Our departure from Newark was smoother than any of us could expect, as all scouts were either early or on time. The seating on the plane required the traditional “Jack Berry shuffle.” Eventually the boys were all settled in for a long flight. Several of the boys hiked part of the way across the ocean. The flight was full, only two vacant seats.

We were met at the Glasgow airport by Gillian Burns’ smiling face and climbed aboard our bus for our ride to Glenrothes. As all can see our bags more the overwhelmed the carrying capacity of the bus. Many of the boys finally caught up on some much needed sleep during this drive.

On this first night the staff was taken out to a superb dinner by John Somerville and Gillian Burns. Jack Berry has discovered he has a liking to several variations of things Scottish. Brian Faucher has already charmed a young Scottish lass. The young lady and he spent more than one hour together engaged in several activities. The boys are now at their front-end home stays and have hopefully communicated home.

Today we are scheduled to visit and tour parts of the City of Dundee. We visited the Verdant Works and the boys got to experience life in that city as it existed over one hundred years ago. The saw a demonstration in the making of jute and even got to eat lunch in the sunny courtyard of the factory. Some boys were dismayed to, upon weighing and measuring themselves, how they compared to the young boys who went to work 16 hours a day in the factory.

After that tour we headed to the museum for the ship Discovery. The boys seemed to enjoy the tour of the ship. After that we turned them loose for some shopping in town. Jack Berry located two very odd looking Scots after that excursion.

Saturday night we went to a Ceilidh. For those who do not know, it is a hoe down. Some of the boys showed a true gift for the two step, the Virginia reel, and line dancing. Special mention should be made of Jack Berry’s tireless efforts on the dance floor. In a contest for who danced more between Jack and John Somerville, Jack was the clear winner. He even showed a flair for dancing a square dance with some of our scouts. That night must truly be dedicated to Jeff and Scott. Who from the very start of the evening stole the hearts and lost their hats, temporarily, to two charming young, very young, ladies. (check the pictures) Jeff also had another dilemma. Who, between two twin sisters, (see photo) to pay more attention too. Thanks to Mr. Polayes’ efforts to break the ice, the question may have to wait till Blair to be answered. My bet is the wild eyed one. One high point of the evening was achieved when we presented our host leaders with the pistols made for us by Colt and sang scout vespers for them. All had a good and very late night; Sunday is a family day and Monday we will be touring several coastal towns and castles.

All the boys are well and maybe tired. More to come

We started at the Verdant Works. The Scales and the tour were a hit, especially the demonstration.

More pictures of our arrival at Glenrothes and our trip to Dundee.

Now you can enjoy some of the pictures from our evening’s activity, the Ceilidh. The boys made some new friends, Scott and Jeff in particular. Jack demonstrated his versatility and stamina and the fact that all those dance lessons really pay off. Some of the boys also discovered an outside toilet facility and piled in. They also almost discovered its self cleaning feature, the hard way.

More pictures of us inside and outside the Ceilidh.