Five Fast Questions with Garry Stevenson from Being Scottish: Part Two

[00:00:00] This is 63% Scottish, a Scotland Appreciation Podcast.

[00:00:07] Welcome to 63% Scottish. My name is Eamon OFlynn and I am your host. I'm here with the guest from our last full episode, Garry Stevenson, to run through five fast questions.

[00:00:18] That's where I ask five questions and challenge our guests to answer each in one minute or less.

[00:00:24] Okay, so, number one, what is one place every visitor to Scotland should check out?

[00:00:30] Well, I've got a real affinity with the Isle of Skye. I've been there twice and I just absolutely love it.

[00:00:41] I think it may be because we've been really lucky with the weather, which is unusual.

[00:00:48] Two trips to Skye for two weeks and the weather was amazing both times.

[00:00:54] It's kind of like Scotland in miniature. It's got everything you could possibly want.

[00:01:01] Yeah, I love Skye. I love the short drives everywhere as well. Like, for example, I did a Monroe there in 2021.

[00:01:12] And the kind of novelty of getting up at 6am and being at the Monroe at 20 past 6 was just incredible.

[00:01:20] Normally it takes two hours. And there's just so much to see as well. I don't feel like I've explored the place yet.

[00:01:27] Yeah, I totally recommend Skye. It's kind of Scotland in miniature almost.

[00:01:34] And if you like whiskey, I've been to Islay as well. If you like whiskey, Islay is the place to be.

[00:01:39] I mean, I think I went there in 2018. And they had eight distilleries and they were building two.

[00:01:46] So they had 10 theoretically and they've probably got more.

[00:01:50] That is, if you like whiskey, that is the place to go.

[00:01:53] And they're all within like a half hour drive or something or, or so, right?

[00:01:58] Well, there's, what's the name of that? Lathroig, Ardbeg, and what was the one that the guy from Parts and Recreation?

[00:02:11] Oh, uh.

[00:02:13] Lagervillen. Lagervillen. Those three are, you can, are walkable. They're right next to each other.

[00:02:20] Three distilleries right next to each other. Like near Port, I think it's near Port Ellen.

[00:02:25] And we went to all of them. That's great. My kids were really bored.

[00:02:31] Maybe you were fine.

[00:02:33] Yeah. I was like, look, the whiskey chocolate is really good.

[00:02:36] Yeah, see, eat it.

[00:02:39] I say the same thing about going to,

[00:02:41] going to Edinburgh.

[00:02:43] I, you know, I always tell people, yeah, Edinburgh was great, but it was beautiful and sunny the entire time I was there.

[00:02:48] I was only there for like five or six days and it was just beautiful, pristine weather.

[00:02:53] Didn't rain, I don't think, the entire time we were there.

[00:02:56] I'm like, yeah, you should just go to Scotland.

[00:02:57] It's always beautiful weather as far as I can tell.

[00:03:00] What time of year was that?

[00:03:02] Was it May?

[00:03:03] May.

[00:03:03] May.

[00:03:04] People say that May is the best time to go on and it is, but even still, you can still get unlucky.

[00:03:09] Yeah.

[00:03:10] There is, there's no perfect time.

[00:03:12] It's just pot luck most of the time.

[00:03:15] Yeah.

[00:03:16] Okay.

[00:03:16] Number two, what is your favorite uniquely Scottish word or phrase?

[00:03:20] And you may have noticed in this question, I just redirect everyone to your website because they say feel free to take some inspiration from the being Scottish Scottish words graphic.

[00:03:28] Yeah, yeah.

[00:03:29] That doesn't like, that's just singular words.

[00:03:32] There's a lot of silly expressions that I like.

[00:03:36] I mean, one of my favorites is if your jacket, which is jacket, your jacket's on a sugarly peg.

[00:03:43] That jacket's on a sugarly peg.

[00:03:45] You better watch out.

[00:03:46] Right.

[00:03:47] Right.

[00:03:47] So that means that your employment is under threat.

[00:03:51] Really?

[00:03:52] Yeah.

[00:03:53] Because like, if you imagine the jacket you put up on a cold stand, um, it's, if it's on a sugarly, which means shaky, shaky peg.

[00:04:03] Yeah.

[00:04:04] It means something that a Scottish boss would say.

[00:04:08] The, your jacket's on a sugarly peg.

[00:04:10] Hamish.

[00:04:11] If you're late again.

[00:04:12] You know?

[00:04:13] Yeah.

[00:04:13] Okay.

[00:04:14] Yeah.

[00:04:15] I get it.

[00:04:15] I get it.

[00:04:16] I get where this coming from.

[00:04:17] That's interesting.

[00:04:18] The more, you know, we've learned much here.

[00:04:21] Yeah.

[00:04:22] Another one is your bums at the window.

[00:04:23] I like that one as well.

[00:04:26] Your what?

[00:04:27] Your, your bums.

[00:04:28] Your bums at the windy.

