Well, especially the Scottish accent, which is impenetrable to those of us in this hemisphere. No offense intended, Rob.
None taken!
I was lucky that by the time I was sixteen I’d lived in Scotland, England, Italy and India. When in England, they think me Scottish, and when in Scotland I’m seen as English. During life in Scotland, I realised that even the Scots find themselves riven by accent, with the folks from the western islands and the north, with their nationalistic take on Gaelic costing millions in other taxpayers’ money for crazy double-language road signs, special tv channels etc. It’s a bit like the kilt, which gets de-mothed for weddings and such events (or rented), but otherwise grows mould in a secret closet. An expensive affectation, not that I’d dare tell any of them!
Two of our early neighbours out here in Spain came from Yorkshire. We were invited over to their apartment one day for drinks, and to meet their son and his wife, but nobody could understand a word the son spoke. Yet, he was a successful farmer, which takes no little savvy to pull off. The parents, on the other hand, were perfectly understandable. Hell, some parts of Glasow produce accents that are quite foreign to others areas of the city.
It can have serious consequences, though, this nationalistic bullshit. Here, in Mallorca, there has been an eternal legal on/off situation with doctors from the mainland speaking only the official Spanish language of Castilian, and not being able to speak Catalan, being or not being allowed to hold jobs in the medical profession; yes, right here where there is a massive shortage of qualified practitioners. In my 44 years living on the rock I have yet to meet a person from the island who can’t handle Castilian. Were that not so, I wouldn’t have been able to communicate with any of them. Actually, there is an even more difficult factor influencing the coming here or not of Spanish nationals from the mainland: the extremely high cost of accommodation. On the one hand, it stops waiters being able to come for seasonal gigs, and on the other, also discourages people such as judges accepting island posts. Just too expensive on either side of the status levels. The middle ground seems hardly to exist outwith old foreigner-purchased properties such as mine, prime targets for holiday rental speculation.
