On the Road Again with Merle

[Jack Black]

That’s great!



Thanks, I certainly hope to make it there some day. My brother and I talked about it both times we visited them in Bath, but we never ended up going. The furthest north I got was Sheffield, where Jack spent the day giving me an excellent tour. Unfortunately my brother no longer lives in the UK, but I’m sure we’ll be back eventually.

Horsewright I’m enjoying the story, Dave, including the serialized nature of it, where we’re left waiting for the next installment.

Perhaps we need to have a Meet in Glasgow!

 

[btb01]

Perhaps we need to have a Meet in Glasgow!

Now that would be fun!

 

[Jack Black]

Now that would be fun!

Wouldn't it just!

I could bring my Highland Dirk!

 

[Magizm7]

Perhaps we need to have a Meet in Glasgow!

Now that would be fun!

Wouldn't it just!

I could bring my Highland Dirk!

Great idea

 

[Fodderwing]

Both of those items are pretty old. They date from 1972-1973. My father was working on his PhD at St Andrews and we lived there for 18 months while he was doing that.

I'm really enjoying your story Dave. Out of curiosity what field of academia was your father in?

Magizm7
A wonderful tour of your incredibly beautiful city!

Here's a beauty I recently acquired that was made in Sheffield for Mcpherson Brothers in Glasgow.

 

[Jack Black]

I'm really enjoying your story Dave. Out of curiosity what field of academia was your father in?

Magizm7
A wonderful tour of your incredibly beautiful city!

Here's a beauty I recently acquired that was made in Glasgow. Mcpherson BrothersView attachment 1858797View attachment 1858799

That's a beautiful Horseman's Knife Dwight I would think it was made in Sheffield, for McPherson Brothers (their razors were usually made in Solingen)

 

[Horsewright]

Thanks guys! The installments are more practical than intentional. Just run out of time. Most of my time typing here on BF is in the early morning before the day gets going. I have a look occasionally throughout the day but typing time is usually 1st cup of coffee time 0600 ish.

I'd experienced deference shown to Stephen before but this time was different. Let me explain with one example. I had my 20th birthday there and my grandmother had sent me a check for my birthday. I'd borrowed Cuthbert and ran into town to cash it at the bank. The teller explains how since its drawn on Wells Fargo and in dollars they will have to send it back to San Francisco for verification and the process takes usually 10 days to 2 weeks. "Do you have a local address we can contact you at?" He asks. "Yes, I'm staying with the Andersons at......." He doesn't even let me finish. "I'm sorry sir! How would you like your cash?"

But this like I said was different. We we're traveling south for a meeting, in Crieff and then we were heading to Glasgow the next day for a couple of weeks. We were going to be assisting at an afternoon program for kids and teenagers. Kinda like a summer camp but after school since it was first two weeks of Oct. It was to give kids in the inner city areas of Glasgow (we had kids from the Gorbels, Clydebank etc) something to do besides hanging out places maybe they shouldn't. Stephen wasn't just some wealthy philanthropist that wrote checks. He was hands on. He often donated his time and energy too. He was going to teach a class in playwriting, something he loved to do. I was going to be teaching a class in self defense for the older kids He'd mentioned that there was a town up ahead and we'd stop there for lunch. We were in Perthshire. I don't recall the name of the town that we stopped at. There was a car park at the edge of the bustling little business district and we walked the couple of blocks towards the restaurant he knew. An older gentleman stopped, stepped aside and touched his flat cap as we walked by. Then a woman curtsied and another. Then another and another man stopped and touched the brim of his flat cap. I was kinda looking sideways at Stephen and said "Whats going on?" He seemed a little embarrassed by it all and simply said: "I use to own this town." "See the church over there?" I nodded. "They use to let me sing in the church choir there, not because I was any good but because...., I owned the church and like to sing." We sat down in the restaurant. He knew the waitress and he invited her to sit with us when she had a few and she caught him up on the local news. It was hard times, several of the local farmers had had to destroy their cattle herds because of some disease. Some were going broke.

As we continued on towards Crieff I asked Stephen was that the other estate. "Yeah, part of it." I don't know but my guess is he sent out a few checks.

