Time for me to go, too.
Last edited Sat Mar 15, 2014, 01:56 PM - Edit history (1)
Thank you all for some very interesting discussions. I don't really belong here. I'm not even American!
So Long, American Left... I must turn my attentions back to my own life and my own fair isle...
?w=750&h=485
Later this year Scotland is going to vote on whether or not it will become independent of the UK. If I'm going to engage in any political discussion, really I need to turn my attention to that debate.
Thanks to all of you for listening to my inane ramblings! And to those of you who may think: "THANK FUCK and piss of back to Scotland", well I'm sure you're lovely in real life.
Ciao
xxxxx
S
= new reply since forum marked as read
I wish I could go with ya.
We like visitors...
countryside. Would love to go back. We will miss you. 
Ah, my little homeland. Only you would think of such a thing.
it's tasty, too! lol
OK then.
lol
but certainly appreciate your reason, to return your attention to that debate.
Scotland, and the Scots, are wonderful! Thanks for the photos! Saw more rainbows there in one day than had EVER seen!
also I think it's v nice that your memory is rainbows and not so much the rain!! lol
lol
So many folk are telling me to come back I guess I have to!
will do
Last edited Mon Mar 17, 2014, 08:49 AM - Edit history (1)
And, actually, I think that's another reason I'm off.
I just can't look at it anymore. I had no idea that a political landscape could become so twisted. It's like they're trying to pull the whole thing back to the bloody Dark Ages, everywhere.
I can't battle prejudice, ignorance and evil by arguing with people on a website. In particular I can no longer battle prejudice ignorance and evil by arguing with people who are masquerading as my allies while telling the most subtle and absorbing of lies.
I receive too much... wipe away my eyes....
Ah, the lulz.
You should stay, woo. I get the impression that your influence, while slight, perhaps, in content, is far greater than you think.
The American Left, while consisting primarily of a straggling, ragtag collection of loosely related interests, still produces the worlds greatest political analysts and analists (tee hee). Isolated individuals in the States, unencumbered by the overbearingly mythological histories of older nations, are free to believe some of the darkest, and consequently, some of the truest things...
(If you are American) I might observe to you that your nation isn't anywhere near as stupid as it sometimes likes to tell itself.
It has been very edifying and reassuring to note your presence on this board...
Until the next time, pal,
I certainly hope so.... although I have to say it's not looking awfully likely at the moment!
We shall see...
It might all turn out crap. In which case this is probably the last time it will ever be attempted...
We'll see
I'm gonna miss you
So long 
I will miss you too, and everyone else!
I will be getting very drunk in September... whatever the outcome!
Be sure and stop back from time to time - once you get things sorted in your beautiful land!
As "sorted" is a thing that does not fit well in any sentence also containing the word "Scotland"!! lol
Hope you reconsider, my friend!
Thank heavens for the Scottish Tourist Board...
we'll see how it goes
I like your sig line.
We'd live there if we could.
Then come back.
A 17th Century Scottish descendant here.
"WORK AS IF YOU WERE IN THE EARLY DAYS OF A BETTER NATION."
I'm not sure who th fuck you are, though. 
It looks a lot like those shots.
We probably had different hobby horses! lol
And I may well return... if we fail in independence. If we don't, I might be rather busy!
of the two Crowns of Scotland and England, as far as I'm aware.
Of course I'm being pedantic (and playing devil's advocate, tongue-in-cheek mostly), but the term 'United Kingdom' should read 'United Kingdoms', since both Crowns continued to exist as seperate Kingdoms but were agreed to be assigned to a single Monarch.
The Parliamentary history (at a time when Parliaments represented only the then 1% (powerful elites) of each country) is indeed different, with a single UK Parliament being established in the Act of Union of 1707, and it is this situation that may shortly change. As I understand it, though, at least in the immediate aftermath, Scotland would continue to be a Constitutional Monarchy with the current placeholder in place, rather like Canada, Australia...
Do you think an independent Scotland would choose (under present 'democratic' conditions) to continue with that status, or to annoint a Monarch from some other 'Royal House'(sic <g> , or to become a Republic or... (there are other alternatives)... ?
Anyway, sorry, you wanted to leave, not get into debate here in DU. Sorry to see you go.
Where can one debate these issues, where can one find something similar to DU in a UK or particularly Scottish context, can you tell me?
(My mother's family are lowland Scottish; my father's from Yorkshire; my brother's family is half (Norman) Irish and my niece was born in Edinburgh (her two children were born in Paris); I myself am self-exiled these many years past to first Ireland, then Central London (a universe apart), then France, now Spain).
Just PM, please, if you like, before you go. Ciao.
Best wishes for your efforts in Scotland. And a cyber beer, smile.
