"That'll be £45.99 please..."
It's a favourite haunt of the tourist and is only a half hour or so from Glasgow. The contrast a half hour drive makes in the scenery is amazing, and is well worth the drive.
Anyway, it was pissing down with rain most of the time, which didn't dampen our spirits. We had a walk around the wee village and a stroll on the pier. A group of young lads were jumping into the loch and swimming around, very brave considering it wasn't warm and it was raining. When I heard the lads talking it became clear why they didn't care about the rain or the lack of sunshine, they were from Glasgow or thereabouts!
On the way back to the car, (parking charges 80p per hour), we went into a gift shop. Full of the usual tourist/Scottish nonsense you would expect. I had a good look around, noticing the small gift packs of mint creams and ginger chocolates with a label on the front proudly proclaiming 'a gift from Scotland' with no hint of irony about the 'made in Preston, Lancashire' printed on the back of the pack. At £3.50 for a 100g pack, it is a shocking rip off. You can get a pack for a pound in my local Poundland.
My curiosity awakened, I had a good look at the rest of the goods on offer. A pack of petticoat shortbread in plain packaging, £2. In the supermarket it will cost you about 60p for the same. Don't even get me started on the fancier packs of shortbread!
The rip off prices and the foosty (damp) smell in the shop were bad enough, but everywhere I looked signs barked out -
No photography, Thieves will be prosecuted, CCTV in operation, Damages must be paid for,
No mobile phones, Control your children.
A friendly Scottish welcome indeed!
Needless to say, we didn't buy anything. Not that I would buy any of that kind of tat anyway.
13 comments:
I'm guessing you were at Luss then.
What a shame. I´ve never to Scotland even though I´ve been all over the world..
I must visit when it´s warm one day :)
Aye it was Luss.
Sue, it's never warm!
Rab I thought so.
A Lot of dogging goes on there apparently. lol
Don't listen to him Sue, it was 29 degrees in my garden a couple of weeks ago. Since then it's been around 18-20, much more comfortable.
You'd better hurry though Sue because we'll soon be full up :)
Such a shame Scotland is becoming like everywhere else with mad prices. If only people understood that prices need to reflect shop prices plus a wee bit more then they would sell far more.
Then again, I suppose someone buying shortie at £2 is easier than 2 folks buying it at £1.
I never go places for the day without a picnic as backup. Aye you may well smile, but I refuse to be ripped off. Mr S gets narked so I make him pay if he wants to eat in places that offer poor quality and high prices. Eh'm no daft!
Oh Rab, dinnae ever go tae Bruar Falls if Luss prices bother you. I'll no tell ye whit a cup o tea costs.
House of Bruar I meant, sorry.
You know, I love Scotland, I love the hills, the slendour of Edinburgh, the downtown buzz Glasgow. I love the skirl of pipes - "The Flowers of the Forest" always makes me weep with passion. I can even withstand haggis, but fuck me I hate shortbread
x
My wife says I'm a miserable bugger. She bought an ice cream from a touristy place a couple of weeks ago and I nearly had a heart attack at the price!
Subrosa, if that's the House of Bruar on the A9 near Pitlochry, then I've been there.
I thought London prices were bad but that place is a class one rip off.
the ice cream wasnt for me ya miserable git, well the 1st one was ha
House of Bruar lunch is brilliant. Especially the steak pie. Not that dear compared to other places I've visited.
I used to talk about rip off Britain. Never again. Try travelling in Europe with the euro being so strong against the pound. Barcelona, Berlin etc are light years ahead of us in prices. Even Poland is getting expensive.
I so agree with you on this, there must be countless examples a couple that really get my goat are a wee " craft " shop in Tongue wanting 250 notes for a chair made out of old fishboxes albeit the only thing made in Scotland in the shop, I am assuming ! There is an outfit in the southwest of Scotland " The Marrbury Smokehouse " suppliers of smoked salmon to the Gleneagles Hotel no less that has a very welcoming sign on their door.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/derek-francis-photography/3223204673
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