f13.net

So, my sister is considering moving to St. Andrews, Scotland, after having spent 6 years in Cambridge, England. I know we have some Scots flitting about F13, so I was going to ask for any information about St. Andrews that would be relevant to someone considering moving there. My sister isn't a big party-goer, and doesn't care about golf, so those two things need not be considered. She'd be moving there for a contract job for St. Andrew's University's 600th aniversary. Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

I live on a golf course and I don't care about golf either.  That's all I know.  I hope I helped your sister decide!

Based on talking to medics who were at St. Andrews it's a small and isolated town. If she doesn't like golf and enjoys museums and theatre from what I've heard she'd probably be better off staying away. It's very pretty, quiet (aside from the students) and far away from everywhere else. Personally, assuming it's similar to Durham that I have experience of, it sounds like somewhere that would be nice to spend a year or two in but not somewhere I'd want to make a long term move to. Of course it all depends on her, if she enjoys city life or feels Cambridge is just about big and busy enough she'd be well advised not to take it. If she thinks Cambridge is a bit too big and bustling then she'd probably love it.

That's food for thought, thanks. She says its only an hour from Edinburg, but still. Wiki says its only got 16k people in it, period. She's never lived in anything smaller than Cambridge, so it is a consideration.

If she's never lived in a small town then it might definitely be a culture shock.

It's Scotland. It will rain. A lot.

That's all I've got  :why_so_serious:

My sister went to college there (probably about 12-13 years back) and I actually went and visited her there for a month.  It's certainly a big adjustment being in such a small town, and the weather wasn't quite what I was used to from living in California all my life, but I though it was a really nice place.  I don't know how long I could live there before getting bored, and now that I'm 30, I'd probably feel a little out of place in a town where around 30% or so of the population is college students.  Still, I could think of worse places to live.

An hour from Edinburgh?  In the US that's considered a suburb.

I say, live in New Town in Edinburgh and commute.   :why_so_serious:

Heh. Thanks for the replies thusfar. Anyone got any idea of the cultural demographics? I have no earthly clue if there's a significant immigrant population in Scotland, or if its all lilywhite bastards. I imagine there's probably an ethnic difference between urban and 'village' populations too.

The university folk tend to err on the posh side of rah, based on my experiences.

Not familiar with the colloquialism. Do you mean they're upperclass twits?

She spent six years in Cambridge.  I'm sure she's seen the posh side of rah - which is really just saying people sound poshier than the average posh person.  As for the whole demographic thing - she's moving to a village in Scotland that's known for golf and a very old university.  There's an old cathedral, too.  Nothing new there for Scotland.  Everything is fucking old.  (and usually broken) I don't even understand that question in regards to a place like that.  People go there and golf or look at people golfing.  Some look at the really old stuff and then golf for a while.  I don't think it has any demographics that doesn't relate to golf.  What a weird question.


Oh, and Donald Trump will probably own it at some point.  I think he's already bought Aberdeen or something.  Lucky Scotland.

More or less

You would be only a short skip and a jump away from the Evil that is Dalgety Bay.

Beware.

This?

From The Dalgety Bay Diary (http://www.dalgetybay.org.uk/assets/docs/pdf/nov09_diary.pdf)

POLICE REPORT
PC Birrell reported on the crimes and incidents since
the last meeting in September.
A 38 year old male has been reported for breach of the
peace following reports of a male ‘flashing’ at passersby
in the area of Letham Woods and the coastal path.

Sounds like a classic setting for a Cthulu cult to me.

I was thinking the exact goddamn thing.

Do not pry into the evil.  Rest uneasily knowing that it is there.

I had some friends who went to St. Andrews University. I visited them there once. I think I was the only person who did. They went slowly insane and decided to move to an even more remote place after that. I would imagine that they're probably on some deserted island now, contemplating Eastern philosophy while walking on pebble beaches.

Thanks gang. I think that's all Scottsmen checked in. So, in summary. If my sister suddenly turns to golf, she may be saved. Otherwise, I should be prepared to find her wandering the Lade Braes muttering to herself about the Evil Which Can't be Named.