In Glasgow we toured the facility we'd be working at. It was an old church hall that had been repurposed as kind of a rec hall. The room I would be using was perfect for my deal and had been used for some dancing classes too. That evening there was a mixer for I don't know who all but there was a bunch of people there. A tall, very pretty, elegant gal walked up to me and said "I hear you are from California, do you know where Santa Barbara is?" I actually knew Santa Barbara quite well. When my family left St Andrews in 1973 we moved to Santa Maria California. Santa Maria at the time (no longer) was a one stop light little cowtown. If we went to "town" it was to Santa Barbara about an hour to the south or San Luis Obispo about the same to the north. I explained this to her and she mentioned that she had an uncle that was a professor at one of the private universities there in Santa Barbara. Then she said "I'd like to buy you dinner I think you call it, tea." Cleared it with Stephen and off we went in her car to some Chinese restaurant. They knew her there and we had Peking Duck. Funny how the memory works and what you remember over all these years but I do remember how great the duck was.

Ruth was 21 and a physical therapist at Queen's hospital there in Glasgow. She was from Jordanhill a pretty posh area of Glasgow. We talked a lot about Santa Barbara. She told me she was in the final phases of immigrating to Canada. I asked her why she was leaving Scotland and she mentioned opportunity. She said she was pretty topped out at the hospital and would have to wait for 15-20 years for somebody to retire before she could move up. She already had a job lined up once the immigration went through at a hospital in Regina SK. She felt that she would have a lot more opportunity for advancement there. It was an interesting evening and then she dropped me off where I was staying.

I finished my class the next evening and dang if she ain't sitting outside when I walk out of the room. " I would like to take you to dinner again." "OK, but I'm buying this time." So that was the start of my touring all the places around Glasgow. Had my own tour guide. We spent a lot of time together over the next two weeks The last step of her immigration process was she had to pass a physical. I went with her to that and then she showed me around some more once she was done. I was scheduled to fly home on Nov 15 and the word came through that she'd passed the process and she was scheduled to fly out the week following. I finished up those two weeks and was done with my work with Stephen. I'd planned on having several weeks to tour around after I was done with Stephen, just hadn't planned on having a guide.

 

[Fodderwing]

That's a beautiful Horseman's Knife Dwight I would think it was made in Sheffield, for McPherson Brothers (their razors were usually made in Solingen)

Of course Jack. I should have known that. Duh... Anyway apparently Mcpherson Brothers was there. Thanks for setting me straight.
I edited the original post to reflect that.

 

[Magizm7]

I'm really enjoying your story Dave. Out of curiosity what field of academia was your father in?

Magizm7
A wonderful tour of your incredibly beautiful city!

Here's a beauty I recently acquired that was made in Sheffield for Mcpherson Brothers in Glasgow.View attachment 1858797View attachment 1858799

Thank you Dwight, its been a blast, more to come!
That knife is a beauty even if it was made in sheffield

 

[Jack Black]

Thanks guys! The installments are more practical than intentional. Just run out of time. Most of my time typing here on BF is in the early morning before the day gets going. I have a look occasionally throughout the day but typing time is usually 1st cup of coffee time 0600 ish.

I'd experienced deference shown to Stephen before but this time was different. Let me explain with one example. I had my 20th birthday there and my grandmother had sent me a check for my birthday. I'd borrowed Cuthbert and ran into town to cash it at the bank. The teller explains how since its drawn on Wells Fargo and in dollars they will have to send it back to San Francisco for verification and the process takes usually 10 days to 2 weeks. "Do you have a local address we can contact you at?" He asks. "Yes, I'm staying with the Andersons at......." He doesn't even let me finish. "I'm sorry sir! How would you like your cash?"

