Off to Ayrshire. First, we needed petrol. We headed to the gas station at the Sainsbury supermarket. Making sure to fill up with diesel, Allan and I stood there amazed at how fast the counter clicked one pound after another (each pound was about $2). It showed two pounds, then seven pounds, thirteen pounds, nineteen pounds, thirty pounds, forty-five pounds. Finally, it came to a merciful rest at £53, which was $100 for about 10 Imperial gallons. From my ciphering that came out to about $8 a US gallon for the diesel.

We began talking to another customer buying petrol who was from Stirling. Allan asked him a question. “If our gas prices in America rose by $2.00 why, in the same time, did British gas prices increase in price by $5.00?” The man went into a dissertation of Britain’s taxes. Allan was not impressed since that really did not answer the question. If their price went up $5 that means taxes increased by over $3 on that gallon. Really? I think not. The man also told us that if we were in a place with no petrol stations open, go into a grocery store and buy cooking oil. It will work. I think petrol stations are probably open later than grocery stores here but I am just a foreigner.

The tour today was to Burns country to educate ourselves about Robbie Burns, the poet laureate of Scotland. We saw an old thatched cottage (his birthplace), a bridge (the Brig o’Doon of his writing), and a tourist info/souvenir shop all in a driving rain. After a soggy time there, we went to Culzean Castle on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Back through the evening rush hour commute got us home at 7 pm. Dinner was cheese, crackers, cereal, wine and whisky followed by some inane UK telly.