SCOTLAND'S YARDS

Even in so-called English-speaking countries, the language can be an impediment. In the village of Dailly, Scotland, we met Mary, the proprietor of the town’s only restaurant, Tillie’s.  It was a sunny March day, but a piercing wind went right through the “warm” clothes we brought with us from southern California.

“What do you have that will warm our bones?” I inquired.

“Ever had a Rusty Nail?” she asked several times until we could make sense of her rural brogue.

For those who don’t like Scotch, it’s a palatable way to imbibe it. A dram of Scotch and a wee bit of Drambuie chase away the midday chill quite nicely.

We wandered into one of the village’s two pubs and bought everybody, all four people, a round of drinks. There was nary a dartboard in sight, but a couple of the lads were playing dominoes and invited us to play. John, a deaf-mute who read lips because he never received training in sign language, was the greatest communicator. After we won two out of three games, they finally admitted with a sheepish smile (more on that later!) that they were actually the local dominoes champions.

Back at Tillie’s, Mary told us that her husband Neil was an award-winning trainer of the border collies everyone in this region uses for rounding up their sheep.

“Are ye interested in watching Neil herd sheep?” At least, I think that was what she asked us.

“Sure!” we said in unison.

The next morning with the same confounded bone-chilling wind blowing through us, we debated breaking with social traditions to take a nip of alcohol hours and hours before cocktail time. Instead, we peppered Neil with questions as he directed a sheep stampede around me and put his dogs through their paces with a series of whistles and shouted incomprehensible commands. We listened to the recording later and between his brogue and the wind, we didn’t get a lot of information, but we knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  We did learn the best way to talk with Scots was to throw in the occasional exuberant, “Aye!”

Would we visit the rolling hills and forests of verdant green again? Aye!