Caol Ila
I got back from the UK yesterday. Yes, that’s why I haven’t answered e-mails or been seen or heard from in two weeks +. It never ceases to amaze me how such a small place has managed to to diversify itself into a much larger footprint than the space it takes up on the map. Throughout two weeks, we saw the best and worst of Italians, English, and Scots and it’s astounding to think they all exist within a three hour plane ride of each other. There were those friendly, yet soft-spoken pair in a pub in Edinburgh one of which recommended the single-malt whisky Caol Ila, the amazing silence on the tube in London even if the subway car was packed during the morning commute, the din on the plane back from Rome emanating from the corner where a herd of Italians sat, immersed in a deep conversation that had no beginning or end or pause. We saw three countries and felt every single one from the perfect elastic crust of Neapolitan pizza (one of the world’s wonders), to smooth British pork sausages, to fresh Scottish salmon I fried up in a hostel’s kitchen. They’re even wildly different in weather from the salt-flecked sunshine of the Amalfi coast to London’s leaden skies to Scotland’s brutal damp chill. From lemons to beer to whisky; gelato, Cadbury’s chocolate, and fudge. It’s really no wonder that the small patchwork of land clinging to Asia’s western flank is where I like to vacation the most even if the prices keep going higher and higher and higher.
I’m swamped in photographs, bills, financial matters, and the little matter of real estate, so I’ll be a stranger, probably for months. So, this is a public apology for not writing back or okaying all those social networking sites or seeing all the pictures and videos you all keep mailing me about. I’m not being mean, I just don’t have the time.
Pictures coming soon.
I never did get the Caol Ila I meant to pick up at the airport. I got to Heathrow late thanks to the Victoria line being down so I barely had time to get through all the lines and pick up the chocolates. Maybe I’ll find it here in Pennsylvania for less. Speaking of, I don’t know if they would have allowed me to even bring it in thanks to the state’s blue laws.
Posted on May 11th, 2008 under Life • 
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