life in scotland

Yesterday a tree-cutting chap who was trimming the neighbors' willows offered me a reasonable price to do some trimming in our garden too. He was a bit of a cowboy and we haggled some. Every time he addressed me directly during our conversation, not knowing my name, he called me "my lady."

It came out very naturally, but at the same time was incredibly obsequious. He didn't have a hat but you got this ghost of a doff every time he said it--perhaps half a dozen times during the conversation.

It is sometimes UNUTTERABLY WEIRD living in Scotland.

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, local businesses also carry on. Impossible to say how many times Royer's Flowers in Lebanon, PA, has saved my butt. Next to the osprey webcam they are quite possibly my all time favorite web site.

For example--this morning I shipped out a gift basket to my nephew whose birthday is today. He's asleep in his bed and I'm sending him a birthday present from 3500 miles away which will arrive sometime after he wakes up. I also love the way it was cheaper and faster to send my cousin a wedding greeting via Royer's, along with a bunch of flowers, than to send a telegram.

If, like me, someone sent you a wedding telegram, doesn't that make you feel ANTIQUE?

gobsmacked

in the words of sdn, WTF??