Living/ Working in Scotland

daviesee

wildmoustache wrote:

It's more that your statement below, while possibly true, without some qualiification in the context of this thread, rather implies "everywhere is same" whilch is absolute bollocks as you acknowledge impliciitly in your post above. It's inconceivable that e.g. racism is decreasing everywhere at the same rate!

"It is my belief that human beings are tribal by nature and no matter where you go they will always sub divide into groups and pick on each other.

I stand by the statement. Everywhere is the same in regards as no matter where in the world you go somebody/group will not like you for some reason. That reason may be serious as in racism or petty as in sporting allegience but the divides will be there.

For example as a Scottish Rangers supporter living and working in Aberdeen I can assure you that I have taken much more abuse than any English supporter in the pub. I also went through the same thing when Boston Bruin fans visited Montreal for the hockey.
How you handle that is pertinant as to whether you think it is worth staying or not.
I have to make it absolutely clear that I have never seen the abuse extend to threats of violence to anyone though. Aggressive dialogue but no actual violence.

-spider-

I was out for a cycle in Perthshire yesterday with some old friends. Two were Scots and four were English. The English guys had a total residence in Scotland of around 150 years. None of them want to move back and all now consider Scotland "home". No-one has experienced anti English sentiments - some banter but nothing antagonistic.

Anecdotal I know, but real experience.

daviesee

Another thing to like about Scotland. I was out in Perthshire with the club yesterday on lovely quiet roads and yet I never bumped into you
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/55018812
Bloody hard it was too but what a sense of achievement!
Caledonia Etape? Phht, easy compared to that.

Spender45

"

"It is my belief that human beings are tribal by nature and no matter where you go they will always sub divide into groups and pick on each other.[/quote]

For example as a Scottish Rangers supporter living and working in Aberdeen I can assure you that I have taken much more abuse than any English supporter in the pub. [/quote]

Yes but to be fair most of the english won't steal our hubcaps, whereas Rangers supporters :roll: ...........

I guess I have just proved your tribalism theory

nwallace

disgruntledgoat wrote:

I have an interview in Hamilton

Lanarkshire is a god awful place, trumped only by the rest of Weegie land.

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Firstly living somewhere. Both me and my girlfriend have friends/ family in Edinburgh, is that a feasible commute to Hamilton?

Many do similar every day, the M8 is only a 2 lane Dual Carriageway with a Motorway Order so there are capacity issues.

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Both being country bumpkins (we currently live in the lake district) we'd be lookng to live somewhere at least semi rural, so suggestions as to areas to look would be great.

Should be able to find somewhere semi-rural within sensible distance

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Finally, job-wise... Our lass is a teacherand I know that you guys up there have a different qualification for that... Can you take a conversion course or is your English certificate worthless (which would seem really odd...)? Bearing this in mind what woud the job prospects be like for a former teacher with 6 years experience & a French Degree, either in education or elsewhere?

I believe the rules in Scotland are much stricter, you must have a Degree in the subject you teach for secondary and the teaching diploma, and the appropriate primary teaching course for primary schools.

A former teacher colleague said recently "IF you train as a teacher in Scotland you can teach in just about any country in the world, if you train in England then that's the only place you will be able to teach"

If she teaches French then she would at most have to do the diploma, if not she better start teaching French.

Alan A wrote:

Avoid Larkhall unless you like walking in bowler hats.

bompington wrote:

thankfully I've never mastered Dundonian (everybody repeat after me: "Eh'll hae a peh, a bridie, an' an ingin ane an' a'")

I'll have a pie, a bridie and an onion bridie too please.

Easy when you are a North Fifer.

Seriously, if you ever find yourself in Dundee understanding the different intonations of the word "Eh" is critical to your survival.

I've got a description of Dundonian saved on my facebook notes...


