Do I have an accent?
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Jasper:
Sand dunes.....I think you are forgetting that Scotland forms part of an island nation which in comparative terms is quite small in size really - we are surrounded by the sea on all sides and as a result we have a very long coastline from one location on its shores and then all the way round back to the same spot again...the coastline of Britain is extremely indented for much of its course with all the bays and harbours and lochs and firths and inlets all being taken into account and if it was strecthed out in one continuous line it would probably stretch all the way round the globe and probably with a little left over. The nature of the coastline also varies enormously - from very high cliffs, very low cliffs, headlands, promontories, river estuaries, low lying fenlands or urban developments complete with piers and promenades stretching for miles in some areas. Also - we have a whole range of beaches, from pebbly ones, to rocky ones, to muddy ones but also some very sandy ones.....and on most such stretches of sandy beaches you will find all our sand dunes, for it is only in such places will you ever find sand dunes in Scotland, or anywhere else in the UK. Usually the sand is quite soft and the dunes form little mounds and ridges interspersed with dips and hollows and are favoured spots to engage in a whole range of activites especially if they are especially secluded. The Moray Firth coastline in north east Scotland has sand dunes all along its length from near Peterhead, up to Fraserburgh and then westwards all the way to Inverness, passing through gorgeous wee places like Rosehearty, Macduff, Banff, Portsoy, Cullen, Portknockie, Findochty, Buckie, Lossiemouth, Burghead, Findhorn, Nairn and then on to Inverness. Some of those places, such as Findochty, are not pronounced anything like the way they are spelt, and neither is Moray for that matter...it's "Murrie" with rolled Rs, and Findochty is "Finn-ECH-tee" - with the CH as guttural as you can make it. Nairn is basically the same as our bairn (a wee child) but to pass for a Scot you MUST roll the Rs. If you don't then you are a "foreigner". ;-) So all our sand dunes are strictly coastal, Jasper. I can understand your bafflement because you have loads of inland sand dunes in your part of the world don't you? Or do you? http://www.itraveluk.co.uk/photos/showphoto/photo/2490.php I have a video lasting about two and a half hours which was filmed from the cockpit of an RAF aircraft travelling at great speed all the way along the coastline of Britain, starting off at Land's End, in Cornwall, SW England and then going all the way along the coastline of England, flying over very famous landmarks all the way up to the border with Scotland and then up along the Scottish coast, turning into the Firth of Forth and over Edinburgh where it then turned round to proceed up along the whole east coast of Scotland, to John o'Groats the northernmost point on the British mainland, then west along the very rocky north coast of Scotland, then turning 90 degress southwards all along down the very rocky, very indented west coast of Scotland, over the Highlands and Islands, on down over the Clyde estuary, then down to Galloway in the SW tip of Scotland, then eastwards until we hit the English border again, then southwards along the coast of north west England to Liverpool and Merseyside when we turned west again and over North Wales - then followed the whole length of the coastline of Wales from north to south, eastwards again along the coast of South Wales over Cardiff and then over the Severn Estuary and over England again, then following the coastline of South West England - Somerset, Devon and back over Cornwall again finally arriving at Land's End, which is where we started off on the aerial journey two and a half hours earlier. The interesting thing is that commentaries on the soundtrack were all from people from all the different locations all along the whole British coastline - speaking in their own local accents and dialects and generally describing the sights we could see for ourselves from our vantage point in the cockpit of the aircaft. Each spoke for about a minute or so before the commentary was taken up by the next person further up along the coast, whose different accent reflected the locality we were now flying over. It was interesting when flying past Berwick-upon-Tweed when the English north east accent immediately gave way to a Scottish accent of the Borders region, and eventually when we left Scotland at Gretna Green, over on the west coast, the Scottish accent of the Dumfries and Galloway region yielded to the Cumbrian accent of north west England. Further down again until we turned westwards over the Dee estuary just south of LIverpool the English Merseyside accent became that of a Welshman, and Welsh voices accompanied us until we hit the English border again over the Severn Estuary, just north of Bristoi, and then English West Country accents then saw us back to Land's End again, the very southernmost point on the British mainland.....well, as near as dammit - the actual southernmost tip is the nearby Lizard Point with its famous lighthouse. Musical pieces including songs interspersed with the vocal commentaries and each one related to the locality we were flying over at any given time. |
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LOL
A "little" off topic :) |
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| Scav, you could try some shadowing work. It's grueling, tedious work, but it's cheap--and you can do it at your own pace. If you want more details, please ask. |