Murder in a lighthouse?

Whenever we travel, one of the highlights for us is the people that we meet.  While I adore the company of my husband, it’s always fun to chat to strangers, find out about their lives and loves.

Some of the stand out people for us have been a group we met in The Gambia, who shared a love for G&Ts and attempting to wear the local dress in style.  A horse-whisperer in Belize.  An elderly gentleman who became our 3rd quiz team member while cruising in the Norwegian Fjords.  Our guide in rural China who could not speak a word of English.  And who could forget, snowed into a New York hotel, I went for a jet-lagged nap in our room, leaving my husband to sit in the bar watching the snow fall. He returned to our room with a receipt, one beer and one martini.  “Hang on”, I thought, “who had the martini???” “Oh, that was Deanne”, he replied.  He reckons she was a poor lady whose husband was in hospital while she was snowed in.  I reckoned COUGAR.

Anyway, we have really outdone ourselves this time.  We recently stayed on the very edge of Scotland, our first night away from the baby EVER, and found ourselves sleeping in a lighthouse (as you do!).  We soon realised that once the people enjoying lunch had left, we were pretty much alone, but for the staff.  Then up pulled a car, out got two chaps and a dog.  I said to my husband “I bet we have a drink with them by the end of the evening”.

And sure enough, dinner polished off, we were outside watching the sunset over the Mull of Galloway and we heard a voice say “do you drink whisky?”.  When in Rome and all that.  A couple of whiskies and a lovely evening on the edge of the earth later and yet again we’ve met someone memorable.

As a Scot who has been lucky enough to travel extensively and now live in England, I am often asked to say certain things in my accent for people’s amusement.  Like a Celtic performing monkey.  The most common are ‘yoghurt’, ‘burger’, ‘potato’.  I have also been compared (vocally, I hope) to Groundskeeper Willie from the Simpsons, Fat B*stard from Austin Powers and the wonderful Supergran.  Oh, and Mrs Doubtfire, don’t forget that one.  But by far and away the most common thing I am asked to perform is this.

“There’s been a murder”.

Yes, who could forget Taggart?

The chap behind the whisky-offering voice was in fact the very man who created the longest running police drama ever to grace our screens.  This made our declarations of being a banker and a stay-at-home-Mum seems rather dull, frankly.

How wonderful, I thought, to have written something so influential and memorable, something that can be recognised in the most far away places.

This leaves us with a challenge though.  How do we possibly outdo ourselves next time?  Where will we travel to and who will we meet?  That’s what I love about it all though.  You just never know.