Thank you for the pictures and for your heart for your homeland.
Response to sibelian (Original post)
It looks a lot like the pictures!
You're going down in DU history as the most beautiful farewell ever. I could almost smell the air in that third pic. Nothing else is like when the heather is blooming in Scotland.
Good luck with everything on your domestic plate! Check back once in a while and give us an update if you can.
I thought I was going to get a tsunami from the idiot brigade saying "SCREW YOU",
I had no idea anyone was going to be nice. I don't want to go, now!
I feel proper loved up.
byeeez
I know that serious engagement with politics IRL takes a lot of time and energy, and what you are doing is tremendously important.
Thanks for those fantastic photos -- someday I hope I can take a tour, but it's a loooong way from California. Someday...
Hekate
Upper lips may even unstiffen a bit.
See ya Hekate, respect to you...
but more per sq mile, I think, on the isle of Arran, where I go on my holidays...
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rlbuw0FhfKo/TcBFdoa6IEI/AAAAAAAAD1U/YQa0WH1fvTo/s1600/The+Golf+Course.Lochranza.jpg
It's considered automatically +5 over par if you accidentally hit a deer...
Arran's nicer...
Can't you just stay, pretty please? 
I spend HOURS on this site... I have to give it a rest! Otherwise Scotland will grow wings and fly off and I'll be left in the middle of Atlantic staring at fish.
But I will come back.
Good Luck to Ya' in your Independence Vote.
Hope you will stop in now and then...
regards..
koko
And to Elizabeth....
Keep us posted on how it's going . . .
Scotland can be really beautiful. It's my home, so I'm biased... but I don't think I could live anywhere else, now.
Please check back in periodically and let us know how things are going. You DO belong here
And I guess I had BETTER come back. lol
Those photos are beautiful - now I want to visit Scotland even more.
Best of luck to you!
au revoir, or perhaps, see you soon... !probably the golf-ball shaped listening station:
Love Scotland. My British spouse took me there in '08. Unfortunately, I had the flu one of the couple of days I was there and that was miserable but it was lovely just the same. We'll be back soon enough. We plan to retire in the UK. Come back and visit us. We need the views from Europe here in this country. Hope you learned a lot from the DU even if they gave you shit. 
The evi morons are busily ruining the UK, too...
but never mind. They'll fail in the end. They always do.
Hope it goes the way you'd like it to.
You are wise.
Yes, correct identification! I live in Edinburgh and wander past the gardens often. Not so long ago I used to take my lunchbreak there.
I am SO spoiled.
Thanks for the blessing, I will miss you too...
This surely has to be loveliest GBCW evah! lol
I may even take some shots while on my vacation and force you all to sit through my slides!!!
s
My wife and I spent a few weeks on vacation there about 6 years ago and found it to be just spectacular - loved the people, food, gardens, scenery, history - can't wait to get back!
Cheers!
I am not angry with DU or DUers, not at all. This is basically my favourite website.
I spend HOURS on this site and I don't even live in the country it's about! I'm being silly.
I need to come home.
I will miss it lots and lots but I need to leave matters American to the Americans. It's YOUR country, not mine and I have no right to make silly rude pronouncements about your political landscape when the landscape in my own country is on the cusp of doing something ....
QUITE IMPORTANT.
I've been avoiding thinking about it. It's ridiculous.
Anyway, I'm sure you know what I mean, really.
Be well, Rex.
What a lovely idea...
au revoir
The spin has begun in earnest and it's UGLY.
Respect, SNTN, and may everything in your garden bloom...
And come, if you like. Why not? Always room in Scotland for another leftie!
What a lovely place. The one thing that amazed me was finding a Chinese restaurant in Inverness. We arrived in Glasglow and stayed the night, with the next morning getting a car rental and headed out on the road.. where we went to and stayed over night in a very lovely castle. I forget the name of the little town, but it was fascinating sleeping in a castle, where the dungeon was the bar! Our next area was Loch Lomond... and Loch Ness. We looked for Nessie but never saw it. Our next venture was to go to Fort Wiliam. What a fantastic drive it was there,with some long roads with hills, mountains and even a few abandoned Castles on the way.
Fort William was beautiful. It was there I picked up my beautiful silver ring, of Celtic Design.
Eventually we reached Edinburgh and enjoyed going to the tours there, and visiting the royal castle, where one could see the crown jewels as well as a lovely sword. Having taken Kendo for 15 years I loved visiting the sword shops.. though of course these were nothing like the swords of the Samurai. Still it was fun to see everything there. I think we spent the total week, and flew back to Heathrow Airport and on to home. A rather long trip to San Francisco.
I will never forget my trip to Scotland. It was interesting meeting the people there, and I am sure they found it fascinating talking to an Asian American girl, since I am sure there are not many of us around!
