Scotland: Day 3

(Quick note: I took a trip to Scotland in April, 2014. After spending an amazingly long time not writing about it, and forgetting which friends I'd told which stories to, I decided to post my experiences over the next few days. I am not back-dating these entries, but know that they occurred last year and that I am not writing intentionally with the benefit of eight months of hindsight.)

Day 2 ended with much rum and the company of two very nice Scots. But not much sleep.

In spite of my lack of rest, I had a plan. To wit:

Thursday: arrive in Edinburgh. Nap. Go out drinking.
Friday: wander the neighborhood. Nap. Show starts at 7:30.
Saturday: train to Inverness. Show starts around 9:00.
Sunday: wander the neighborhood. Nap. Go out drinking.
Monday: train to Edinburgh. Wander the neighborhood. Nap. Go out drinking.
Tuesday: wander the neighborhood. Nap. Go out drinking.
Wednesday: fly back to Seattle.

It was Saturday at this point.

Inverness is a town about 150 miles north of Edinburgh. It's got a population of a bit over 72,000 and it's near Loch Ness. And it has a bar called Hootananny/Mad Hatters that was going to be featuring Dropkick that night.

I somehow managed to get up, get packed, and check out of the hotel without incident. The train ride (in spite of cramped seating due to some dude who kept bumping knees with me) was amazing. It went through the Cairngorms National Park and I felt like I was really experiencing the highlands. Or at least speeding through them. It was fantastic.

I got to the train station in Inverness and it was a short walk to my hotel room. The hotel wasn't quite as nice as the one I'd been in Edinburgh, but it didn't have funny red strings that confused me, and it was just as walkable to things that I wanted to get to.

Fortunately I had time for a quick nap, and then I met the guys for dinner. I had haggis again (it was served differently than I'd had it the first night, but still delicious).

Most importantly, I got to talk to the guys. They were kind and quirky and I had a great time... I think that I got to talk more about Teenage Fanclub over that meal than I had in the past five years.

After dinner they invited me to hang out for sound check and I accepted delightedly so we moved outside to their cars, where they had their instruments and amps and such. As we began our schlepping (I was happily helping carry their stuff!), a couple waddled towards us on the sidewalk.

(Maybe it wasn't a waddle... perhaps it was a stagger. Or somewhere in between. In any event, they appeared to have had more to drink by 7:00 than they should have.) Our conversation went something like this:

Woman: Are you guys in a band?
Dropkick #1: Yes we are.
Woman: Oh, yeah? What's the band?
Dropkick #1: Dropkick.
Woman: ... hmm. What kind of music do you play?
Me: Alt-country power pop!
Woman: ... ?
Me: Well, they're a little like Teenage Fanclub or Wilco.
Woman: ... ?
Me: Influenced by Big Star, I think.
Woman: ... ?
Me: C'mon. Alex Chilton? Chris Bell?
Dropkick #2: Ed, you are evil.
Woman: ... ?
Dropkick #1: We sound a little like the Beatles.
Woman: Ah. Ok.

I was not helpful... but it was fun.

Sound check was fun. I got to talk to them as they got all set up and then, as people started arriving and the opening act took the stage, we went across the street to a teeny tiny bar and they bought me a nice Scotch.

The show was fantastic. More people than the night before and no one complaining about me being too loud.

After the show the space sort of converted to a dance club and we spent more time hanging out and talking and people watching.

Around 3:30, I walked the two blocks back to my hotel and collapsed in my bed, exhausted but happy.