! Out front of city hall there are a large set of stairs that end at a large open, cobblestone area, and then the street. So they city trucked in enough white sand to fill the open area at the bottom of the steps, set up lawn chairs and one of the local bars has set up a beach bar that only serves beach drinks. So at 12:30 on a Monday the majority of a Conservative convention was headed to the beach in their suits in downtown Birmingham. Oh those crazy English!

This trip reminded me of three things. One, be happy with what you have while you have it. I take being able to cut my own food for granted, and until I broke my spine I could not have imagined what it would be like to not be able to do certain basic life tasks. That day reformed my life in a major way, and this trip reminded of all those things I had start to forget about and take for granted again. On that note, next time you see anyone who has any form of disability, acknowledge them. After talking with Gail all weekend I only heard her complain of two things and only one of which was to do with her current situation. One was how disgusted she is by people who can't seem to find a trash bin for their rubbish and how people just throw cigarette butts anywhere nowadays. Spoken by a previously long time smoker no less. And the second of her complaints is that when in a wheel chair, people try to pretend she is not there. She understands that they are trying to be polite and not stare but to not acknowledge she exists is down right rude. A simple smile, "cheers," "al'lo" or anything or the sorts will suffice. On the other hand I would like to thank the very kind waitress at the pub Gail and I went to, who went out of her way to grab doors, assist with steering and was overall an excellent host to us both. The third reminder of the trip is that Confidence can do wonderful things! With a little confidence I managed to ride First Class on the train both two and from Birmingham International, I saw the entire Sea-Life Discovery center,walked through the Convention Center and it's gardens which was closed for a Conservative convention of sorts and managed to sit in the seats with more leg room on both the flight there and back again.

Arriving back in Glasgow last night and moving like a bat outta hell to get to hockey practise I found out practise was cancelled for the bank holiday.

In other news, I want to congratulate my pops on landing a great job with a great company where they are as excited to have him as he is to be there. Finally, after dealing with every jack in the box out there, he will get the respect he has earned and so rightly deserves! Congrats Pops! I could not be happier for you!!

Today, I took a field trip with my archeology class to the Kelvingrove museum which I saw last weekend but this time had to go through it and look for answers to lecture questions. The real kicker here was that the museum did not in fact provide any answers and we were "to interpret the knowledge within the museum and create our own answers. I did not learn this until I had been wandering the Kelvingrove for about an hour and fifteen minutes. For those who know me, you can imagine how pleased I was. Tonight was football practise where we started to hit. Turns out enough years of both hitting and getting hit in Hockey taught me how to lower a shoulder. I am now the starting middle right line backer for the Glasgow University Tigers. I can hear my mother right now saying something like "Oh Andrew, I hope your being careful." Don't worry mom, my coach even gave me my own pads today and he gave me a gear bag to boot. He likes me cause I "don't back down" and he is from Winnipeg. And mom, you'll be even happier to know that the actual season does not start until Nov. so I will only play a few games before I am done anyways. It is great fun and I am thoroughly enjoying it thus far. And between Hockey and Football I am in training three times a week and hope to stay in shape while I am here.

Day off tomorrow and other than going for a "work-out" jog I am going to attempt to read the first 110 pages of a 680 page Scots Law textbook. Exciting times! I am sure I have forgotten something but I will try to remember and fit it in during the coming days.