Sometimes you can barely lift the bloody things!
"The largest claymore on record is a sword measuring 7 feet 6 inches (2.24 m) and weighing 23 pounds (10 kg).[10] The claymore was wielded by a 15th-century Scottish giant of unknown name and origin, though the individual is believed to have been a member of the Maxwell Clan. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claymore
I'm doing a mini Scottish Tourist Board thing on this thread! Lol. Come back! We love visitors...
Plenty more where that came from...
See ye efter.
Goodness it's strange, I've seen your name so often here...
Maybe i had a past life there.
All I know is that for some reason, I've always wanted to be there. Maybe there's a connection to Clan Comyn. ...
Those pictures are soooooo gorgeous, I want to cry!
Take good care of yourself and your beautiful country!
There are so many Scottish descendants in US I suspect you're almost bound to have SOME of Scotland in you...
You take care, too...
I wanna go
Lucky you, have a safe trip back.
And best of luck with a Free Scotland! We'll see you down the road.
Probably a public holiday. They usually bring her in for a paint job and the operators get to see their mums...
DON'T TELL ANYONE. She's how we get our lunch money.
The photos are beautiful. My cousin and her family live in Scotland.
I hope you will come back and visit if you have a chance.
Too many good people are going .... but I understand!
I leave the site in your capable hands...
More good people will come. The Universe is by no means populated entirely by moronic, malicious people...
Have a present...
Wish you weren't leaving us though, I've always found your opinions to be well reasoned and your discourse quite civil. It is DU's loss. You will be missed.
But you're leaving some exquisitely beautiful parting gifts behind.
Hope you're not leaving forever. Scotland is truly a thing of loveliness. I looked at each of those photos and sighed and said to myself - "WANT!!!!"
And have!
I will probably return, with either my tail between my legs or carrying a saltire the size of Colorado...
How crap is that??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Monument
It's gone now, thank the fuck.
The most embarrassing thing that ever happened in Scotland!
Anyway, worse to come if we do get independence, I'm sure. Never mind. Tasteful public art is a small sacrifice for sliding out of the fingers of grubby London bankers...
We'll see.
As a lovely Scottish friend of mine likes to say, "Lang May Yer Lum Reek". Hope that means what she tells me it does!
Best wishes with your Free Scotland campaign!
It is a bit euphemistic, sounding, eh?
I bow, and am honoured likewise
We are up against some clever shits!
Edinburgh is such an awesome city. Love the Tattoo, the Fringe, and the way the castle just dominates the city. Throw in the West Highland Way, Skye....ahhhhhhhhhh.
Probably won't ever leave...
once my own country has got it's bloody heid sorted...!
But I wish you hadn't massacred all your wolves and chopped down all your trees to heard sheep. 
I'm VERY ambivalent about the return of wolves myself, which some people want and are working towards. Wolves are nice but they eat people. They'd keep the bloody deer population down, though, which would be good for the trees. So, hm. Not an easy question, for me.
The trees are returning, slowly. The tree line inches up the mountains, a little more every year... global warming will not destroy Scotland. Scotland's ecosystem is fucking ancient.
We'll see what happens.
ciao bella
Wolves are wonderful beings, imho. They are needed, like all naturally evolved creatures, to balance the ecosystem. They rarely eat people, either. Guess we're not so tasty,
you don't have to be American to be here! We welcome you folk!!!
we have our noses everywhere 
and appreciated.
All the best of luck to you on the Independence vote. I hope you'll see fit to stop in once in awhile to share your thoughts on the events in you home country.
And please don't ever think that didn't belong here! One of the pleasures of DU is hearing from folks from other places - your voices enrich us and broaden our perspectives.
Thank you also for the beautiful pictures!
To your health! 
And I'm sure I'll be back...
But, enjoy. Laphroaig is worth a taste, I hear?
Thanks be to the Scottish Tourist Board...
I'm sure I'll be back one day...
Come back once in a while and tell us how things are going.
no-one ever really leaves DU....
I was looking forward to more posting in the Men's Group, but... time caught up with me.
seeya, pal
I've always wanted to visit Scotland. Probably won't ever get there, so thanks for these great photos.
I do hope your efforts at home are fruitful. Don't go completely away though, we can always use some input from outside the asylum!
And it's looking to me like the asylum is starting to throw off the straitjackets...
and true!
But the pretty parts are just breath-taking. Too bad it isn't all like that, and that goes for here too!
I understand your reasons and they are good ones. Good Luck in that struggle for Scotland! The Drums are calling.
Thanks for sharing those beautiful photos! Breathtaking!
I used to drum for Beltane....
