Edinburghers, Glaswegians and visiting Canucks

Intriguing title, eh? What is up for the rest of this week then? Well, for me, working is a given. Shaena and Ethan on the other hand decided to tag along with Orlaith on an ad-hoc shopping trip to Glasgow tomorrow morning. Should be good times, and Ethan will get to go on the chew-chew for the first time!

Glasgow is very different from Edinburgh in every aspect; it is bigger, more densely populated, people have a different attitude, the accent is very different, the architecture is more modern - and not the good kind of modern, the city is more dangerous supposedly (ever heard of 'The Glasgow Smile'?), and some say that Glasgow is generally less friendly than Edinburgh. There has always been a kind of love-hate relationship between the 'Edinburghers' and the 'Glaswegians' and the Glaswegians are claiming that Edinburghers are stuck up and snobbish (I can agree with that to some extent) and that they definitely are the friendliest of the two cities, and the other way round. The fact of the matter is; some of the worst parts of Glasgow city currently has the lowest live expectancy in Europe due to poverty, drug abuse and violence among other things. That is a scary notion!

Who knows, but my personal opinion is definitely that Edinburgh is the place to be. It seems to me like Edinburgh is generally cleaner, better organised, safer, and less run down. Basically, the difference between a blue-collar city and a white-collar city, to use very broad (and harsh) strokes.

I am guessing this mindset will be completely different if you are born and raised in one of the two cities. For us as expats, it is easy enough to make up our minds based only on what we see on the surface, but as a native Scot it probably goes deeper than that.

To sum up: If you are looking to relocate to a Scottish city, my suggestion is that you set up your camp here in Edinburgh where it is nice, clean and safe, and visit Glasgow only in broad daylight. :)

On another note: On Sunday we will hopefully meet up with Shaena's friend Cara and her husband Brad. Cara and Brad just got married and are driving around Scotland on their honeymoon. They have booked a package deal complete with a rental car, B&B's etc. Sounds like a good time, and I am sure we'll get the whole scoop on Sunday. Will be great to meet Cara again, and I have never met Brad, so another acquaintance to befriend on Facebook! :)