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-   -   Sick in the sooq (https://britishexpats.com/forum/sand-pit-116/sick-sooq-614335/)

Smoochy Girl Jun 14th 2009 11:17 am

Re: Sick in the sooq
 

Originally Posted by ArranLass (Post 7663278)
Sorry Smoochy, I mistook you for a Sasenach, my depest apologies for this slur on your character :eek:. I was taking your comments tongue in cheek or I'd have told you to awa an' bile yer heid.

The Scots Dispora are famous for our love of dosh. We built Hong Kong just to look after all the lovely dosh we can make abroad and make even more of it. We've been leaving Scotland to make money since we got there. We're generally made out of a mix of the most adventurous, mercenary, Gaels, Celts, Picts, Vikings and even shipwreaked survivors of the Spanish Armada.

I don't know a fellow Scot who hasn't got a sibling, uncle/aunt or a few cousins living abroad.

The Jocks are so good at leaving Scotland to make a bob or two that many of our folk songs are about how much we miss Scotland. We love to sing these songs with deep melancholy, even while still in Scotland. We also love singing that we belong to Glasgow, even though most of us weren't born there and how much we miss the lights of Old Aberdeen, despite not having been there since the early nineties and having no intention of visiting the granite city ever again.

We are a fiercly patriotic race, right up to the point when you show us the greenbacks... :thumbsup:

I'm fairly sure that every Scot on this site, and you may have noticed, there's rather a few, are in ME purely for the money and have great plans to chuck it all in as soon as they've amassed a nice big pot of lolly to retire on.

Personally, my dream is a wee croft on the Isle of Arran but more likely to be a villa somewhere with direct flights to Scotland as the tax implications of going home are really offputting and maybe a wee But n Ben for when we're in Scotland.

Anyone feel I'm being unfair to my fellow countrymen and women? Are we a bunch of mercenaries, or is it just me :cool:?

That's my dude in a nutshell - are you his relative :p With us there's no way we're ever getting a wee croft on the Isle of Arran because I would die in all that cold :ohmy: 6 degrees celcius sees me in bed on top of an electric blanket, covered with another electric blanky under the 34 tog duvet :D Him indoors (rather than dude!!) imagines going back to live there because he used to do rock climbing and mountain running in the good old days but I gently remind him that since he's now 52, and needs to get rid of 24 kgs at least, I don't think those memories mean he can do it all over again. ...... so yep - it's a little bungalow on the seashore somewhere in the world for us. He visits once or twice a year while his mum is alive; once she's gone?? Who knows?

edinburger Jun 14th 2009 11:24 am

Re: Sick in the sooq
 

Originally Posted by ArranLass (Post 7663278)
Sorry Smoochy, I mistook you for a Sasenach, my depest apologies for this slur on your character :eek:. I was taking your comments tongue in cheek or I'd have told you to awa an' bile yer heid.

The Scots Dispora are famous for our love of dosh. We built Hong Kong just to look after all the lovely dosh we can make abroad and make even more of it. We've been leaving Scotland to make money since we got there. We're generally made out of a mix of the most adventurous, mercenary, Gaels, Celts, Picts, Vikings and even shipwreaked survivors of the Spanish Armada.

I don't know a fellow Scot who hasn't got a sibling, uncle/aunt or a few cousins living abroad.

The Jocks are so good at leaving Scotland to make a bob or two that many of our folk songs are about how much we miss Scotland. We love to sing these songs with deep melancholy, even while still in Scotland. We also love singing that we belong to Glasgow, even though most of us weren't born there and how much we miss the lights of Old Aberdeen, despite not having been there since the early nineties and having no intention of visiting the granite city ever again.

We are a fiercly patriotic race, right up to the point when you show us the greenbacks... :thumbsup:

I'm fairly sure that every Scot on this site, and you may have noticed, there's rather a few, are in ME purely for the money and have great plans to chuck it all in as soon as they've amassed a nice big pot of lolly to retire on.

Personally, my dream is a wee croft on the Isle of Arran but more likely to be a villa somewhere with direct flights to Scotland as the tax implications of going home are really offputting and maybe a wee But n Ben for when we're in Scotland.

