Tomorrow arvo I’ll train it up to Inverness to finally join Gareth, so I’m feeling temporarily nostalgic about 8.5 years of Dunfermline and Kingdom of Fife life. And not just for the proximity to Edinburgh! I will miss…
The Fife accent
I’m sure there are sub-Fife accents (so pendants, hold your fire), but in general there’s a porridge-thick accent that took me years to comprehend. You hear a lot of “ken?” or “eh” at the end of sentences and may be greeted with “Arright pal?” in the way Aussies do with “G’day mate”. Somewhere along the line I swapped “no worries” for “nae bother pal” and I sound bloody ridiculous.
The Glen
Ol’ Andrew Carnegie didn’t forget his home town when he went to America to make his millions – he left the Dunny with Pittencrieff Park, better known as The Glen. It’s where I did my 5K training, had our Scottish wedding and got blinded by the pale bare torsos of local lads whenever the sun came out. Gareth took me there on our first date and after we did a lap he said of his town, “Well… that’s about it!”.
Groovy places galore
You cannae beat Dunfermline Abbey. St Andrews. Falkland Palace. Culross. The fishing villages along the East Neuk (and the fish and chips). And the jewel in the crown, THE SECRET BUNKER!
The woods
I will miss pottering around the woods near our village. Why didn’t I go up there more often? It’s quiet and dark with bouncy pine needles on the ground, and every time I went for a walk I’d say “I need to come back with a picnic or do some writing or just have a snooze” but I never did, dagnabbit.
The beautiful Forth Rail Bridge
THE GREATEST OF ALL BRIDGES.
Not to mention wonderful pals, discovering kickboxing (let’s not mention destroying my knee), the giant chip-guzzling seagulls, and the most incredible yoga class.
Now bring on the North!
You will love Inverness …
– cause of Nessy
– close to the north and everything beautiful
– Culloden and its historic places
– 1 hr plane ride to the Isle of Lewis!
– also beautiful forrests
🙂
Woohooooooooooooooo! Can’t wait! Thank you Andrea 🙂
Have a great time Shauna – and I’m sure we’ll hear your latest adventures from there too (looking forward to it).
I know exactly what you’re talking about – after being a Kiwi in London for 14 years I’ve moved with my wife back to her native Warsaw. Talk about a cultural change. Advantages: great summers, snow in winter (I still get impressed by snow!), great in-laws, cheaper, better housing. Disadvantages: different food (at least you still have fish and chips!), harder to find a job, my goodness Polish is hard to learn!
While the future is optimistic, after all this time you do get attached to your adopted home – London can be great and the one visit to Edinburgh I ever made was great too – especially climbing up the monument surely named after me ;).
Good on Gareth for finding something he loves, and chasing it – you as well as brewing 😉
All the best!
Shauna you made me cry! I miss the kingdom, but now it’s fun because you get to holiday in Fife! Hurrah! And that means eating a whole lot more chippies – you never know when you’re gonna get them that good again. 😉
Safe travels & I can’t wait to hear all about your settling in and explorations! Hugs!
Happy moving to you! Thanks for continuing to take us along on your adventures.
Best of luck! I wish you joy and tales worth the telling!
Happy move! I firmly believe in the importance of a blog post to reflect upon and say goodbye to anyplace you’ve loved. Now on to making new memories! It’s gorgeous up there!
Other things to love about Inverness: it is still possible to get high tea in some of the cafes, there are lots of charity shops and everyone visiting the Highlands passes through there eventually. BTW I felt the same way whne I made the momentous move from north London to south London.
Bon Voyage! and happy travels. There will be many more fun adventures in the North 🙂
I will come snuggle with you in Inverness.
Mark my words.
Inverness is totally the South Island of NZ. With better accents.
Small town quirky = best ever characters for your next book.
Just sayin.
We can’t wait to visit xx
Weel, you’ll haveta come doon to Dunny for visits, eh? (Nope, a Cdn just can’t pull that off…lol )
Thanks for sharing your town with us. I hope Inverness has some great things for you to discover as well. Is Inverness technically part of the Highlands? I can’t quite remember – either way, you are close to some beautiful scenery up there too. I’m sure visiting the Loch in the evening will be pretty neat. Looking forward to hearing about how you guys settle in up north.
You’re moving to inverness?! Would love to meet up. xx
that would be brilliant! 🙂 i’m stalking your Things To Do In The North page, just in case you were wondering about creepy extra visitors!
I hope you’re settling in fine. But I’m a little bit sad – I always vaguely looked out for you in the Botanics or Princes Street… . Still, I feel honoured to have met you once, fed you and eaten your brownies! All the best, dear Shauna. You’re my blogging gold standard.
Oh Isabelle… thank you! 🙂