But this like I said was different. We we're traveling south for a meeting, in Crieff and then we were heading to Glasgow the next day for a couple of weeks. We were going to be assisting at an afternoon program for kids and teenagers. Kinda like a summer camp but after school since it was first two weeks of Oct. It was to give kids in the inner city areas of Glasgow (we had kids from the Gorbels, Clydebank etc) something to do besides hanging out places maybe they shouldn't. Stephen wasn't just some wealthy philanthropist that wrote checks. He was hands on. He often donated his time and energy too. He was going to teach a class in playwriting, something he loved to do. I was going to be teaching a class in self defense for the older kids He'd mentioned that there was a town up ahead and we'd stop there for lunch. We were in Perthshire. I don't recall the name of the town that we stopped at. There was a car park at the edge of the bustling little business district and we walked the couple of blocks towards the restaurant he knew. An older gentleman stopped, stepped aside and touched his flat cap as we walked by. Then a woman curtsied and another. Then another and another man stopped and touched the brim of his flat cap. I was kinda looking sideways at Stephen and said "Whats going on?" He seemed a little embarrassed by it all and simply said: "I use to own this town." "See the church over there?" I nodded. "They use to let me sing in the church choir there, not because I was any good but because...., I owned the church and like to sing." We sat down in the restaurant. He knew the waitress and he invited her to sit with us when she had a few and she caught him up on the local news. It was hard times, several of the local farmers had had to destroy their cattle herds because of some disease. Some were going broke.

As we continued on towards Crieff I asked Stephen was that the other estate. "Yeah, part of it." I don't know but my guess is he sent out a few checks.

In Glasgow we toured the facility we'd be working at. It was an old church hall that had been repurposed as kind of a rec hall. The room I would be using was perfect for my deal and had been used for some dancing classes too. That evening there was a mixer for I don't know who all but there was a bunch of people there. A tall, very pretty, elegant gal walked up to me and said "I hear you are from California, do you know where Santa Barbara is?" I actually knew Santa Barbara quite well. When my family left St Andrews in 1973 we moved to Santa Maria California. Santa Maria at the time (no longer) was a one stop light little cowtown. If we went to "town" it was to Santa Barbara about an hour to the south or San Luis Obispo about the same to the north. I explained this to her and she mentioned that she had an uncle that was a professor at one of the private universities there in Santa Barbara. Then she said "I'd like to buy you dinner I think you call it, tea." Cleared it with Stephen and off we went in her car to some Chinese restaurant. They knew her there and we had Peking Duck. Funny how the memory works and what you remember over all these years but I do remember how great the duck was.

Ruth was 21 and a physical therapist at Queen's hospital there in Glasgow. She was from Jordanhill a pretty posh area of Glasgow. We talked a lot about Santa Barbara. She told me she was in the final phases of immigrating to Canada. I asked her why she was leaving Scotland and she mentioned opportunity. She said she was pretty topped out at the hospital and would have to wait for 15-20 years for somebody to retire before she could move up. She already had a job lined up once the immigration went through at a hospital in Regina SK. She felt that she would have a lot more opportunity for advancement there. It was an interesting evening and then she dropped me off where I was staying.

I finished my class the next evening and dang if she ain't sitting outside when I walk out of the room. " I would like to take you to dinner again." "OK, but I'm buying this time." So that was the start of my touring all the places around Glasgow. Had my own tour guide. We spent a lot of time together over the next two weeks The last step of her immigration process was she had to pass a physical. I went with her to that and then she showed me around some more once she was done. I was scheduled to fly home on Nov 15 and the word came through that she'd passed the process and she was scheduled to fly out the week following. I finished up those two weeks and was done with my work with Stephen. I'd planned on having several weeks to tour around after I was done with Stephen, just hadn't planned on having a guide.

You are very generous with your time Dave, and you tell a great tale my friend

Of course Jack. I should have known that. Duh... Anyway apparently Mcpherson Brothers was there. Thanks for setting me straight.
I edited the original post to reflect that.

Just thought you might find it of interest buddy

 

[Jack Black]

That knife is a beauty even if it was made in sheffield

Like most of the Sgian Dubhs!

 

[Horsewright]

Fodderwing My father was a Presbyterian minister. His thesis was on the Westminister Confession. Other interesting tidbit. he was a Leftenant ( as the Brits say) in the RAF during WW2 and a Captain in the US Army Air Corp. Not bad for a cowboy from Montana and Oregon. It was all backwards. While in the RAF he was stationed in Az and while in the Air Corp he was in India. He flew The Hump for quite a while. Somewhere I’ve got a cool pic of him in uniform wearing both sets of wings.