The important thing to remember in Scotland is that Z is not Z, posh looking names are pronounced coursely and not-very posh looking names are pronounced poshly.
Examples:
Menzies - Mingus.
Farquhar - Farker
Strathaven - Straven
Sanquhar - Sanker
Milngavie - Millguy
Strachan - Strawn (Bizzarley, the surname of the people from the area is pronounced Straxan)

Retro1702 wrote:

Oh & here's another thing, West Central Scotland schools, the letter is JAY not JYE, grrrrrr

Jay, aye.
Now what about haitch?

bompington wrote:

(Sectarianism)I have never come across it in Dundee, which does have a large Irish immigrant population

Certainly get a bit but it's flavoured slightly differently.
There is some anti-catholic sentiment but it's probably no more than the Presbyterian churches once peddled. (and vice versa)
There has been anti-irishness in Dundee, seemingly an early version of Dundee's gangs in Lochee was the Scotch-or-Irish fighting on the appropriate saints day.

guinea wrote:

Whilst mostly contained in the Glasgow commuter zone and a little in the Western Isles, Weegies get everywhere.

Bizzare thing about the Western Isles, organised Christianity only made it's way to the Western Isles properly long after the Reformation, the lairds of Lewis, Harris and St Kilda allowed Free Church Missionaries to preach to the populace from the Disruption onwards. The Larid of the Uists was Catholic.
To this day Harris and Lewis are mostly Free Presbeteryian while the Uists are Catholic

Oh and the Catholic church in Scotland still insist on Catholic children being allowed to be schooled separately from the reformed, presumably it's still the same old "don't want them mixing with the proddies incase they convert".


Old Firm fans are scum, pure and simple. (That's an over generalisation, some are perfectly reasonable and decent human beings.)

I'm off to go back to laughing at Dundee FC, it's way better than Weegie Bashing until they Die...

Weejie54

Milngavie - Millguy

Mullguy, eh.

How a Dundonian can criticise Glesca is beyond comprehension.

At least Weejies have been known to dip their hands in their pooches.

Oh dear me, as the song goes.

-spider-

daviesee wrote:

Another thing to like about Scotland. I was out in Perthshire with the club yesterday on lovely quiet roads and yet I never bumped into you
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/55018812
Bloody hard it was too but what a sense of achievement!
Caledonia Etape? Phht, easy compared to that.

Nice route daviesee. Done all these roads - but not all in the same day. The road from Amulree to Acharn is great. But that climb over to Glen Lyon is a killer.

We were a bit south of there. = Almondbank - Bankfoot - Caputh - Loch Clunie - Loch of the Lowes - Dunkeld (cake stop) - Bankfoot - Little Glenshee - Almondbank. Nice route and really quiet, only met four other cyclists all day.

Possibly the Angus Glens next.

daviesee

-spider-

Yes. Great route and a glorious morning on Sunday. The leaves reflecting on Loch Tay was spectacular. I have always fancied doing the Glen Quaich and Ben Lawers climbs but it never crossed my mind to do them both in the same trip. Someone in the club proposed it as an end of season finale. The foolhardy volunteered

So many routes, so little time......

nwallace

Weejie54 wrote:

Milngavie - Millguy

Mullguy, eh.

How a Dundonian can criticise Glesca is beyond comprehension.

At least Weejies have been known to dip their hands in their pooches.

Oh dear me, as the song goes.

I'm no a Dundonian, ya hoor.

Weejie54

I'm no a Dundonian, ya hoor.

No, I've just noticed. You are from the northern part of that Kingdom which includes Glenrothes and Methil.

You should have let me believe you were Dundonian.

daviesee

Spender45 wrote:

"

"It is my belief that human beings are tribal by nature and no matter where you go they will always sub divide into groups and pick on each other.

For example as a Scottish Rangers supporter living and working in Aberdeen I can assure you that I have taken much more abuse than any English supporter in the pub. [/quote]

Yes but to be fair most of the english won't steal our hubcaps, whereas Rangers supporters :roll: ...........

I guess I have just proved your tribalism theory [/quote]

Now I know you are kidding!

