Well, Sunday kicked
ass.
We hopped a bus early on in the morning and made our way to Celtic park in the east end of Glasgow. As we neared, we started to become giddy as the spectacle of the 60,000 seat stadium loomed ahead - we would be working in
there! After making our way into the kitchen (40 minutes early), we were introduced to the head chef, and a few other gents. I started to become a little nervous again because I couldn't understand a damn word they were saying, but the more time around them I spent, the more I got used to the accent, so it didn't turn out bad. Early on in the day though, we had a funny moment when Tam (Tom) came up to James and said: "Ok, You're Canadian. You speak English. I'm Scottish. I speak English." Then he looked over at me; "I'm taking your friend over here, and I'm going to explain a few things. Then he can come back and translate for you." It was amusing, Tam rather enjoyed giving me a hard time about the accent (Taking the piss out of me, as the Scots would say). The woman we were working with was funny as well, after she'd say something to me, she kept on coming back and asking me if I understood what she had just said.
We met a really interesting fellow from
Bombay, India named Sumi. He's a member of the Merchant Navy, and has traveled all over the world in his studies. Sumi informed us quite matter-of-factly that Glasgow is the dirtiest, and most dangerous city he has ever been to. James and I were actually pleased with this news though, because that can mean only good things about the rest of our destinations! Sumi also has a job at the best Indian food joint in town (he said, and I believe him, being from India), and offered us a free buffet next time he's working. James and I were bloody overjoyed at that.
So we worked, James usually washing and me always drying the dishes. I'm pretty sure I dried more dishes in those 6.5hours than I have in the last 20 years - and I've done a fair number of dishes. It was pretty nutso, but we did a pretty damn good job of keeping things going. Our efforts were doubtless appreciated by our superiors, whose level of respect seemed to rise substantially. So we worked our asses off, then ate some free food during break, a little disheartened that we couldn't actually go out into the stands. We were told that the kitchen staff wasn't allowed.
When Sumi came back from the kitchen he was in though, and we informed him of our disappointment we exclaimed "Who told you that? Follow me!". Thus, we followed Sumi (Who has worked at Celtic Park before, obviously) into an elevator that he managed to hijack with a knife ('See these key slots? There's no keys so you just use a knife.'). After making our way through various kitchens and hallways, Sumi opened a door and there we were! The Celtic in front of us on the pitch, attacking relentlessly while the crowd chanted and cheered. Whenever something of note happened on the field the noise from the crowd was like an ocean swell, brilliant. After about 15 minutes of unfortunately goalless soccer (I really, really wanted the Celtic to score), we made our way back to our workplaces, but everyone knew exactly where we'd been. We were told "Oh, you think you're hot shite now because you snuck out to see the game." But it was said with a smile and a wink in the voice (as James put it), and all was good. We continued to work our asses off until the end of our shift.
As we were leaving, even though the game was long over we could still see droves of fans still in the stadium, standing up with their flags chanting songs about their favorite football club. James and I headed straight to the Celtic memorabilia store for some keepsakes. I picked up a kick ass scarf for £8.
Sunday night we uncapped a 750ml bottle of Bacardi, picked up a double order of Chicken Pakora from the Barbeque Kings down the street (Probably the best food I've had here), and had a great evening. The vast majority of our hours of discussion revolved around politics. For me, It's especially nice talking politics for awhile. I completed my Political Science degree nearly a year ago, and since then the Political conversation has been sorely lacking. James is always knowledgeable and up to date, and Jon is more attentive than ever before.
As a result of everything, Sunday was probably the best overall day we've had in Scotland. It was a day where the expectations weren't high, but even if they were it would have exceeded them. Everything just seemed to go the best possible way. There's not a lot more a guy can ask for.
I've formulated a plan for today, hopefully a plan that will provide big results for everyone! Ok, so my camera doesn't work on these computers. Why? Because the operating system is Win98, and I would have to install new drivers to upload pics from my camera, not a big deal but we aren't allowed to install anything or even hook up external devices. There's an internet place near our flat, but it uses Win98 as well. BUT, I heard there's a cafe downtown that uses Windows XP. Windows XP is brilliant because it doesn't need to drivers, I can just plug in and go. Hence, I'm going to take my very last pound, head over to the cafe and spend a solid hour uploading pictures and making galleries for everyone. It's all dependent on the computers there using XP - I really, really hope they do - otherwise there will be some supreme disappointment.
Alright so, I'm off to try that. If it works out I'll post the links on here immediately. Peace out folks!
***Update*** I just got back from the Easy Internet Cafe downtown. I'm sorry to say that all the computers there run on Windows 98. So, what I heard was wrong, unfortunately, and all our hopes are crushed. I'll continue to look for a cafe that runs XP computers though. Sorry bout the false alarm.
