Friday 29th January 2010 - A Mexican Standoff

          I get out of Nashville with the weather closing in fast.  I'm heading for Tullahoma, on the Tennessee border, where I have a date.  It clears a bit, but by Tullahoma it's snowing heavily again.  There is no problem driving.  It's down I-24 to Manchester (Manchester?  How did Manchester get into it?  Actually, I don't know why I'm saying that, the Glasgow I'm headed for seems to be a suburb of Birmingham), then Highway 55 to Tullahoma. 

          The motel is happy to accept me early.  It's snowing heavily, but they have a bar and restaurant on the premises.  Drawback is: it's a MEXICAN restaurant.  I'm pretty tense.  The young staff seem to be touching things all the time.  In the case of the young men, mostly themselves.  I suppose it's a latin thing (although I do have to say I never saw my latin master doing it).

           The staff keep rushing up, asking me if I'm ready to eat.  Little do they know!  But when I'm ready for another drink, nobody notices.

           In the end, I can't bring myself to eat.  It will clearly be some time before the trauma of my last Mexican meal passes into history.

 

           Later that night, in heavy rain, I meet up with some friends from the Glasgow, KY hogmanay party.  The reason I'm stopping here is to read my favourite Burn's poem at their Scottish Society Burn's Birthday Celebration. 

          Unfortunately, the weather has won this round as well.  I had fans flying in by the thousand, but the airport is closed, and the roads are not offering any guarantee against being snowed-in; the event is being postponed.

          We have a quiet dinner in town, in a restaurant where they keep fairly good beer, and very good Scotch.  The rain is making driving fairly safe, but if it stops and the ground freezes, it will be really treacherous.  So it's home fairly early.