 

[Jack Black]

Fodderwing My father was a Presbyterian minister. His thesis was on the Westminister Confession. Other interesting tidbit. he was a Leftenant ( as the Brits say) in the RAF during WW2 and a Captain in the US Army Air Corp. Not bad for a cowboy from Montana and Oregon. It was all backwards. While in the RAF he was stioned in Az and while in the Air Corp he was in India. He flew The Hump for quite a while. Somewhere I’ve got a cool pic of him in uniform wearing both sets of wings.

That's very cool Dave My brother-in-law's father was a Spitfire pilot in WW2. I remember he surrendered his pistol during a firearms amnesty here in the 1990's. When I asked him about it, he said it was a Smith & Wesson, which rather surprised me. He explained that he had been issued with it in the USA, when he was training on 'the Spits', after previously flying Hurricanes

 

[Fodderwing]

Fodderwing My father was a Presbyterian minister. His thesis was on the Westminister Confession. Other interesting tidbit. he was a Leftenant ( as the Brits say) in the RAF during WW2 and a Captain in the US Army Air Corp. Not bad for a cowboy from Montana and Oregon. It was all backwards. While in the RAF he was stioned in Az and while in the Air Corp he was in India. He flew The Hump for quite a while. Somewhere I’ve got a cool pic of him in uniform wearing both sets of wings.

What an interesting life! A living mosaic.

 

[Magizm7]

Thanks guys! The installments are more practical than intentional. Just run out of time. Most of my time typing here on BF is in the early morning before the day gets going. I have a look occasionally throughout the day but typing time is usually 1st cup of coffee time 0600 ish.

I'd experienced deference shown to Stephen before but this time was different. Let me explain with one example. I had my 20th birthday there and my grandmother had sent me a check for my birthday. I'd borrowed Cuthbert and ran into town to cash it at the bank. The teller explains how since its drawn on Wells Fargo and in dollars they will have to send it back to San Francisco for verification and the process takes usually 10 days to 2 weeks. "Do you have a local address we can contact you at?" He asks. "Yes, I'm staying with the Andersons at......." He doesn't even let me finish. "I'm sorry sir! How would you like your cash?"

But this like I said was different. We we're traveling south for a meeting, in Crieff and then we were heading to Glasgow the next day for a couple of weeks. We were going to be assisting at an afternoon program for kids and teenagers. Kinda like a summer camp but after school since it was first two weeks of Oct. It was to give kids in the inner city areas of Glasgow (we had kids from the Gorbels, Clydebank etc) something to do besides hanging out places maybe they shouldn't. Stephen wasn't just some wealthy philanthropist that wrote checks. He was hands on. He often donated his time and energy too. He was going to teach a class in playwriting, something he loved to do. I was going to be teaching a class in self defense for the older kids He'd mentioned that there was a town up ahead and we'd stop there for lunch. We were in Perthshire. I don't recall the name of the town that we stopped at. There was a car park at the edge of the bustling little business district and we walked the couple of blocks towards the restaurant he knew. An older gentleman stopped, stepped aside and touched his flat cap as we walked by. Then a woman curtsied and another. Then another and another man stopped and touched the brim of his flat cap. I was kinda looking sideways at Stephen and said "Whats going on?" He seemed a little embarrassed by it all and simply said: "I use to own this town." "See the church over there?" I nodded. "They use to let me sing in the church choir there, not because I was any good but because...., I owned the church and like to sing." We sat down in the restaurant. He knew the waitress and he invited her to sit with us when she had a few and she caught him up on the local news. It was hard times, several of the local farmers had had to destroy their cattle herds because of some disease. Some were going broke.

As we continued on towards Crieff I asked Stephen was that the other estate. "Yeah, part of it." I don't know but my guess is he sent out a few checks.

