Monday 8 August 2011

Further boddelings of my mind



We were in the car, driving through the beautiful hills of Scotland - just past Gretna Green - when we saw a little hand painted sign, blue it was, that said 'the last house in Scotland', and had a small arrow pointing to a house.
Then we drive past said house and a hundred yards down the road and see another sign.
'Welcome to England.'
Boom.
Just like that. 
Scotland one second, England the next.
And just as quickly as we've crossed the border back into the Motherland, two boddles enter my mind.

The first one is this; do the people that live in that humble abode that is signposted as the last house in Scotland, feel as patriotically Scottish as some average Scot that lives in Edinburgh or Dundee?
Because they're practically in England.
They could walk for a minute straight out of their front door and be in Cumbria. 
Their nearest town might be in England - they might do their weekly shop in England.
Their most trusted mechanic might live over the border.
The church that they go to every Sunday might be in England.
But all that being said, are they still Scottish and proud?
My musings on this subject are not limited to this 'last house in Scotland' situation, but for any person that lives on the border or two countries.

My second boddeling was along similar lines.
What accent does a person that lives on the border have?
As suddenly as I jumped (I didn't jump, I drove..) from Scotland to England, does the accent change from Scottish to English?
Or is it just a jumbled up mix of the two?
And if it is how far would you have to travel in each direction until you came across a traditional accent?

Ohh, my head is full of so many questions right now.
I think I need to go and drink a big glass of water whilst I hold my breath to calm my mind, before it EXPLODES.

1 comment:

  1. Hahahaa becks you need to calm your big brain down, I totally want to know the accent thing though xx

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