After a few hours I had pretty much walked all over Central Glasgow and was struggling to find things to do. I figured that I would go find wi-fi somewhere and spend a little time getting things done and talking to people. As Sarah Brokaw puts it, “Europe is a jerk about internet.” It’s so true, they have wi-fi hot spots all over the place but only about 10% of them are free. Honestly internet is not really worth paying for but I eventually just gave in and got 24 hour access for £4, which really isn’t that bad. I spent some time online and then fell asleep where I was. The funny thing about that was that I was in a hotel lobby when I feel asleep. I only slept for about an hour, but when I finally came around there was this guy who would glare at me every time he walked by me sitting there. So I figured it would just work out best to go walk along the river and see where it led me.
I don’t exactly have the best attention span and instead of staying by the river I got drawn in towards the city by a building that I could see towering all of the others that looked really cool. It ended up being a church. I feel like that always happens in Europe. There’s a building that towers over all the rest with very elaborate architecture and it turns out to be a church. I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing; I’m just making an observation. I realize the way that I said that could have come off the wrong way. I ended up somewhere in the West End of Glasgow which was not on my map, but I’m good at retracing my steps so I could find my way back. I found a cute little icafé with free wi-fi. It figures that after I already give in and pay for it that I find it for free. It happens, but it’s fine. It was late when I got there so I ended spending a couple hours there talking to people. This is when the day just got interesting.
So a man walked in to the café and apparently he’s a regular because the girl had his cup of coffee already on the table for him when he came in. I wasn’t entirely paying attention but I could hear him mumbling to himself and he seemed a little close so I turned around to see if I could help him with anything. The poor guy was so apologetic. He swore that he wasn’t reading my messages between me and the people I was talking to. Actually he was intrigued by the Disney stickers all over my laptop. He started talking to me and wanted to know where I was from and what I was doing in Scotland. We just had a 10 minute conversation about so many different things. He was such a friendly guy. He was giving me hints and pointers about what’s in Edinburgh and St. Andrews and what to expect from the people there. He was so upset that I was only spending one day in Glasgow and was talking about how he wished he had met me earlier in the day because he would have set me up with a group of people my age that could have showed me around. He was just being so accommodating and it was just because the Disney stickers on my laptop made him feel cheerful. We talked about my major and how I wanted to become a teacher, and he tells me that he guessed I was going to say I wanted to be a teacher. I was confused as to how he could have guessed that and then I realized that there really isn’t a whole lot that you can do with an English degree. So we talked for a little while and he ended up having to leave but he asked me if I was going to come back to Glasgow anytime later in the year. I said I wasn’t really sure. So he gave me his card and said to e-mail him if I did manage to end up coming back to Glasgow and he would plan to meet me and whoever else I’m with and show us around. I thanked him and he left. It was just so unusual that he did that. People in Ireland and the UK have been very friendly so far but not that friendly. He made it a point to say that he wasn’t trying to be pretentious about it but that he was just proud of his city and he would take any opportunity he could to show someone around it and let them see the good parts of Glasgow. As he left he told me that his name was Joe. It never really crossed my mind the entire time that we were talking that we never really introduced ourselves to each other.
After Joe left I spent some more time in the café since I really didn’t have much to do but catch my train to Edinburgh, which to Scots is pronounced as Edinborough, I’ve been corrected a few times on that but they usually do it in good fun and say that they understand, I’m American. After about another hour I left the café and walked back the way I came and found my way back into Central Glasgow. I had a couple of hours before my train left so I figured I would just walk around the area for a bit and see the city at night. I was outside of the Museum of Modern Art taking a picture of the statue when a man walked by me and said, “Hi.” I didn’t think much of it so I smiled and said “hi” back to him and the next thing I knew he was starting a conversation with me. I wasn’t expecting a response to come from me saying hi to him. He told me that he knew I was a nice person the moment he saw me and that he just felt like he needed to talk to me. With strangers I’m not a very talkative person, actually I get really shy and become an awkward person to talk to, but he insisted on us talking. He asked if we could go get drinks and talk for a bit that he would like to just sit and talk to me. I apologized and told him that I actually had a train to catch at 10. Of course it’s only about quarter after 9 when I say that so he insists that we go get drinks and just sit in a pub and talk. I kept saying that I really had to go and I was sorry but I couldn’t. He decides that he wants to be pen pals. He asks me for my address and I really didn’t want to be rude about it so I apologized and said that I wasn’t going to be in Europe very long and that my address back home was going to be changing, which is the truth cause once I get back to UConn it changes to that one. So instead he gives me his address and insists that I write him. At this point I figured that if I said okay he would let me go, but nope that didn’t happen. Actually he was so intent on talking to me that he offered to walk me to the train station and wait with me for my train. He was telling me that he wasn’t a mean person and he was just trying to be a true Scottish gentleman. At this point it was kind of like I didn’t have a choice. So we walked to the train station together and he really wanted to buy me a drink so we walk into this store and he tells me to pick something out. I really didn’t want something but he wasn’t taking no for an answer. So I apologized for being an indecisive person and he was like, “that’s okay” and we walk out of the store without getting anything. At the train station there’s a pub and it was only 20 after 9 so he’s like let’s go get a drink and just wait for the train inside. I kind of gave up on getting out of it because he was being so persistent and I really had no good excuse to tell him no.