In Glasgow we toured the facility we'd be working at. It was an old church hall that had been repurposed as kind of a rec hall. The room I would be using was perfect for my deal and had been used for some dancing classes too. That evening there was a mixer for I don't know who all but there was a bunch of people there. A tall, very pretty, elegant gal walked up to me and said "I hear you are from California, do you know where Santa Barbara is?" I actually knew Santa Barbara quite well. When my family left St Andrews in 1973 we moved to Santa Maria California. Santa Maria at the time (no longer) was a one stop light little cowtown. If we went to "town" it was to Santa Barbara about an hour to the south or San Luis Obispo about the same to the north. I explained this to her and she mentioned that she had an uncle that was a professor at one of the private universities there in Santa Barbara. Then she said "I'd like to buy you dinner I think you call it, tea." Cleared it with Stephen and off we went in her car to some Chinese restaurant. They knew her there and we had Peking Duck. Funny how the memory works and what you remember over all these years but I do remember how great the duck was.

Ruth was 21 and a physical therapist at Queen's hospital there in Glasgow. She was from Jordanhill a pretty posh area of Glasgow. We talked a lot about Santa Barbara. She told me she was in the final phases of immigrating to Canada. I asked her why she was leaving Scotland and she mentioned opportunity. She said she was pretty topped out at the hospital and would have to wait for 15-20 years for somebody to retire before she could move up. She already had a job lined up once the immigration went through at a hospital in Regina SK. She felt that she would have a lot more opportunity for advancement there. It was an interesting evening and then she dropped me off where I was staying.

I finished my class the next evening and dang if she ain't sitting outside when I walk out of the room. " I would like to take you to dinner again." "OK, but I'm buying this time." So that was the start of my touring all the places around Glasgow. Had my own tour guide. We spent a lot of time together over the next two weeks The last step of her immigration process was she had to pass a physical. I went with her to that and then she showed me around some more once she was done. I was scheduled to fly home on Nov 15 and the word came through that she'd passed the process and she was scheduled to fly out the week following. I finished up those two weeks and was done with my work with Stephen. I'd planned on having several weeks to tour around after I was done with Stephen, just hadn't planned on having a guide.

Wonderful Dave, it is great to hear your succinct recollections of the your time in Scotland. It clearly had a lasting influence on you. I can hardly remember what I did last week never mind 40 years ago (mind you I would have been 6).
I have never visited Glen Feshie itself but had many a good trip to Kingussie, Newtonmore and plenty of skiing/snowboarding in Aviemore. It's an area I used to frequent in my youth but it has been a while since I ventured up that way.
Creiff, and Perthshire itself, is another beautiful area. My grandparents lived in Dunblane and they would often take us to Creiff for the day when we stayed with them during the holidays. Auchterarder was always a favourite stop for fish and chips on the way back from Aviemore to Glasgow after a cold day on the slopes.
St Andrews is also another favourite place from my childhood. We would holiday there most years and it always feels like home whenever I get back there. The beach at the West Sands is one of my favourite beaches in Scotland and has special memories, especially the donkey rides
Thanks for sharing

 

[Magizm7]

Took Merle to work yesterday


Set of on the final leg of the tour along the Clyde. Continuing the fire theme, this was an old fire station in Partick known as 'The West' before it was turned into apartments. From the days when you lived right above your station.


From the north bank at Partick looking across to Govan and BAE systems shipyard. Shame we couldn't see much but I think this is HMS Glasgow being built for the Royal Navy. It is a type 26 or city class frigate.


Next stop, The Riverside Museum. This was opened in early 2000's as the new transport museum for Glasgow which had been previously housed at the Kelvin hall. It was designed by Zaha Hadid.

 

[Magizm7]

 

[JohnDF]

Looks like an accident waiting to happen.

What a grand looking ship.

 

[Magizm7]

There are lots of ships models within the museum, not surprising with the 100s of ships built in Glasgow over the years. Here are three of the most famous ships built at John Browns, Clydebank as mentioned in a previous post.

 

[Horsewright]

That's very cool Dave My brother-in-law's father was a Spitfire pilot in WW2. I remember he surrendered his pistol during a firearms amnesty here in the 1990's. When I asked him about it, he said it was a Smith & Wesson, which rather surprised me. He explained that he had been issued with it in the USA, when he was training on 'the Spits', after previously flying Hurricanes

Thanks Jack! Thats a pretty cool story too. Stephen would of had to turn his in too I guess. He had several different Beretta's he'd picked up off dead Italian officers in N Africa. As an aside he did say the deal bout being able to fry an egg on the tanks was real. He said they did it all the time. I once asked my father why he didn't keep his 1911 when he got out as they were offered to them for $5. He said it was just a .45 everybody had one and he didn't have an extra $5! Now US Property marked 1911s bring quite a premium. Decent shape $2500-$3000.

