Flight

We drove up to 1445m to give the impression of take off and flight, cutting into a holding pattern just below the clouds round the massif of the Pratomagno. But all the time very much on the ground.

We got pulled over by the carabinieri on the way home. Just the routine check of licence and log book. The young guy with his bulletproof proof vest and substantial side arm jokes that the Scots had invented the middle finger gesture. Apparently from pulling arrows from the fallen and one finger gets somehow amputated?

Is this from Ee-land-air I wonder? (That’s Highlander in Italian.)

Funnily enough I came across the phrase ‘a Scottish shower’ yesterday. Literally a hydrotherapeutic treatment with alternating hot and cold water. Figuratively a stop/start journey, a roller coaster ride.

Been in use since 1850s but why Scottish? It possibly had its origins in James Currie’s work. See for a discussion of sources https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/485595/why-is-a-cold-shower-called-a-scottish-shower