Things I Noticed in Scotland and Things I didn't Realize were So specifically Scottish (Newsletter No. 64)

Things I Noticed in Scotland:
All the single-use utensils were made of wood

Lots of Victorian style faucets (the kind where there are separate taps for hot and cold) which make no sense to me???
Nearly all the showers were electric showers
Halloumi and Tikka Masala were part of the default options of Western Menus

Lots of excellent potato chip flavors heavy on onion flavors (UK in general perhaps)

Lots of caramel and toffee flavors

No road rage

Lots of roundabouts rather than ramps

Bus rides were smooth and not jerky
Wifi is truly almost everywhere

People say that’s “quite alright”, “you’re alright” or something to that effect instead of saying “no worries” or “no problem”

They really do have haggis options a lot, it’s not just a novelty item for tourists

Their default modern style seems to be 90s counter culture grunge.

Their hikes are just safe enough where you have to go out of your way to seemed just dangerous enough to be entertaining and not have unnecessary fences taint the views, there was lots of rock scrambling, the tight rope obstacle was not particularly low to the ground, plenty of cliff views with no protective barrier.

Famous Things I didn’t realize were so specifically Scottish (sorry some of these are obvious but prior to this visit I more or less blended Ireland and the UK into one murky mushy pie):
Adam Smith

Sir Walter Scott

The writer of Auld Lang Sang

Shortbread

Tartan

Highland Cows

Didn’t know they also spoke Gaelic

Whisky

Trainspotting

Outlander
Braveheart

Loch Ness Monster

Bagpipes

Balmoral Castle

Golf

Hogwarts