Penniedarling

 Our Scottish neighbours invited us to a Robbie Burns Night,  we've never been to one before, we've never eaten Haggis, Neeps or Tatties.  We don't know any of Burns poems other than Auld Lang Syne and we only know the chorus of that, we don't speak Scottish and we only knew 2 of the other 10 people there!   So this was going to be a totally new experience!

Don't get me wrong, we love Scotland, we have several Scottish friends, we've visited Scotland several times, we've driven from the far West to the far North, through the middle and along the East Coast, we've toured castles, sites where movies and TV shows were filmed, we've visited old historic homes and seen many a wonderful thing.   But there is one thing, I in particular, am not enamoured of and that's traditional Scottish food!  I have had several wonderful meals in Scotland, experienced generosity unknown in the rest of Britain... but some of that Scottish food... nah!

After a very nice smoked salmon entree... 

The Haggis was Addressed, here's the first verse.

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face.
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a'ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye worthy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

The translation...
Fair and full is your honest, jolly face,
Great Chieftain of the sausage race!
Above them all you take your place.
Stomach, tripe, or intestines:
Well are you worthy of a grace
As long as my arm.

After a plate of Haggis, Neeps, Tatties and Carrot of which I took a miniscule amount of,  there was a reading of 'Tam o'Shanter' which I won't put down here, it is very long and everyone around the table, except me because I just couldn't understand what was written or what everyone else said, read a verse or two each.  I still have no idea what that was all about.


Reading verse by verse of Tam o' Shanta

Conclusion.

I really enjoyed the company, I had many a really interesting conversations and I learnt a great deal about the history of Scotland and Robbie Burns... but would I go to another one?

Nah...  Thanks very much and it was indeed an experience but now that I've been there I've done that and never need to see, smell or taste another Haggis again!

Labels: Robbie Burns Night