"You've been up to Nehtybridge, eh?" You say as you sit in your comfy chair with a cup of tea/coffee/juice/water/whisky/etc. "Lovely spot, ain't it?"
"Why, yes, the scenery is absolutely spiffing!" I reply slouching further into the leather armchair I am currently occupying.
"What brought you up to that neck of the woods?" You inquire.
"Pleasure, pleasure; what else brings anyone anywhere?" I take a reviving sip of the Glen Moray 10 year old whisky in my hand. "Care for some?"
You grab a glass from the side table and proffer it to me and I willingly oblige by pouring you a dram. You sniff it with an air of the connoisseur, "A 10 year?"
I nod and you take a small sip. "Hmm, good flavour. Fills the mouth nicely."
"Ay, they know their whisky up there."
"Hmm? Up where, old sport?" You remove your attention from the glass in your hand and raise your eyebrows at me in inquiry.
"North of Scotland, near Nethybridge. That's where I got it. 'S the only place in the UK they sell the Glen Moray 10 year."
"You went distillery touring, then?"
"It was that or the brewery and I don't fancy beer. Well, I suppose I could have gone bowling or on a walk or just sat around the afternoon, but a distillery tour was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. I'll tell you a funny story though, we'd left Nethy at 1:30 and were about ten or fifteen minutes away when I realized in my eagerness to get going I had completely forgotten my ID!"
"How'd you manage then?" You chuckle.
"Well, when we got there and asked about the tour, there was just a general question if everyone was 18 or over and that was the end of it."I pause and take another sip. "Though I will say, I'm quite certain I shan't have that problem again!"
"I should think not. Any other bits of interest? You've several times mentioned a "we", I'm guessing you weren't up there by yourself?"
"No, the whole lot of us from Barcaple were up. Was staff conference, you know."
"Of course, should have guessed. You mentioned that awhile ago. Meet any interesting people?"
"A fair few. The people in my Encounter group where all lovely and we had some good chats."
"Encounter group?"
"Sorry, of course, you wouldn't know! We had groups that we were assigned to and we met in the mornings after the session and discussed it and the previous night's."
"I see. What did the speakers talk about?" You look a bit more alert now. Gone is the whisky relaxed smiling face and it is replaced by steady interested expression.
"Philippians. They were absolutely excellent!" I sit up and lean forward. "The main "theme", if that's what you want to call it, was about how we aren't just supposed to be citizens of heaven sitting around on earth waiting to go to heaven, but in our time before we get there we should bringing heaven to earth. I'm afraid I can't explain it quite as well as they did, but it was extremely interesting and I learned an awful lot."
"And the worship? How was that?"
"Also excellent! The band was fantastic and knew how to lead well, and it was such a pleasure to see everyone around being excited and on fire for God!"
You smile at my excitement, and sink back into your chair. "So, you had excellent speakers, fantastic worship, and a trip to a distillery. Anything else to top that all off?"
I chuckle. "Ay, it was good week. And, yes, I do, in fact, have something to top that all off! On our last night we had ceilidh!"
"A what?"
"Ceilidh. It's traditional Scottish dancing which is an absolute blast and requires far too much energy!"
You laugh. "Bit out of shape?"
"Just a wee bit! It was great fun though! It didn't, however, get properly started till around ten or quarter past ten and didn't end till around twenty to twelve. Was a late night, but it was good. Can't wait till I go to the New Years' Houseparty at Nethy and have another one!"
"A bit jealous, I have to admit!" You grin. "So, many guys ask you to dance?"
I snort and start to laugh. "As much as it pains me to admit it, only one did. I'm afraid I ended up doing the rest of the asking. I actually semi-accosted one of my partners in the hallway when I asked. I noticed that he seemed to know what he was doing so when I saw him on my way to get a drink I said "Hey, you seem to know what your doing dance-wise, and therefore I solicit your hand for the next dance!""
You plant your head in your palm and shake it in despair. "Please tell me, you didn't actually say "solicit"?"
"I'm afraid so...I did end up getting the dance though. Well, not the next one, but the one after that. So it was alright in the end. To be honest though, when I asked him he did look a bit startled in the "deer caught in the headlights" sort of way. It was a good dance though." I smile and shake my head at the memory.
"Good week then?"
"An excellent week. But I shan't bore you with anymore stories, and I'll let you get on with whatever it was you were doing before I interrupted." I get up from my chair, raise my glass in salute, and leave you mulling over your whiskey.
UPDATE: Thank you to Eilidh for kindly correcting my spelling of "whisky." For those of you who didn't know, "whiskey" with an "e" refers to Irish Whiskey, and without the "e" is Scottish. So there's your whisky fact for the day
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