The scotch cuisine is best summed up as “fried”. They even advertise it. A bacon, sausage, eggs, and griddle cakes meal is known as a “fried breakfast”. There are “chippers” everywhere. They are small stands where you can get fried fish, potatoes, something that resembles a corn dog, and even a deep fried Mars bar. Honest. They batter and deep fry candy bars. It’s wonder anyone lives past 30.

And it shows too. While you don’t see as many really obese people here as in the States, by casual observation, most everyone here is overweight. You see a very few people who are obviously genetically thin, but they are the sort that come off as too skinny. Everyone else has a gut, and I don’t mean just the guys.

It turns out that the Superbowl will be televised in Scotland. However, it’s billed as the biggest American sports event. That is, when it’s billed at all. Most of the focus here is on “real” football (soccer). After that, there’s a big rugby tournament going on which is getting a lot of attention. The local university’s girls field hockey team will be having a match soon. the superbowl ranks somewhere after that. Honestly, I think the only reason it’s getting any attention at all is because it’s on at 10:40pm here and doesn’t have a lot of competition in that time slot. A few of the pubs (pronounced “poobs” over here), are even running superbowl specials and staying open until 3am to show the game. But that seems more about selling beer.

And they won’t be showing the U.S. commercials, so what’s the point?