RE: Roadtrip: Scottish Highlands Part One
I have to laugh at this, as Balloch is my home territory - or was until a couple of years ago, when a series of misfortunes led me to move back in with my mum in Glasgow.
Were you visiting on a Saturday night? The lads you describe are generally easy to outwit (I could describe them as not the brightest, but that sounds a bit patronising) and in my experience the local police are pretty good.
I moved to the edge of a notorious housing estate in Balloch in 2002 and the only thing I've had stolen is a water butt in my garden which I'd bought for about a fiver. And my wheelie bin, around November 5th - apparently they get used to set off fireworks.
To be honest, it's the kind of place where the neighbours look out for each other. Maybe not the ideal place for gourmet food! I'd have driven 10 mins up the road to Gartocharn, or on a bit further, to Drymen.
Looking forward to reading the next episodes! I've just returned from a fantastic long weekend in the north of Scotland - hillwalking of course. I think the heat must have got to me, as I've been too tired to do anything but eat, sleep and read since I got back. Only just starting to come back to life! I'm do love my country in many ways, but the hospitality can be quite varied!
It was a Friday night, so close enough! The cops arrived early, but seemed to be chasing ghosts for a while. The thugs were taunting them somewhat, knowing they couldn't really be arrested just for going bare-chested.
It was the low point of our trip for food, it gets better after this :)
Good! The heat makes people here a bit crazier than usual! Still, that kind of behaviour is not exactly a rare occurrence in Balloch, despite its location at the foot of one of Scotland's most beautiful and iconic lochs!
Also the police know the local thugs. I used to play tennis and one of the local cops was our tennis tutor - a lovely guy who knew the idiots who tried to break into the empty flat next door to me (they failed as they were making such a racket that I phoned the cops and they were there in minutes. The gang members kept yelling out the gang leader's name, which was quite a helpful identifying feature.)