[00:04:30] At the windy.

[00:04:31] Which just means if, uh, it's quite hard to, if, if you get something wrong or something, like if you, if you've been talking about something and you're trying to, and someone's trying to prove you wrong and you'd be like, ah, your bums at the windy.

[00:04:45] You got it wrong.

[00:04:47] Like, I can't even begin to explain that.

[00:04:50] Yeah.

[00:04:50] Windy is window.

[00:04:51] Yeah.

[00:04:52] So your bottom is out the window.

[00:04:54] I don't, I don't get it.

[00:04:55] I don't know.

[00:04:55] I like it.

[00:04:57] And I would, I would say it, but I don't know what it means.

[00:04:59] I don't, yeah.

[00:05:00] Don't know where the, where the, why it makes sense.

[00:05:03] It's just, it's a way, it's a way to gloat over someone.

[00:05:05] It's kind of random, a random Scottish gloat.

[00:05:10] So.

[00:05:10] I think, I think anyone who's listening from Canada or United States should try to work that into a conversation in the next week or so.

[00:05:16] Absolutely.

[00:05:17] Listen to this.

[00:05:18] Try to work that into your conversation and see what happens.

[00:05:21] Maybe not at work, but else your jacket will be on a sugary peg.

[00:05:24] So.

[00:05:24] Yes.

[00:05:24] Try that one instead.

[00:05:26] All right.

[00:05:27] Uh, number three, who is one person from Scotland's past or present that you'd like to have a beer, whiskey, iron brew, or coffee with?

[00:05:34] And would you like to have a beer, whiskey, iron brew, or coffee with that person?

[00:05:38] Probably Billy Conley.

[00:05:40] So, I mean, I'd imagine probably half, half the people you ask would say that in Scotland because he's just, I don't know.

[00:05:49] I mean, he was always funny, but he's kind of, I don't know.

[00:05:51] He's kind of grown into this godlike Scottish figure.

[00:05:56] Yeah.

[00:05:57] Like, you just see his face and quotes and all over social media like all the time.

[00:06:00] And I just think it's because he's kind of, I mean, he gets criticized because he left Scotland and all that, but like, you go where life takes you, don't you?

[00:06:09] That's, that's, that's the way I see it.

[00:06:11] But he's never, ever forgot, like, that he's from Glasgow and he just randomly appears in Glasgow and goes to like cafes and stuff when, when he's over.

[00:06:18] Yeah.

[00:06:19] And so, yeah, and he's just, he's just a funny guy.

[00:06:23] Like he's, he's larger than life, right?

[00:06:25] Like he's got.

[00:06:26] Yeah.

[00:06:27] What would you, what would you drink with him?

[00:06:32] Um, I don't think, I don't think Billy Conley drinks.

[00:06:35] So.

[00:06:36] Yeah.

[00:06:36] I think he's sober now.

[00:06:38] Possibly just a coffee.

[00:06:40] That's fine by me.

[00:06:41] It's that wee, a wee lunchtime coffee and a, and a scone.

[00:06:45] There we go.

[00:06:46] Okay.

[00:06:47] Number four.

[00:06:48] What is one popular misconception of Scotland that you'd like to dispel?

[00:06:52] Um, that were, that were, sorry, that were stingy with money.

[00:06:58] Um, I don't, I don't know who made that one up.

[00:07:03] Um, but I think we spoke about this the last time.

[00:07:07] Like, I think, I think we did, but I've also had numerous other people for this, this season so far, make that exact same, pick that exact same thing.

[00:07:16] And it's, it's interesting.

[00:07:18] Yeah.

[00:07:18] Um, I think the last time I blamed Scrooge McDuck for the stereotype.

[00:07:24] Um, cause cause Disney made, uh, made the version of the Ebenezer Scrooge, like Scottish, but it may not be that.

[00:07:32] I mean, another, another kind of misconception is that it's, it's freezing and, and like snowy and winter in Scotland.

[00:07:41] Generally, at low level, it's, it's not freezing and snowy.

[00:07:47] We do have the odd, like cold spell.

[00:07:52] Um, like every few years that, that, um, we'll kind of bring the, that the roads to a halt because we don't know how to deal with it.

[00:08:01] But then we'll get all the salt in and we'll say it's never going to happen again.

[00:08:04] Then nothing, nothing like it happens for years until the next one.

[00:08:08] Yeah.

[00:08:09] So, I mean, there's snow, there's, there's, there's a lot of snow in the hills and stuff during winter, but we're kind of, because of where we are on the globe, we should be colder than we are.

[00:08:21] But I think there's some sort of drift that keeps some sort of Atlantic drift that keeps Scotland and the jet stream.

[00:08:28] You know? Yeah.

[00:08:28] Yeah. It keeps us a bit milder, but it is very dark in winter.

[00:08:33] I would say that it's very, very dark, but not as cold as Canada, for example.

[00:08:38] And Canada gets really, really fierce winters.

