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Too long for a comment so...
Oct. 17th, 2006 12:10 pmThis was going to be a comment in response to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
siani_hedgehog's post about attracting Americans to Scotland but it grew past the point of being a comment. Which isn't surprising since it should have been an entry on its own when the incident happened.
Last week I went down to Stranraer to take photos of Dunskey Castle for one of my course projects. Rail services being as they are, the train back was cancelled without much explanation. Just this once there was a good reason for it (a lorry having collided with a railway bridge) but trying to track down that reason wasn't easy and it looked very much like your standard rail company ineptitude. Which meant some actual conversation between the passengers while a bus was organised. Which is how I got talking to a US tourist.
Mostly he liked what little he'd seen of this corner of the planet (Ireland mostly, having gotten into Stranraer by ferry). We talked cameras (who, me?) for quite some time and then got accosted by a very, very objectionable and even more drunk Ulsterman. He sleazed over me a bit and then got stuck right into my companion with a load of anti-American abuse.
This is where it ties into Siani's post - to me, drunken behaviour of that sort is something I really hate but it is also (unfortunately) something I see often enough to know how to deal with. My companion didn't. He was obviously very uncomfortable (and not just because of the personal abuse) and didn't have a clue what to do with such aggression from a total stranger. When we got off the bus later we were discussing it and he asked if the guy was drunk. Which I find really quite sad. Not that he had to ask - but that he was the only person who witnessed this who had to ask. All the natives present had seen it all before. To give credit where it's due, though, at least the anti-American abuse was seen to be out of order, thankfully. With any luck he'll enjoy the rest of his stay but the pessimist in me suspects he'll be more familiar with other people's alcohol problems before he leaves.
Oh, and what makes it even worse? My travelling companion wasn't young, he was well travelled and had spent years in the military. Which really does make that kind of "drunk past the point of civility or coherence at eight in the evening" look like a British speciality. Lovely, eh?
I'd put up some photos of the rest of the day, but LJ scrapbook doesn't want me to do so. Later, maybe.
siani_hedgehog's post about attracting Americans to Scotland but it grew past the point of being a comment. Which isn't surprising since it should have been an entry on its own when the incident happened.Last week I went down to Stranraer to take photos of Dunskey Castle for one of my course projects. Rail services being as they are, the train back was cancelled without much explanation. Just this once there was a good reason for it (a lorry having collided with a railway bridge) but trying to track down that reason wasn't easy and it looked very much like your standard rail company ineptitude. Which meant some actual conversation between the passengers while a bus was organised. Which is how I got talking to a US tourist.
Mostly he liked what little he'd seen of this corner of the planet (Ireland mostly, having gotten into Stranraer by ferry). We talked cameras (who, me?) for quite some time and then got accosted by a very, very objectionable and even more drunk Ulsterman. He sleazed over me a bit and then got stuck right into my companion with a load of anti-American abuse.
This is where it ties into Siani's post - to me, drunken behaviour of that sort is something I really hate but it is also (unfortunately) something I see often enough to know how to deal with. My companion didn't. He was obviously very uncomfortable (and not just because of the personal abuse) and didn't have a clue what to do with such aggression from a total stranger. When we got off the bus later we were discussing it and he asked if the guy was drunk. Which I find really quite sad. Not that he had to ask - but that he was the only person who witnessed this who had to ask. All the natives present had seen it all before. To give credit where it's due, though, at least the anti-American abuse was seen to be out of order, thankfully. With any luck he'll enjoy the rest of his stay but the pessimist in me suspects he'll be more familiar with other people's alcohol problems before he leaves.
Oh, and what makes it even worse? My travelling companion wasn't young, he was well travelled and had spent years in the military. Which really does make that kind of "drunk past the point of civility or coherence at eight in the evening" look like a British speciality. Lovely, eh?
I'd put up some photos of the rest of the day, but LJ scrapbook doesn't want me to do so. Later, maybe.