What an interesting life! A living mosaic.

Thanks

Wonderful Dave, it is great to hear your succinct recollections of the your time in Scotland. It clearly had a lasting influence on you. I can hardly remember what I did last week never mind 40 years ago (mind you I would have been 6).
I have never visited Glen Feshie itself but had many a good trip to Kingussie, Newtonmore and plenty of skiing/snowboarding in Aviemore. It's an area I used to frequent in my youth but it has been a while since I ventured up that way.
Creiff, and Perthshire itself, is another beautiful area. My grandparents lived in Dunblane and they would often take us to Creiff for the day when we stayed with them during the holidays. Auchterarder was always a favourite stop for fish and chips on the way back from Aviemore to Glasgow after a cold day on the slopes.
St Andrews is also another favourite place from my childhood. We would holiday there most years and it always feels like home whenever I get back there. The beach at the West Sands is one of my favourite beaches in Scotland and has special memories, especially the donkey rides
Thanks for sharing

Glen Feshie is gorgeous. Funny thing is my brother and I were talking about it a few months back and I had a hard time remembering the landscape etc. We had to look it up. Honestly, the scenery I remember in Glen Feshie is Suzzie stripping down to that teeny weeny, black bikini, she had on under everything else to go swimming. I guess a 19 year old guy can only process so much breath taking scenery at any one given time. I do remember the girls lounging on some rocks catching some sun after swimming but again the black bikini comes to mind. It looks like a place I'd like to wet a fly line nowadays.

My youngest brother Matthew as I mentioned lived with Stephen and Joy while he went to high school (5th year there junior year here). He went to Kingussie High School as did Mary and Lucy. I'm described in my friend JP's book, (Accidental Cowboy, a description of his battle with PTSD), as the only cowboy you'll ever meet that played rugby for a high school in Scotland. Thats true I went to Waid Academy in Anstruther, Fife., (second row forward, first fifteen). But that was a whole different trip then the stories being told here. Sat my Highers, (English,Art, History and Modern Studies), and attended school there in 1976-77. So it was my Junior year of high school here and 5th year in Scotland too. This started a family tradition that both of my younger brothers followed. While my middle brother also went to Waid Academy and played rugby, Matthew my youngest brother went to Kingussie and played Shinty! I went to the Newtonmore Highland Games that summer, its the Clan Macpherson gathering. Stephen knew many of the guys walking around with eagle feathers. There was Cluny Macpherson himself, (clan Chief) doling out wee drams to all the gentlemen of the name, out of the back of his Range Rover. We were parked nearby.

Stephen loved to ski and we could see the slopes from the kitchen window. They were about 9 miles away. He worked every winter as a ski instructor. He taught my brother to ski and Matthew later worked as a ski instructor here in California. Stephen was 55 when I knew him here in these stories and some 13 years later he passed away of a heart attack on the slopes on a skiing holiday in Switzerland. Doing what he loved.

The West Sands is a magical place. What a beach. We've talked some about filming movies here and many would of seen Chariots of Fire. When they are running on the beach those scenes were filmed at the West Sands. There's several beaches in St Andrews and when we went to the beach it was always the West Sands. Watched the fireworks there too on Nov 6th!


"I need to get some cash", Ruth said as we parked on the street next to the bank. "They're closed its like 6:15 or something", I said. She reached in the back for her purse and got a piece of plastic out. "What are you going to do with that credit card?" I asked her. "Its not a credit card, sit tight I'll be right back." I watched her walk up to the stone wall of the bank and put that piece of plastic in the stone wall. I saw the stone wall spit money back out at her. She walked back to the car sat down and smiled and drove off when I said: 'What kind of mystical Celtic magic is this?" I'd just seen my first ATM. Money coming out of the wall of the bank! Who'd of figured.

In retrospect it was a perfect relationship for touring around. She was winding down her life there in Scotland and I was getting ready to leave too. She'd said come stay with me and so I did. But not like that. She had moved back in with her parents and they had a spare room I tossed my pack into.