[00:08:41] Yeah.

[00:08:42] I think it's colder here.

[00:08:43] I think it's also hotter here.

[00:08:44] I think we get where I am at least.

[00:08:47] I think we get both, both extremes over Scotland.

[00:08:50] Yeah.

[00:08:51] It's never really that hot here.

[00:08:53] It's kind of, we've got a 10, again, I'm talking centigrade, but maybe a 15 degree swing from winter to summer.

[00:09:02] It's not like, generally it's pretty grim.

[00:09:07] Only in the summer there's more, it's lighter.

[00:09:09] It's lighter and grim.

[00:09:11] Yeah.

[00:09:12] That's, I mean, here it is somewhere around, I would say zero centigrade.

[00:09:20] Yeah.

[00:09:20] In the winter.

[00:09:21] And then the summer, it's probably, I think you probably average somewhere in like the mid twenties.

[00:09:27] Yeah.

[00:09:27] But we get hot, we will get 35 and 40.

[00:09:33] Well, I mean, I don't think it's ever been 35 or 40 in Scotland.

[00:09:37] Yeah.

[00:09:37] Seriously.

[00:09:37] I don't think, I think a record temperature is like 34 perhaps.

[00:09:41] Yeah.

[00:09:42] But it hasn't been like that this year.

[00:09:44] I mean, I think the warmest it's been is maybe this year's probably 24, you know, it's not been, not been warm.

[00:09:52] Okay.

[00:09:53] Let's, we have one final question.

[00:09:55] And that is, that is the question where I act as though I know everything about Canada, which I absolutely do not.

[00:10:01] Is there anything you'd like to know about Canada?

[00:10:05] Do you know that the soccer world cup is going to be in Canada?

[00:10:11] Are you aware of that?

[00:10:12] Yes.

[00:10:13] Yes.

[00:10:14] I am aware of that, but I'm only aware of it because it's happening like right here.

[00:10:21] Yeah.

[00:10:21] In two years.

[00:10:22] Yeah.

[00:10:23] So it's, it's pretty exciting.

[00:10:25] I mean, the, you know, the, the men will be fine.

[00:10:29] Yeah.

[00:10:30] There's, we'll just, we'll just pop some drones up into the sky.

[00:10:32] Boom.

[00:10:33] No problem.

[00:10:35] Yeah.

[00:10:35] I mean, Canada's team's all right, aren't they?

[00:10:37] Like they're, they're, they're in truth.

[00:10:39] Yeah.

[00:10:39] They're, they're definitely better.

[00:10:40] I mean, the women are great, but the men are, the men are okay.

[00:10:45] Um, yeah, they've, they did, uh, uh, what is it?

[00:10:50] What is it?

[00:10:50] What is the one that was just on?

[00:10:51] And is it, uh, the Copa?

[00:10:55] Is that what it is?

[00:10:57] Yeah.

[00:10:57] The Copa America.

[00:10:58] Yeah.

[00:10:59] So they were, they just did pretty well there, but I mean, there's a big, um, there's kind

[00:11:05] of, uh, a little bit of the shadow hanging over everything about the, um, the drone cheating

[00:11:14] stuff at the Olympics.

[00:11:16] So we'll see, we'll see what, where, where all that goes.

[00:11:19] What is that?

[00:11:20] I don't want to take your podcast down some dark alley, but what?

[00:11:24] That's okay.

[00:11:24] Every Canadian wants to relive.

[00:11:25] Uh, the, the women's team at the Olympics, um, was caught using a drone to film the practice

[00:11:34] sessions of their opponent.

[00:11:36] Oh yeah.

[00:11:37] I remember reading about that.

[00:11:38] Yeah.

[00:11:38] And then, and then following that, it came out that this had maybe been a thing that

[00:11:44] they were caught trying to do at Copa.

[00:11:47] And then also maybe it's a thing that they've been doing for an extended period of time.

[00:11:52] And yeah.

[00:11:54] And so you've got, you know, and not just that it felt really bad because the players

[00:11:59] didn't do any of this stuff.

[00:12:00] And so they penalized the team and they said, you guys have negative six points going into,

[00:12:05] you know, the, uh, the opening round there.

[00:12:08] And, uh, and so they had to, they ended up having to win all of their games to move on,

[00:12:12] which they did the women's team, but it's still like, uh, they didn't make that decision.

[00:12:19] And, uh, you know, so it's just, it's kind of, it's, it's, uh, left a little bit of a bad taste,

[00:12:24] but hopefully, hopefully that's passed us within two years by then someone else will have done

[00:12:28] something horrible and, and we'll all be talking about how, you know, Canada's pristine again.

[00:12:33] As horrible as that, I don't know.

[00:12:36] Okay.

[00:12:40] With that, let's, uh, let's end.

[00:12:41] Thanks for doing five fast questions.

[00:12:49] Thank you for listening to 63% Scottish.

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[00:13:21] Goodbye.