PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

First I wish to relay to each of you that I had a wonderful trip to Scotland. I am in the process of preparing a brief out-lin outlining my experiences on the trip. Again it was wonderful. While waiting for the brief of my trip, please come to Stone Mountain Highland Games and view first hand the many pictures that I took on the trip that I know that you will enjoy.

In the meantime we are at crunch time on finalizing our arrangements for our Annual General Business Meeting that will be held on 21 October, 2000 at the 57th Squadron Group Restaurant, 3829 Clairmont Road. This is 2 1/2 miles from the host hotel for the games. The games are 21 & 22 October. Exact time of meeting will be posted at the Clan Skene tent on 21 October.

First we have to guarantee at least 25 people to get a private room for our AGBM at the restaurant. The cost of the meal will be $25.00 and that includes gratuity. I know this is a bit on the up scale but the restaurant and surroundings are also on the upscale. The food there is great. We must have your reservation no later than 15 September 2000. Please let our Member Host for these games know of your reservations for this dinner and meeting. The host is Mary Mallory, 440 Sally Ann Circle, Bowden, GA 30108, telephone 770-258-2869 and her e-mail is: . Please take care of this reservations as soon as possible; otherwise we will have to expend clan funds to hire the room.

Also if you have not made reservations for these games please make them before 25 September. We do not have a block of rooms set aside for Clan Skene; however, the entire hotel is dedicated to the games and you should identify yourself as being with the Stone Mountain Games Highland Games. The host hotel is the Atlanta Marriott North Central located off the Clairmont Road exit off I-85, telephone 404-325-0000. They have a reduced rate of $73.00 per night, plus tax. This is a good location and a great facility.

Please remember we will be electing a slate of officers for the 2000/2001 year so please come and join us for food, a social meeting, and the election of next year's officers. We need your participation in the business meeting and we also know from past meetings of this sort that we have a great time networking with each other.

These are exciting times for Clan Skene as we have some beautiful new T-Shirts for sale and also Dorna Comp will have the much popular clan tartan made in cotton and at prices that you will not believe. The material is beautiful so come prepared to buy without having to pay shipping costs.

I will give a short presentation on my trip to Scotland, our home country. I will have a photo album of pictures that I took in Scotland.

As most of you know we attempted to plan a trip for Clan Skene members, and that even though we had 45 prospective travelers the numbers dwindled down to about 10, and then for various reasons the trip was canceled for lack of interest. I was saddened by that outcome but it did not kill my spirits to make my first trip to Scotland, so my daughter Deb planned a trip for herself, her two sons ages 5 and 12, and myself. We finally used AAA travel to book a 10 day tour of England and Scotland. The tour was provided by Trafalgar Tours.

Since returning from the Scotland trip I have learned that the local populace had expected us to arrive in great numbers for a Skene Reunion at the Skene House in Lyne of Skene. What a wonderful trip that would be and I would be happy to see that come about in 2002. We could make arrangements to stay in Bed & Breakfasts in and around Lyne of Skene. This would give us a great opportunity to explore the depths of the Skene Lands. If there is sufficient interest we would contact the present owner of the Skene House and see if he would allow us to see portions of the interior of the house. If we can't get a bus load then maybe we could go in a small group of 20 or 25 people.

Now back to the trip.

Our tour actually started in London so we had to provide our own arrangements to get to London. We were scheduled to depart Greensboro, NC at 3:30 p.m. on 28 July for Philadelphia, PA where we would have taken a nonstop flight to Gatwick Airport in London. The weather on the East Coast on 28 July was bad so our flight, as well as many others, were canceled; therefore, we were rescheduled to fly to Charlotte, NC and then to Gatwick Airport in London. The plane out of Charlotte was delayed due to mechanical problems. All of this means we were five hours late getting to London which made for a very long day. The delays resulted in our not being able to tour London as planned. However, we did have time for a little tour on our own so we visited the much advertised Harrod's Department Store. This was a wonderful tour but we did not have time to tour the entire place. A fancy place, it cost one pound (a little over $1.50) just to use the bath room.

The view of the countryside from the air appeared about the same as viewing agricultural land in America and on the ground even more so, except sheep are everywhere, lots of hay, grain, and straw. These comments apply equally as well to the country- side in Scotland.

Though we were late arriving at Gatwick Airport in London the travel agency met us and ensured that we were transported to the Forte Posthouse Hotel. We all had trouble using the controls to adjust the cold and hot water in the showers. Noticeably missing was wash cloths. After a few days we learned that wash cloths are considered so personal that each traveler is expected to provide his own. It would have been nice to know this in advance, but otherwise the baths were adequate. Another noticeable difference in all hotels was the lack of air-conditioning in the rooms. Most generally the public areas; i.e., halls, lobby, restaurant areas are equipped with air-conditioning but not the rooms.

Though we were late arriving at Gatwick Airport in London the travel agency met us and ensured that we were transported to the Forte Posthouse Hotel. We all had trouble using the provided controls to adjust the cold and hot water in the showers. Noticeably missing was wash cloths. After a few days we learned that wash cloths are considered so personal that each traveler is expected to provide their own. It would have been nice to know this in advance but otherwise the baths were adequate. Prices were very high and selections were limited. We arrived at our hotel in Edinburgh, the elegant capital, late in the afternoon where we would spend two nights. Again we are treated with different type of controls for the shower. The showers in England and Scotland remind me very much of a story that the late Lewis Grizzard was famous for telling. He explained how we Americans take a thing that works absolutely perfect then we come along in the name of progress, or improvement, and in the process we totally ruin a good thing. He took the shower as an example of the best designed thing around until it was redesigned. In the original design all one had to do was turn on a little "C" and then a little "H" until you got the temperature just right and you could enjoy a comfortable shower or bath. After the redesign or newly-designed controls one does not know if he should pull, push, shove, or just what to do, resulting in us scalding our butts. Lewis Grizzard said he had scalded his butt from Bakersville to Baltimore trying to take a shower in America and had he visited Scotland he might well have said in the world. Well the same is true in the English and Scottish baths – scalded butts or cold butts whichever is the case, and the lack of a wash cloth didn't matter any either. We stayed in five different hotels and there were not any two equipped with the same type of controls. We stayed at a 123 year old hotel that didn't have a shower and was equipped with old-fashioned controls so it was easy adjusting a comfortable level of the water in this old hotel.

We had an optional dinner on Sunday night at the Queensferry Arms Hotel, located just under the famous Forth Railroad Bridge in Edinburgh, but the baths were adequate. Another noticeable difference in all hotels was the lack of air-conditioning in the rooms. Most generally the public areas; i.e., halls, lobby, restaurant areas are equipped with air-conditioning but not the rooms.

I will pick up with the story in the next issue of the Newsletter. I want to thank each of you who sent cards, etc. wishing me well on my trip. I will soon be in touch with each of you who sent messages of "bon voyage." Again I thank you so much.