Anyone feel I'm being unfair to my fellow countrymen and women? Are we a bunch of mercenaries, or is it just me :cool:?

Couldn't have put it better!
How long were you in Cairo for? I was studying there for a while. I lived in el Aghouza but spent most of my time in Zemalek drinking stella and eating french onion soup :thumbsup:

ArranLass Jun 14th 2009 11:30 am

Re: Sick in the sooq
 
1 Attachment(s)

Originally Posted by Smoochy Girl (Post 7663310)
That's my dude in a nutshell - are you his relative :p With us there's no way we're ever getting a wee croft on the Isle of Arran because I would die in all that cold :ohmy: 6 degrees celcius sees me in bed on top of an electric blanket, covered with another electric blanky under the 34 tog duvet :D Him indoors (rather than dude!!) imagines going back to live there because he used to do rock climbing and mountain running in the good old days but I gently remind him that since he's now 52, and needs to get rid of 24 kgs at least, I don't think those memories mean he can do it all over again. ...... so yep - it's a little bungalow on the seashore somewhere in the world for us. He visits once or twice a year while his mum is alive; once she's gone?? Who knows?

We went back last August to visit family. We were invited on a camping trip with an old friend and her husband who were back in Scotland to show their son where Mummy used to live.

This photo was taken at around 2pm in the afternoon in the middle of August at the Wigwam Campsite In Tyndrum. I keep it stuck to the fridge by an, "I did it in a Wigwam" fridge magnate to drive off the Homesickness.

ArranLass Jun 14th 2009 11:43 am

Re: Sick in the sooq
 

Originally Posted by edinburger (Post 7663329)
Couldn't have put it better!
How long were you in Cairo for? I was studying there for a while. I lived in el Aghouza but spent most of my time in Zemalek drinking stella and eating french onion soup :thumbsup:


I'm back and forth o Cairo with work, last trip was beginning of April. I stay in Maadi just round the corner from my Cairo local, The Red Onion. They knowe how to load your french onion soup with enough brandy to fell an elephant!

You know what the drivers are like in Cairo... They make Bahraini drivers look sensible and sedate but I had really bad car sickness and wasn't in a cab for more than 15 mins! It was like being transported back to the 1970's! Mind you, even my Dad kept at least one hand on the wheel. I had a particuarly chatty driver, he has been cheated out of his inheritance by his evil uncle apparently, who kept waving his hands about and didn't like me shouting at him to keep his hands on the wheel.:rolleyes:

edinburger Jun 14th 2009 12:09 pm

Re: Sick in the sooq
 

Originally Posted by ArranLass (Post 7663363)
I'm back and forth o Cairo with work, last trip was beginning of April. I stay in Maadi just round the corner from my Cairo local, The Red Onion. They knowe how to load your french onion soup with enough brandy to fell an elephant!

You know what the drivers are like in Cairo... They make Bahraini drivers look sensible and sedate but I had really bad car sickness and wasn't in a cab for more than 15 mins! It was like being transported back to the 1970's! Mind you, even my Dad kept at least one hand on the wheel. I had a particuarly chatty driver, he has been cheated out of his inheritance by his evil uncle apparently, who kept waving his hands about and didn't like me shouting at him to keep his hands on the wheel.:rolleyes:

I know what you mean bout the taxi drivers in Cairo, but the strange thing is I think I felt safer driving around Cairo than I do in Riyadh. I think it might be the speed of the driving here, at least back in Cairo their old Skoda's could hardly get over 80kph let alone over 160kph which I have experienced here :eek:

commander Jun 14th 2009 5:34 pm

Re: Sick in the sooq
 
Couldn't have put it better..I'm here for the bucks, will move around until its time to go back..

It will always be my home but in the meantime, there is a whole world out here that needs me and my countrymen and women. We are gifted by god..To be Scottish is something special..that no Non Scot can even begin to imagine..

Where else can you get a deep fried pizza for your lunch..

ArranLass Jun 14th 2009 5:55 pm

Re: Sick in the sooq
 

Originally Posted by commander (Post 7663990)
Couldn't have put it better..I'm here for the bucks, will move around until its time to go back..

