12 July , Monday - St Monans Salt Pans
Afternoon at St Monans. St Monans lies between Elie and Pittenween on
the Fife East Neuk coastal route. Some
might say there’s not much there, apart from the picturesque harbour. However, we found an historic gem, walking
outside St Monans. A
windmill has just finished being restored, that pumped water over
saltpans since the 1700s. Until cheap
imported England rock salt
closed it down in the 1800s, Fife had a
thriving industry panning salt from the sea.
14 July, Wednesday — St Andrews Cancelled,
Evening at the Kinneuchar Inn
We tried to get to St Andrews, but a little thing called The Open has
congested the town. Actually, check that
— not congested, SHUT DOWN. So, we
played in Dundee instead. We found the Dundee Science Centre, and the
kids loved it. There was representation
from NASA there, so there were meteorite fragments, model NASA vehicles, and
more. My kids, of course, were in their
spacecraft heaven.
The evening was whispered
away at Kilconquhar,
in the Kinneuchar
Inn, just a couple of miles away from the Caravan Site. It’s a sort of tradition for the family to go
there from time to time. I booked a table
for 12 this time.
15 July, Thursday - All is not Well
in Paradise
Bridies are not as tasty
as I recall. Scotch Pies are almost
inedible. The lager is cold but almost
tasteless (it’s an acquired tastelessness, and I’m getting there!!). Thank God for Pot Noodles, Monster Munches
and Hula Hoops. It’s nice to know that
mass produced junk-food doesn’t change.
There’s a voice that keeps whispering, “This is why I live in New Zealand…” I miss Hellers Sausages, I miss
the mad varieties of New
Zealand pies, I miss DB Export Gold, I miss
the Tri-Nations,
I miss watching my kids
play their rugby matches.
Good grief, I’M HOME SICK!!!!!!!!!!!.
So, I’m in Pittenweem,
sitting in the only internet café (seemingly) in the entire East Neuk of Fife. And (wait
for it), I’ve forgotten my NZ-UK power adapter, so my battery is about to die
on me. Sums up this week, really. The weather is the most miserable, dripping
wet, and I’m miserable with it. Of
course, I might just be hungover from the night before after 6 pints with the
brothers. Christian tells me it was 30
degrees before we came. Yes, we appear
to have brought a bit of New
Zealand winter with us. Bugger.
I want to do so much with
the family here, but the weather is stopping us. Glyn put it well; “You’re trying to do 6
weeks in 1 week.” Actually, what I’m
truly trying do, I believe, is to recreate my past. The East Neuk
has changed; some of it for the better, some not. The Fishing Auction here at Pittenweem is
no longer. When we were kids, we would
come out to the fish auction at the crack of dawn. We’d watch the fishing boats come in, unload,
and then the fierce bidding would begin.
It was fascinating. Of course, I
want to show my family that. The
Harbourmaster said there hasn’t been a fish auction for years. Now, the boats come in intermittently, he
can’t give a time when the boats come in.
There are no fish coming into Pittenweem—only prawns., They’re loaded onto lorries (that’s “trucks”
to you antipodeans) and driven away. No
fish.
Here’s another moan. We want a quiet week in the East
Neuk. We go up to St Andrews to take
the kids to St Andrews
Castle
and the Aquarium. I naively thought, “Well, we’re not going to
the Open, we’ll just drive right around it.”
Hah! There are more police and
diversions in St Andrews than were at Obama’s
inaugural speech. When we ask to get to
the Aquarium, the mini-Hitlers tell us, it’s not possible. I wonder how the owner of the Aquarium
feels, about having his business forcibly shut down for a fortnight? Another big event with attitude takes over a
town with indifference, to the detriment of people wanting to go about their
normal business. Uh oh, I feel another
letter coming on …….
Here’s a message to the
organiser of the Open, in regard to the care and empathy with which he went
about organising St Andrews around his event:
Fork you very much, and I hope your next one’s a hedgehog.
16 July, Friday — Scotland’s
Secret Bunker
This was amazing. Scotland’s
Secret Bunker during the Cold War years is just 30 minutes from the
caravan where we’re staying. The end of
the Cold War has made this government nuclear command centre redundant, though,
mysteriously some parts are still classified and off-limits! Had there been a war, this is where Scotland would
have been run from. Today, we went down
100 yards underground to go through it.
Phoebe and Callum were comfortable in the dark, tense atmosphere, but
Brodie (somewhat understandably) needed a lot of encouragement to get through
the rooms. The place is littered with
retro phones and computers from the 60s and 70s. Phoebe marveled at the comparison between my mobile
Phone and the 60s army portable field phone.
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