So we sat down and he asks me what I wasn’t for a drink. I really didn’t want anything but he seriously was not taking no for an answer. So I just got a soda and a shocked response about the fact that I didn’t want any alcohol. In Ireland no one is ever shocked if you don’t get alcohol so it was weird to get that response from him. Actually I was slowly starting to realize that he was a little tipsy already. As we were talking he was telling me that he had been drinking as the day went on, so he was definitely at least a little buzzed at the time. We talked for about a good half hour about a lot of things. I got pretty much his ENTIRE life story, from being a sniper in the Scottish Armed Forces to his girlfriend leaving him and him losing his job. That’s when I realized why he was looking for someone to talk to. He had a lot to get off his chest and apparently I looked like a nice enough person for him to talk to. He asked my opinion on the mother’s day gift he had gotten his mom, of which I found out that they celebrate mother’s day on the first Sunday in April. He got her a trinket box made out of mirrors with a little rhinestone heart on the front where you can put a picture. It was really nice and I’m sure that his mom will like it. We talked about the differences between the Scottish and American Armies and how he was envious of the Americans because the people who go into the forces are people who are willing to fight for their country and people who truly love their country. He said that the Scots aren’t really like that and that he was a little ashamed of his own country’s sense of nationalism.
He kept checking the time for me even though I could see a clock on the wall. I actually decided against bringing any kind of jewelry with me on this trip so my watch is in my apartment back in Cork. I have my phone on me if I really need to check the time, but there are clocks everywhere so I never really need to pull it out. He starts taking his watch off as we’re talking about the time. I’m thinking that he’s just going to put it on the table so that I can see it as well, but of course nothing with this guy is that simple. His name is terry, by the way. He took his watch off and holds it out to me and tells me that it’s a gift from him to me. I apologized and told him that I couldn’t take it, that it was his watch and he should keep it and that I had one of my own back home. He refused to take it back. He gave me his watch and I just wanted him to keep it. He was being really nice and all but I felt like he was going way over the top and he disagreed with me on that. He kept saying that he was being a true Scottish gentleman. After giving me his watch he asks about my faith. So we start talking about religion, which was the only conversation we had that I really had anything to say about. We talked about whether or not God and the devil really existed or if we just gave names to the good and evil that every person has within them. Honestly I think he was just playing devil’s advocate because his view point changed every few seconds, but he never agreed with me in that they do actually exist. After a couple of minutes of that conversation I realized that it was time for me to go. So he walked me out and I went to the bathroom before going to figure out which train was mine. He waited for me, he would not return home until he knew that I was on my train safely. So I went to go check the train boards and I realized that I was in the wrong train station. I was supposed to be at the Queen’s Street Station not the Central Station. So he walked me there since they’re only a few minutes away from each other. On the way there we were walking past a bakery and he stops inside and tells me to follow him. He buys us both a sausage roll. I don’t know what to do because this guy is going out of his way to be so accommodating and he was being so sweet but it was all really unnecessary. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that though because he was so happy that he had company and someone to talk to that I felt like it would have been cruel if I asked him to leave me alone. He also wouldn’t take no for an answer to anything. So we got to the corner right before the station and he stops and takes off his backpack and asks me to wait real quick. He pulls out two milkshakes from his bag and hands me one while saying “McDonald’s is good for two things, milkshakes and their Arabic coffee.” I felt bad because I’m lactose intolerant so there was no way that I could drink it, but the gesture was much appreciated. So we got to the station and I found my train and said bye to him. He put his bags down and gave me a hug and told me how glad he was that we ran into each other and he had the chance to sit down and talk to me. As awkward as I felt about the entire that I was with him, I felt better about it because it helped him have a better day. He reminded me about being pen pals and that he wants me to write him and let him know how I’m doing. Part of me says that I should write to him and part of me says that it would be a bad idea. So I really don’t know if I’m going to. I got on my train to Edinburgh and I felt good about how my day in Glasgow ended up going. When I got into Edinburgh it was about midnight and I literally just went to the hostel closest to the station and spent the night. This post is long enough so I’ll do Edinburgh in a separate one.
With Love Always
Only you.
ReplyDelete