A Weekend in the Highlands

I spent the last weekend just gone trudging in the Highlands, hoping to put my mind away from agonising over job placements that would be released on Monday.

After work on Friday I jumped on a train to Inverness, capital of the Highlands. Outside the train station, a bunch of people dressed up as wizards and witches were standing outside the shopping centre waiting for the bookshop to open at midnight for the release of the last Harry Potter book - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was getting late, and I had had a long day, so I checked into Inverness' somewhat functional youth hostel (as I found, somewhat abundant in OLD clientele) and went to bed. I dreamed that I had been placed at a certain Hospital (which I won't name) - about as happy as Harry Potter being sorted into Slytherin.

The day dawned overcast and drizzly, as has just about every day since the first day I've been here. I caught the early bus to Drumnadrochit, which is the main tourist centre on the shores of Loch Ness. Just about everything possible was made to squeeze every tourist dollar out of the myth of the Loch Ness Monster, which of course only superstitious fools would believe existed.

After lunch I went to Fort William and jumped on the train to Mallaig. This is considered one of Europe's most scenic train journeys and it didn't disappoint. The line was dotted with mountains, glens, lochs, islands, and most famously the Glenfinnan viaduct, which was part of a backdrop in the Harry Potter films.

I spent Saturday evening at the Ben Nevis bar which was attached to an outdoorsy hiking shop and which was meant to attract a mountaineering clientele, but all I found were some chatty ordinary couch potato locals which was nice enough. I ordered myself a very unhealthy dinner but then all dinners here in Scotland are very unhealthy. The rest of the night, half-drunk, I crushed a bunch of ESL Germans at the game of Taboo. That's what I like about having a four-digit IQ, baby!

On Sunday I went to Glencoe. It continued to rain and rain and rain. All weekend there was not a minute of sunshine. A few brave souls actually attempted to climb Ben Nevis, Britain's highest peak, that morning. At Glencoe there is a memorial to the 38 people massacred in 1692 during a rebellion against the Governments in Edinburgh and London who were loyal to King William and who regarded the Highland residents as savages. I wonder when will Australia ever build a proper memorial to the half a million indigenous people who were eliminated at a stroke when the tall ships arrived nearly a century after the atrocities of Glencoe.

As for my job placement, I will be working at Southern Health next year (based at Monash Medical Centre in Clayton). As such, it will mean taking Citylink every day. But in the grand scheme of things, I couldn't expect to be more pleased.