The Final Leg of the Journey

I know this sounds highly implausible, but it happened. As I was leaving the hotel on our way home that last day, a double rainbow broke out, right over the Scottish/English border. I should be clear here – the ‘border’ is like the Quebec/Ontario border, or the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border: non-existent except for a road sign. Well, that and Hadrian’s Wall, but you can only see that at certain points along the border. But really, there was a massive double rainbow, and the inner rainbow was fully visible, all the way up from the ground, along the arc, and back right to the ground. The outer one had gaps. It was magnificent, it straddled the highway, and as I drove towards it I half expected to hear choirs of angels singing from on high.

The trip home was relatively uneventful: 233 miles of beautiful, sunny Scottish countryside. Except for Glasgow. I’ve come to realize that Glasgow is like Woodstock Ontario – you know how it can be clear and sunny in Milton, and also in London, but there will be white-outs in Woodstock? Well, regardless of the weather elsewhere in Scotland, it always rains in Glasgow, at least anytime I’m driving near it.

And then there’s Dundee. I was taking a slightly different route home this time, taking the 7-hour ferry out of Aberdeen to Kirkwall, as it involves almost three hours less driving than usual. Which meant going through Dundee (the home of marmalade, according to legend). My Dad always hated that part of the trip as there are so many traffic-circles just to get through that one city. Well, he was right. I counted: eleven round-abouts over a ten-mile stretch. I know if you’ve ever used the round-about on Tremaine Rd in Milton, or the one on Wonderland North in London, Ont, you’re probably thinking, “so what, what’s the big deal?”. Well, when you are in the midst of busy traffic, with anywhere from three to six exits coming off a single round-about, or worse, are in a double-barreled figure-8 round-about, and you’re averaging more than one of these per mile, well, you’d be a lot less smug than you are right now.

I had booked a reclining ‘pod’ for myself for the ferry, and Scout stayed in the car – thanks heavens for smooth sailing. It was 11:00pm when we arrived home to my freezing house. But we’d made it.

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