Daniele Somenzi's England

Great Britain

The British Midland flight lands at London Heathrow; the connection to Manchester is immediate, where I then take the last connection to Aberdeen in Scotland.

I discover that the airport is small; in fact the last plane was a 30-seat Brasilia. I also discover that the destination is used by workers who then go to work on the oil platforms out at sea; indeed there are many here. I, on the other hand, pick up the hire car and hurry out of the city heading north; before it gets dark I stop at a small hotel and take a room, even though a single is quite expensive. But since I've seen few other places to sleep in the open countryside, I stay.

A good sleep and, after breakfast the next morning, I set off to visit this part of the world I had not yet seen. Grass everywhere. I stop to film a flock of large wading birds flying in a V; I had never seen so many migratory birds together, perhaps they are storks heading for Africa.

Another peculiarity I see, besides the cows grazing, are the whisky distilleries — or rather big closed warehouses where they age it. I try to find the name of my brother Vanni's favourite, the Knockando, but I don't see it.

I start driving south and also come across little woods, which I like very much, a shame that it's always cloudy. I take a few photos of the small waterfall of a stream, and then continue in search of a guest house, which I find almost immediately; there are many here, it would seem that the tradition of renting out the extra bedrooms of one's own home was born in these parts.

The next day I set off again, with the radio on in the car keeping me company; this is one of those trips of mine that I made with the motto 'better alone than not doing it at all'.

I arrive at the start of the long Loch Ness, famous for its monster that pokes its head out of the lake for the delight of imaginative tourists.

Here there's a curious little village with a river that then flows into the lake, with locks like Panama's, to let the barges pass the drop in level and gain access to the other lake. All done very well.

I continue and pass not far from Lockerbie, where a few years ago a Pan Am Boeing 747 came down, the fruit of one of Gaddafi's mad acts, and I arrive in the evening at Aberdeen. I hand in the car straight away, thus avoiding paying an extra day of hire, and then I'd like to sleep at the airport; at which point I discover that this airport, for lack of night flights, closes at a certain hour. Damn it, so I have to take a taxi that takes me to a guest house in the city, and the next morning the same in reverse. Had I known, perhaps it would have been better to keep the hire car and sleep in it.

Well, anyway, I had a new experience; I liked the trip, but not that much.

Bye