Jan Morris on Scotland
 

Today's <i>Wall Sreet Journal</i> had a splendid short column by Jan Morris about Scotland, and in particular the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the train that goes between them. As a former commuter on that train's (less shiny) predecessor, I couldn't resist retyping an excerpt of it here. I can't copy more without violating (further?) Fodors' TOS, and only WSJ subscribers can see it online. But if you happen across an old copy of the Oct. 2 WSJ, be sure to have a look. Hopefully this is part of some larger work in preparation by one of our best travel writers...

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&quot;<i>Where are we?</i> The train is spotless, bright and fast. The youth who comes round with the food trolley sounds exquisitely educated. The ticket collector is urbanely courteous. All the other passengers are equally charming and smile happily if you smile at them.

&quot;Where in the unlovely world are we? We are in the blue and white electric train that runs every 15 minutes between Glasgow and Edinburgh, the principal cities in one of Europe's most civilized small countries, Scotland.&quot;

Tell me that's irony, Gardy!!

Or have they moved the central belt to a parallel universe

Jan Morris has always sought new challenges. Whether climbing Everest in 1953 or changing sex in the 70s.

So we should salute her in taking on this new challenge so late in life.

Fiction writing.

I have to say, Flanner, I'm almost tempted to make the journey just to see if it IS irony

I hear that Jan's column next week is entitled &quot;The Joys Of Carrying A Grand Piano Up Mount Everest&quot;.

Jim

I honestly don't know if it's intentionally ironic, or if it is indeed some parallel universe. Or... gasp... true?

The rest of the column is quite lush in its praise of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and she's solid in describing the different vibes and cultures of the two cities.

My own recollection of that train service was the often-announced apology emitting from the tannoy upon alighting in Glasgow 40 min. late from one's 44 min. ride:

<i>British Rail apologise for the late arrival of your train. This was due to its running behind schedule.</i>

:-|

These days I generally find the train to Glasgow quite clean, comfortable &amp; reliable &amp; enjoy the opportunity to buy a drink from the trolley :-) But JM obviously wasn't getting the last train at night when it's full of yobs eating burgers. Or a 'football special'. Or a rush hour train with fewer carriages than scheduled; but I haven't encountered that for ages and the old horrendous overcrowding doesn't seem to happen any more. That said, I'm just an occasional traveller not a regular commuter.

I always felt quite kindly towards Jan Morris until I read her incredibly snobbish article in the Times recently about the horrors of travelling by vaporetto (as opposed to water taxi) in Venice.

(I'd like to make it clear, I don't actually *read* the Times : I was alerted to the article by Tripadvisor :-) )

Maybe Jan Morris was just lucky rather than being ironic. The rail service between Glasgow and Edinburgh goes like a dream when it works properly - it just doesn't work properly often enough. BTW, Gardyloo's announcement is true, I've heard it myself, and its variation &quot;We apologise for the late departure of your train. This was caused by the late arrival of the incoming train.&quot;
The passengers on JM's train were all charming so it must have been full of Glaswegians rather than Edinburgers (sorry Caroline) ;-)
It's interesting to see that everyone commented on the train but nobody disagreed with her description of Scotland.