The journey has begun

I promised I would write again once I was in Scotland. I have not been able to keep this and am currently somewhere over Poland, jetting towards Dubai with Feeder: The Singles playing on the Ipod (Thanks dad). I have the entire exit row to myself, so it's ALMOST like first class. This is a bit of the consolation for the £225 I paid for excess luggage: ouch. Basically it is a 30 kg luggage allowance but only 7 kg hand luggage, so I had to check my hand luggage. The Emirates ladies were so nice to offer me a free rollie bag to carry onboard, but I just opted for a canvas bag. So yeah, 9 kg x £25 per kg = £225. All of a sudden all my belongs have added value in a manner of sorts :-). I can't really be upset because they were so sweet and helpful and I have thought of my belongs in terms of kgs and they are all worth £25 a kg to me. Anyways enough about that.

I am now well and truly on my way after very interesting week. I spent Monday and Tuesday at head quarters in Denmark for training. I have meet a lot a lovely people but it was difficult getting used to calling my former colleagues just that. It's strange in the beginning because you are surrounded by people who you don't know and you have to basically start all over again. However everyone was very nice and showed me the production facilities and introduced me to all the must-know people. Tuesday evening I had dinner with my parent and weathered a snowstorm to get to Billund Airport around 21:00. I went to the Sixt counter and shot the breeze with Allan and eventually had to pull myself away to try to get a bit of shuteye before my 06:00 am flight til Amsterdam.

I managed 3-4 hours of nervous sleep and floated to Schipol in a somewhat zombiefied state. My spirits and consciousness lifted only by the announcements in Dutch: pure linguistic humour. I arrive in Glasgow around am met by a representative from the company and we drive to Kilmarnock. The day progressed with a factory tour, product introduction, introduction to applicable personal. This was also the activity of day 2 (Thursday). A colleague from Denmark was staying at the same hotel, so I had his good company on Wednesday night.

Both of my evenings and also this morning I have explored a bit of Kilmarnock. All I can say is that Scotland is a dark, drab and somewhat ugly place but with such lovely warm-hearted people. Everyone here seems to be pretty content, happy and helpful. But Kilmarnock is degrading. One of the largest shops still open on the high street is called “Cash for Gold”. The slogan is “Sell your unwanted gold for cash”. Unwanted gold? I am sure that is why people are selling it. The other big businesses on the high street are the bookies, the gambling halls and the pubs. You have this interlaced with gutted out remains of closed down stores with signs proclaiming that this store in closing and everything costs £1.

Thursday evening I dined in a chip shop and had what is called Fish Tea. Now before you gag reflex kicks in let me explain: Tea = dinner. For for £5.20 I got 2 fillets of fish, chips (fries), white sandwich bread and butter and a cup of tea. The girl serving me answer every question with “isnobother”. I dined in the company of a very old and unwell man. I believe he was living rough and not at all well. He was quite drink and very dirty but he was served and treated with respect like everyone else. The Scottish people know hardship.

This morning I walked up to the Johnnie Walker distillery. Johnnie Walker was born and raised in Kilmarnock and the distillery has always been there. The distillery is now owned by Diageo, which is a very large company that owns several spirits and beverage companies. They have announced that in 2011 they will move Johnnie Walker away from Kilmarnock alng with approximately 800 jobs. In a town of 30,000 people that is going to tear into a local town that seems to already be on the slide. As I walk along the factory taking pictures a couple of employees call to me and pose for the picture. Again, there just seems to be such warmth in Scotland. I think I can call myself a fan of the people, the nature...and that's it.

So that brings you more or less up to speed. I am now over The Ukraine. I will add a little to this before I post, with an update from Dubai.