Is the evil golf?

Maybe she saw some old, battered golf clubs in the woodshed?

I was born there. It's a very small town with a university which means that out of term time it will be shockingly deserted and in term time it will be full of chinless wonders trying to spend their trust funds as fast as possible.

It is pretty though and you have Dundee close by for anything you can't find in the town.

Every time I hear small town in Scotland I always remember The Wicker Man. May be a few more golfers and a few less cultists in St. Andrews, however.

St Andrews is all right. The university is attractive and it's a pretty little seaside town. My parents met in the area. Mum went to the university, while Dad was an Edinburgh agriculture student with many farming cousins around Fife. And that's the other half of my contact with St Andrews - farm relatives taking me there, as it's their rural hub. They'll go into St Andrews to pick up supplies and hardware, do a bit of grocery shopping and head back to the farm. Their 20something kids used to take me out to the pub there - the sort of pubs full of people they knew (schoolmates, farming neighbours, etc). It's that sort of town.

Holy cow, the wealth of information on a small Scottish town on F13 rivals what we know about Hearts of Iron III it seems.

It's usefully cynical commentary

I'd say that has to do more with HoI3 than the members of this board  :oh_i_see: :heartbreak:.

Having said that, we do seem to have an unreasonably high ratio of Scots here.

usefully cynical commentary

I've learned tonight that if she's a fan of Guinness or ales she should probably avoid St. Andrews. Apparently pubs there tend to avoid cleaning their lines for either beverage type and neither is requested frequently enough to make up for that.

She's an occasional fan of scotch, on the peaty side like Laphroig, but I don't think she's that into beer, I don't think. Where'd you pick up this info, anyways? I imagine that it is probably a pub-to-pub issue with being lazy about cleaning.

The (traditional) local drink in St Andrews would be blended Scotch whisky (i.e. the kind that is NOT single malt).

Some of my cousins grow barley and sell it to distilleries, who turn it into Scotch. One distillery they took me to had a runoff vat from the brewing process and the farmers could fill bottles at a tap on the vat, i.e. they had unlimited supplies of unbranded, randomly blended Scotch to take away.

Nearby along the Fife coast, the locals are known for mixing the local Scotch with their morning cups of tea. And everything else for that matter.

Re the pubs - I found the beer was fine. It's not Ireland, so maybe their Guinness serving sucks, but FFS hop a ferry to Dublin if you're after good Guinness. Lager is dominant, along with your typical UK pub range of beers, but the standard Scottish ale is known as "70 shilling", "80 shilling", etc. The higher the number, the stronger it becomes. The name comes from the taxes paid on it centuries ago. If you can stick to a "when in Rome ..." rule, I'd recommend pints of 80 shilling.

Wow, I thought that scotch blends were a cost-cutting measure done by multinationals for people who don't really have a taste for scotch and just want a cocktail. I never thought that scots would blend on purpose.

From what I understand you blend scotch for consistency of flavor.  The specific blend and proportions change frequently, the flavor is supposed to be static.

I've become a fan of the 120 shilling Scotch ales myself.

Until quite recently, blended whisky was all that anybody drank. Producing single malts that have a finish for drinking unblended is a relatively recent fashion. It is possible to produce blends that have a greater complexity and more sophisticated taste than any single malts, it's just uncommon to find many vatted blends that use only the highest quality malts and little to no grain whisky because those malts are easier to sell at a premium unblended. The result is that blended whisky as a whole tends to be unfairly rated by the public because they are comparing expensive single malts with inexpensive blends.

In fact blends were pretty much what everyone drank up until more recently when single malts became more popular. At least that's one version I've heard. Blends do produce a more consistent flavour and some blends can be really nice.

Edit: Damnit didn't see there was a second page. Also on the pub thing this is from a medic who spent 3 years there, it's probably not all of them but he described at least 2 or 3 that were particularly bad (including one that actually managed to lose its Guinness licence).

Scotland has more in common with Ireland the further west you get. St Andrews is about as far east as you can get. It's probably some kind of protestant sin to serve Guinness in St Andrews. Beijing is sort of near Japan, would you go there for sushi?