It takes you back, pulls you back, brings you home.

May 9, 2006

Woke up at quarter to nine this morning after wierd dreams of drug deals and parties in the park. I had brekkie with Aunty Mary, then we caught the bus into town so Aunty could get wieghed. She's mental over this Weight Watchers thing, has her little booklet, all the cook books, gets weighed weekly, she talked for hours about it. Pretty hilarious. We went to the church where they held the weigh-in and I had to sit in the back with about 60 other women who thought they were too fat, some of whom asked me where I was from and commented on how young I looked. It was mildly creepy. At 1, I met Chris at Boot's the Chemist and we went to the pub for lunch while Aunty Mary carried on home. Chris is a sound technician and travels all over Scotland, England, and the States. He's a really awesome guy, and I was disappointed that we didn't get longer to hang out. After lunch, he took me to Dundee's oldest remaining jute mills, which has been fixed up as a working museum. Dundee was chock full of mills at one point, and they imported the jute from India and processed it into all sorts of products. Between the ship hands, mill workers, transporters, and staff in India, the Jute industry employed nearly all of Dundee. Nowadays, most of the mills have been torn down. The remaining have been converted into houseing or textile factories. This is totally off-topic, but it just popped into my head: Aunty Jean was taking my to Aunt Mary's and she was beaking off about spending too much time in the sun, and she said, "Oh, I don't much like to sun tan, I burn too fast and get brown all over and end up looking like a nigger." Didn't even blink.
Anyway, I got to see how jute was harvested and processed and there were little displays on old Dundee and the people that lived and worked in those times, it was really cool. Chris told me in the old days, a lot of the power came from water wheels and steam, so there was a lot of underground waterways which you can still hear under the pavement. In a few years time, the city will have to fill them in, otherwise the tunnels will corrode and buildings will start to collapse.
At around half-four, Chris walked me to the bus stop and we said goodbye. I rode back to Fowlis and walked up the street where Mary's friend was holding a little birthday get-together for Aunty's 81st. Back at home, A.Mary told me about her daughters Moira and Mandy, that she gave up years and years ago. They all talk to eachother now, but back then it was a bit of a scandal. The guy Mary was seeing turned out to be married, and when she found out, she ran off with her Mom and gave her babies up for adoption. It was quite heartbreaking, and I could tell how much it hurt her. Who knows how many other secrets are lurking in this fucking family, hahaha.