Dr. from S Uist

Runrig "Year of the Flood" with Scenes of Lewis, Harris, North and South Uist.

Mother broke her hip on Friday. She’s hard of hearing and was having difficulty understanding her doctor (her GP’s associate whom she had never met before). To make her feel better I mentioned his British accent as the culprit. I just wanted to die when he said he was from Scotland, not England. Yikes! It is one thing to confuse Scot with Irish, but it is quite another to confuse Scot with English. And I know better. (In my defense he went to school at Oxford and had picked up some of that accent.) He was a good sport about it so no harm was done, especially when I told him we were MacDonald descendents and I had been reading and learning about his lovely homeland.

He was very friendly and quite happy to talk. His wife is from California so they settled here. Originally from Glasgow, he served in the Army at the missile testing base on South Uist. His duties included acting as the doctor for the non-military islanders. Unbelievable! (It felt like an Elaine “get outta here” moment from Seinfeld, you know when she is so flabbergasted she pushes poor Jerry or George backwards.) Few have even heard of South Uist, let alone lived there and drove the road (well, they have more than one road, but the one that connects the Outer Hebrides is a single lane road with occasional passing lanes) on a regular basis. He quickly figured out I had knowledge of the area, and we had a grand chat – a real conversation. Fun for both. He of course said I must visit, and gave advice on where to stay and such.

I won’t go into it all, but while in the military he had gone out to St. Kida in a landing boat. Umonst other things, we discussed Glasgow and the high unemployment rate - 2/3 of all children living in homes with parents who are on government assistance. Some born into that culture/mind set and some simply unable to get out. Welfare with no end date. The gap between the haves and the have-nots growing. I do not pretend to understand their politics. However, like Bush, it seems Gordon Brown has messed things up pretty badly in the UK. A consensus I find time and time again.

They were preparing my Mother for surgery and the doc and I were visiting and Mother was smiling and enjoying it all.