Good times....
http://www.edinburghguide.com/events/beltanefirefestival
... I watch the slow victory of gay rights across the US with awe...
Well done to all you guys, gay bros and sis's and all my LGBT brethren in the Land of Dreams. My yours come true...
xxxxxx
This thread alone, which I foolishly have decided to treat as a proper form of human communication (everyone else did! I thought it would be a handful of disgruntled foes telling me to bugger off!!!! lol) has taken DAYS to finish!!!!
so.
be well...
well here's my fave scottish band:
And this song sort of explains my feelings about independence...
Impressed that you bothered to be interested in American politics in the first place when Scotland, or really Europe in general is so much more interesting. Kudos to you for lasting as long as you did.
I wish you the best.
... or so my education as a baby political junkie led me to believe. I'm not sure it's true anymore. The world seems to be slowly breaking back up into bits.
I don't know if it's good or bad... but. There we are.
Europe isn't really all that interesting politically, to my mind all the most serious (and least well recognised) left wing thought comes from the States, possibly because the left is so marginalised and therefore, in a strange sense, free to think... Stonewall was a Stateside victory. The Civil rights movement, the legalisation of marijuana movement.... lots of serious thought goes into these things, also feminism, class warfare, analysis of corporatism, all the big stuff happens in the States. People don't think so, but it's true. The States is not stupid, just very big...
So keep at it! The world is watching you...
no pressure!
I have to go outside and look at the Big Room! Also, I have do normal things like eat and wash and speak to my boyfriend about things that aren't American politics!!
but I'll be back, (in best Arnie voice)
I shall return.... with news. You'll all know by then, so it will be "olds" but I will react at you all about it, lol
....
I think....
Thank you for the parting gift of all of those stunning photos! I'm now more determined than ever to get to Scotland, as well as Ireland and England, three islands of my ancestry. Till then....
...
And thank you for the lovely photographs!
and I shall!
Maybe if we manage something sensible, the English will wake up, remember themselves and fetch the pitchforks...
I hope you meant "course" not "curse".... that's a bit freudian! lol
bit like this thread... lol
seeya Joe
*gulp*
Take care. Stop in sometime.
Those pictures are amazing!
I'm sure I'll see you again...
How else can the obtuse and out of touch in the States be truly informed?
There is so much to say, so I hope you won't stay away.
Oh, and if I see FUCK, I'll thank them…
And I have a feeling thing are going to start getting better...
X
s
IGNORE THEM ALL. PUT THEM ALL ON YOUR IGNORE LIST.
THEY ARE HERE TO CAUSE STRIFE, NOT DISCUSSION.
Every so often, log out and see who is still tangling with them. PM the hapless ones whose attention is being spent for sake of being spent. Th attention spenders have no purpose in mind but to sow the seeds of division and demoralisation and the cast the illusion that There Is No Left. Tell the frustrated that they are being punked and that they need not be punked any more. Copy this whole screed, from "IGNORE THEM" onwards into your PM and exhort them to do the same from time to time when they see a new troll...
An in time, mysteriously, As If by Magic, our beloved DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND will reappear...
Ciao Bella
BTW, you rock
And, we'll find out, won't we?
At least don't forget to write once in a while.
I'd need a much bigger house....
I'm sure I won't be able to stay away forever...
Makes me want to come visit you, sibelian. Please do come back to visit from time to time. Best of luck to you!!!
Have a present...
and, fortunately, also my favourite city!
Perhaps you will come back one day.
We will ply you with strong spirits and haggis sandwiches!
and post photos occasionally - these are incredible!
With admiration, TBF
But I did take this:
... on location in an Arran Rockpool,
with your advocacy.
Certainly their model is something I think the independence crowd are keen on, I know I am. They hit well above their weight in terms of happiness, social cohesion, morally sound politics. I don;t know of Scandinavia wants us, though?
Scandinavia and the World seems to think so....
http://satwcomic.com/new-nordic
I'd love to be Scandinavian...
Seeya Aerows. Keep battlin'! The States appears to be rapidly waking up to gay rights...
Response to sibelian (Reply #304)
I loved Madrid and Barcelona... Particularly Tibidabo!
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It was amazing!!!
And Guell Park and just everything... wow. So beautiful.
And another thing that I think people don't realise. I was prepared for Sagrada Familia to be impressive, to be richly detailed and extraordinary, it looks incredible in the photographs, but I was NOT prepared for it to be SOOOO FRICKEN HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE!!!! It was COLOSSAL! VERY impressive.
I'm very pleased to have been born in a decade that allows to be amongst the first to visit it once it's finished. What an incredible acheivement it will be.
Bravo!
Blessings.
We're only mildly grumpy.
ACTUALLY going now
THANK YOU AND