It will always be my home but in the meantime, there is a whole world out here that needs me and my countrymen and women. We are gifted by god..To be Scottish is something special..that no Non Scot can even begin to imagine..

Where else can you get a deep fried pizza for your lunch..

Why does deep fried pizza taste soooo good???

commander Jun 15th 2009 1:58 am

Re: Sick in the sooq
 
Eeeeh yuck..I was being sarcastic..lol

ArranLass Jun 15th 2009 6:32 am

Re: Sick in the sooq
 

Originally Posted by commander (Post 7665043)
Eeeeh yuck..I was being sarcastic..lol

No no! Had it once and it was really tastey! Then again, we had just rowed our Longship from Arran to Largs while draining a few crates of beer for the Viking festival so by the time we got to the chipshop there was nothing else left... Maybe hunger and beer enhanced the flavour?:eek:

seven seas Jun 15th 2009 7:31 am

Re: Sick in the sooq
 

Originally Posted by Smoochy Girl (Post 7661361)
I had the feeling my mother-in-law was whispering in my ears

Some people would say it'sa a bit early for that kind of mental image....

shiva Jun 15th 2009 8:21 am

Re: Sick in the sooq
 

Originally Posted by commander (Post 7663990)
Couldn't have put it better..I'm here for the bucks, will move around until its time to go back..

It will always be my home but in the meantime, there is a whole world out here that needs me and my countrymen and women. We are gifted by god..To be Scottish is something special..that no Non Scot can even begin to imagine..

Where else can you get a deep fried pizza for your lunch..

wha's like us?

commander Jun 15th 2009 8:38 am

Re: Sick in the sooq
 

Originally Posted by shiva (Post 7665727)
wha's like us?

Damn Few And They're A' Died!:D

commander Jun 15th 2009 8:39 am

Re: Sick in the sooq
 
The average Englishman in the home he call his castle slips into his national costume, a shabby raincoat, patented by Chemist Charles Macintosh from Glasgow, Scotland.

En-route to his office he strides along the English lane, surfaced by John Macadam of Ayr, Scotland.

He drives an English car fitted with tyres invented by John Boyd Dunlop, Veterinary Surgeon of Dreghorn, Scotland.

At the office he receives the mail bearing adhesive stamps invented by John Chalmers, Bookseller and Printer of Dundee, Scotland.

During the day he uses the telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland. At home in the evening his daughter pedals her bicycle invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan, Blacksmith of Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, Scotland.

He watches the news on television, an invention of John Logie Baird of Helensburgh, Scotland, and hears an item about the U.S. Navy founded by John Paul Jones of Kirkbean, Scotland.

Nowhere can an Englishman turn to escape the ingenuity of the Scots.

He has by now been reminded too much of Scotland and in desperation he picks up the Bible, only to find that the first man mentioned in the good book is a Scot, King James VI, who authorized its translation.

He could take to drink but the Scots make the best in the world.

He could take a rifle and end it all, but the breech-loading rifle was invented by Captain Patrick Ferguson of Pitfours, Scotland.

If he escaped death, he could find himself on an operating table injected with penicillin, discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming of Darvel, Scotland, and given chloroform, an anesthetic discovered by Sir James Young Simpson, Obstetrician and Gynecologist of Bathgate, Scotland.

Out of the anesthetic he would find no comfort in learning that he was as safe as the Bank of England founded by William Paterson of Dumfries, Scotland.

Perhaps his only remaining hope would be to get a transfusion of guid Scottish blood which would entitle him to ask:

"Wha's Like Us?"

Inselaffen Jun 15th 2009 8:58 am

Re: Sick in the sooq
 
and yet despite that you were overun and subdued by us savages from south of the border :lol:

Karlos The Jackal Jun 15th 2009 9:18 am

Re: Sick in the sooq
 
He could take to drink but the Scots make the best in the world.

How long has Stella Artois been brewed in Scotland?

After your pro-Scotland rant, and everyone has the right to be proud of their home country, can we talk about..........................football?;)


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