Home part 1

Home Time Part 1: Pre-Islay

 

When I reached terminal 5 at Heathrow airport, I have to say I instantly felt scruffy. We never look our best after early morning flights, and in a terminal surrounded by chic business commuters and other people who can afford to travel BA, I felt positively tramp-like. So one of the first things I did once back on British soil was, aside the obligatory Sunday Observer, go straight into Accessorize and buy a new pair of tights to replace my worn out jersey churridars. After I had them on I felt infinitely better and cleaner. I wandered terminal five for quite a while. I am resolved to fly BA home in May, as this is just too nice a welcome home to spare for the sake of thirty quid.

When I got back to Glasgow airport, I was incredibly excited. Speaking to my mum and dad and Iain on British telephone lines was exciting enough. When you come down the lifts to the baggage reclaim you can see the arrivals greeters outside. And they were there: the family and Iain, waving crazily. I could hardly stand it and practially ran to get my bag, but sod’s law, they were amongst the last to get off the trolley. Mum told me later that I had been gone so long Iain was anxious and kept saying “Where is she? Where is she? It can’t take this long…maybe she went the wrong way…” When I finally was reunited with them I had to take the executive decision between crying mother and crying boyfriend and went for my mother. She is the person who gave birth to me afterall, and also the person I am most careful not to offend for fear. Being able to see them again was one of the happiest moments I have had in a long long time. Iain was crying. It was incredibly touching. Even Euan looked more than happy to see me. Once I had hugged and kissed everyone we went home to our house and I had my first taste of bagel with melted Red Leicester cheese. Amazing. It was beyond words how wonderful it was to see them all. I was so knackered though I don’t think I was much good at conversation. My mum told me I looked gaunt and that my hair had definitely thinned. Wonderful to hear. Apparently I am a lot thinner than I had realised. Even my pyjamas were a bit baggy, and they are elasticated.

The next day, irony of all ironies, I spent running to the loo. I got food poisoning in Terminal five from Wagamammas. Goddamn noodle soup… this was made worse by the fact that I had to do a grand tour and visit all of my relatives. By the time I was coming home from Gran and Grandpa’s I thought I wasn’t going to make the twenty minute journey back. I almost didn’t.

Seeing everyone again was amazing. I gave out everyone’s gifts and so on and they were all happy. Old Gran was especially pleased to see me I think. We are going for lunch with her on Wednesday, and I cant wait. Grandpa was hilariously trying hard not to tell me that I was as brown as a (insert racist term here).

At first it was a bit annoying. Everyone had school and work and all my friends were sitting exams in Edinburgh. So I was kicking about the house a bit. It was amazing to see Susan again. Her mother died right before I came home, so I was feeling particularly glad to see her and finally give her a cuddle. But I had arranged with my mum to go for lunch with Old Gran on Wednesday. When it came, we took her into the town and to Fifi and Ally for champagne high tea. They have beautiful presentation: a lovely white vintage tea tray thing with berries and cream arranged around it, not that it wasn’t appetizing enough already. She hadn’t been in the town for about fifteen years she said. It was a great day to be in. The sky was clear, the Christmas lights were all up on Buchanan Street and everything was looking festive and clean for once. I have to say, picking this time of year to come back to Scotland was a brilliant idea. She was a bit overwhelmed by it all, but we got her back in one piece.

 That evening I went through to Edinburgh to see all of my friends and spend some time with Iain. They were all in the flat to greet me, and it felt lovely to see them all again together. Frances had come all the way from Italy. She is a doll and I was so happy to see her. I was surprised to learn that this was the first time in quite a while any of them had been round at the flat. But more on that one later. Kapil even made a curry in the spirit of the occasion.
The next day Iain had to go do some work for his courses (more on that one later as well) so I went out to meet Robin for coffee in the morning. It was lovely to see him again and catch up. Seems he is becoming quite the armed forces party boy. After meeting Robin I went to the library and saw my boo and Rachel again for a little while, before repairing to Emma’s for Christmas market time.

Every year in Edinburgh there is a German Christmas market at the National Galleries on Princes Street. And every year, there is mulled wine and a man who happily gives stolen (German Christmas cake) away for free. I bought some to bring back to India with me and make everyone in the hostel try. It is one of the most amazing things in the world. o fruity and heavy and yum. We bought some mulled wine spices as well to make later on. Cannot wait. Ran from the Christmas Market to Starbucks to meet Iain Alex. I hadn’t seen him either and so was overjoyed to see him. Gave him his Om UV t-shirt. I hope he actually wears the damned thing seeing as it took a total of four flights to get it to him. Time was cut short however as had to go to see Peter Pan with Frances at the Lyceum (you can pack a LOT in a day if you just try). About twenty minutes in, Frances leaned over and asked me what a pantomime is. I could hardly believe it. I hate panto, but I had gone with her as she had been so insistent and she had come all the way from Italy for it after all. This was a classy panto as well, with proper wires for people to fly, no has-been comedians and no ‘Buttons’ or ‘Widow Twanky’ characters. But she didn’t like it. I think she was too hyped up for the real play of Peter Pan, not something where everyone sounds like they are from Leith and small children yell out at random points and the story line is effectively brutalized. I enjoyed her reaction more than the production.

After the panto, (gosh wasn’t I festive?) I went back to Emma’s to have mulled wine. Iain Alex joined us and we watched Dil Bole Hadippa! A wonderful film that is effectively the Indian version of She’s The Man. I have converted them to Bollywood. Now I will have support when Kapil goes on one of his rants about Bollywood.

The next morning I got up super early and Frances and I went back to Glasgow to meet my mother for lunch. We went to Rogano and sat in the bar, had champagne cocktails and amazing fish soup with rouille and croutons. The coffee with tablet there is one of the things I look forward to most about being back home with the rents. The family were really pleased to see Frances again as well, as they think she is the bee’s knees. She brought various exciting chocolate products as well from `Italy, so she couldn’t have gone wrong. Mum made a huge dinner of beef Wellington as well, the right way this time thankfully. My stomach decided to revolt on that one the next morning as well, but it was well worth the half hour I had to spend on the loo. I find it so ironic that being at home made me sick twice in one week – far more frequent than in Delhi.

The next day Frances and I spent in Glasgow looking for snow boots and going to see Where The Wild things are. I enjoyed the soundtrack and James Gandolfini as the voice of Carol. I didn’t really get the inane squee that many other people seem to have gotten though, as I had never read the book as a kid so I don’t think I was in the right frame of mind. But oh well. I still enjoyed it, just not as much as Frances. Afterwards we went back through to Edinburgh. She left for Italy the next morning. I was sad to see her go, but not as horrifically upset as last time. Saying goodbye to folks does get easier as it goes along.

I came back to Glasgow on Monday. For the next five days I stayed in Glasgow. I saw Grace again for the first time in a long while. We drank obscene amounts of tea. Tea is becoming a definite feature of the different stages of my day. Went round to Susan’s for dinner as well and had pasta for the first time since late October or something. Most exciting. I met my Grandmother and we went shopping together as we always do in the week before Christmas and got an ace leather jacket from topshop. Once again, I began to feel slightly bored…I was left at home with not much to do. But I managed to fill my time in somehow.

The next installment is: Islay. Where the whiskey comes from.