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The Highland Fling
October 16-November 2, 1998 Urquhart Castle, Inverness, Scotland
The timber framers have arrived! We are reporting to you from Fort Augustus Abbey, Scotland, and will be posting photos and brief reports on progress through the upcoming weeks. This report may be cut short, as we're running on computer battery, the heater hogging the only outlet in the room. Forced to choose between heat and communcation to the outside world, we choose survival. The Abbey has central heating, but leaky windows in a centuries-old structure defy heat retention; the frigid bathrooms inspire short showers.
Only one near disaster to report to date: The contingent from Boston's Massachusetts College of Fine Arts had a schedule change to meet the group flying from Philadelphia to London. Five of the six were seated in first class, and the sixth, Ellen Gibson, got the last seat in the last row of the aircraft from Boston to Philly. Upon arriving in Philadelphia, the group sprinted to the plane boarding to London to alert them that Ellen would be delayed in making the connection. As Ellen approached the plane, the door closed in her face, and the USAir attendant refused to let her on. "Rules," she was told. Meanwhile inside the plane, Laura Brown twice encouraged the flight attendants to admit Ellen. As Ellen waved to the pilot, whom she could see through the window, the attendants advised Ms. Brown that if she left her seat again, she would be arrested. Eventually, wisdom and reason (or the fear of Laura's wrath) prevailed, and the doors did reopen. Ellen took her seat to wild applause, as the attendants and pilot warily considered being trapped for seven hours with this group on board.
From London, the weary travelers, with luggage and heavy boxes and buckets of hand tools in tow, board a bus for the seven-hour trip to a hotel in Glasgow and a much-needed rest. Sunday, we all board the bus for a six-hour trip to the Abbey at Fort Augustus, a journey north through incredibly beautiful scenery, to the Highlands. The journey begins.
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Key: (1, 2) The group arrives at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, by bus from London, and registration begins. (3) Our first stop on the trip from Glasgow to the Abbey is at Loch Lomond. Al Anderson, Wes Quinlan and Jim Kricker. (4) "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore." (5) Travelers enjoying the view. (6) The Abbey at Fort Augustus on Loch Ness, a photo of a photo on the wall of the restaurant. (7) First dinner at the Abbey, Marcus Brandt presents Joel McCarty with a Timber Framers Guild flag. (8) First post-dinner meeting in the Cloister Room, Joel introduces master organizers Martin Graham and Frank Paterson who are the men to see about all things needed at the site.
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