Audis & Mercs have alloys, not hubcaps

See. Here we are proving my point. No one else posting recently so we Scots are arguing amonst ourselves :twisted:

Anyway. Got to go. Still Game on again.......

carrock

bompington wrote:

Retro1702 wrote:

I've got a friend who's a teacher in Dumbarton (originally from Durham) who would echo a lot of what I've got to say here too.

But funnily enough I'm also an Englishman, and a teacher, with a distinct public school accent that 25 years of living in Scotland hasn't eradicated; and I have never been the victim of this legendary anti-english racism. You do hear a lot of anti-english talk but I reckon no more serious than the kind of jingoistic waffle the english specialise in, the interesting thing is that a lot of my neighbours, colleagues and friends will go on like this occasionally, sometimes (but only sometimes) they'll catch themselves on and apologise.
I guess I have gone native by now: I reckon that successful immigration depends to a large extent on how willing you are to identify with your new compatriots. That doesn't mean you can't retain your identity, and you don't need to overdo it either - thankfully I've never mastered Dundonian (everybody repeat after me: "Eh'll hae a peh, a bridie, an' an ingin ane an' a'")

More seriously, as long as you understand that the Scots are more sensitive than they might be to the fact that Scotland is not England (most also have this strange idea that the UK and England are not exactly the same thing either), you'll get on fine. Coming to terms with the subtle but distinct differences in the education system is a good place to start, previous posters have pointed you in the right direction for info.

Lanarkshire is not really my stamping ground but almost anywhere in the central belt you've got nice places to live, plenty of countryside, and it's not far to go for all the big city stuff: Edinburgh and Glasgow between them have pretty much everything you could want from a big city.
And you're close to much bigger and emptier spaces in Galloway, and not that far from the Highlands - only about an hour's drive off peak from Hamilton.

Overall I'd recommend - I'm not denying Retro's experiences, or implying that it's his own fault in some way, but it's not my experience or that of all the other English (or Welsh, or Irish) folk I know round here.

Perhaps it's class or accent related. One can't imagine Ronnie Corbett, for example, being abused for being scottish by english racists, as he is what I understand is called a peej. ( Posh Jock )

nwallace

Weejie54 wrote:

I'm no a Dundonian, ya hoor.

No, I've just noticed. You are from the northern part of that Kingdom which includes Glenrothes and Methil.

You should have let me believe you were Dundonian.

those from Methil and Glenrothes think we are, those from Dundee think we aren't. It's a rather nice middle ground, neither Dundonian nor Fifer.

gavintc

carrock wrote:

Perhaps it's class or accent related. One can't imagine Ronnie Corbett, for example, being abused for being scottish by english racists, as he is what I understand is called a peej. ( Posh Jock )

My Dad was in the same school class as Ronnie Corbett at the Royal High and he tells me that he was abused for being thick and not able to keep up. Well, he has the laugh on them all now.

disgruntledgoat

Well interview done. I found the denizens of Hamilton to be courteous and friendly (well, the 2 Taxi drivers and the receptionist I spoke to!)

Still no idea how it went, however, as they haven't called, despite a promise to let the consultancy know that day.

rick_chasey

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Still no idea how it went, however, as they haven't called, despite a promise to let the consultancy know that day.

That's pretty standard - wouldn't let it worry you (though it's not good for the nerves).

zippypablo

Let us know how you get on. If you get the job I might be able to give you some useful advice rather than some of the parochial pish so far. I'm originally from East Kilbride even though I'm now in Yorkshire. Some places will welcome you as an outsider others won't.

disgruntledgoat

zippypablo wrote:

Let us know how you get on. If you get the job I might be able to give you some useful advice rather than some of the parochial pish so far. I'm originally from East Kilbride even though I'm now in Yorkshire. Some places will welcome you as an outsider others won't.

Sorry to have wasted everybody's time! Didn't get it.

And the move within the company I was offered has been blocked by my current management. I'm a bundle of laughs today!

zippypablo

Sorry to hear it mate.

daviesee

Every right to be even more disgruntled.

Keep on looking......