do all Scottish, Irish and Welsh speak English?

Dunham:

I'm a Scot (from Edinburgh) currently working in London temporarily.
Until I went to uni I went with my Mum, Dad and then Stepdad and sister almost every summer to spend a week on the Isle of Lewis, one of the Western Isles.

I always had a great time especially exploring all the rocky places along the beaches and looking at the amazing wildlife, including all the seals. The islands are very bleak and wild when the weather is bad which it can be a lot of the time but I see you're aware of that. The Western Isles are exposed to all the storm conditions the wild North Atlantic can chuck at them, and it's a spectacular sight to see the huge waves crashing onto the rocks all along the shorelines. Just ignore the driving horizontal rain....

If Seattle is as bad as you intimate then wait till you see the west of Scotland in rough weather and especially in the Western Isles of Lewis, Harris, Skye, Barra, Rhum, Eigg, Barra, the Uists, Muck (yes, honestly...that's it's name!) Tiree, Colonsay etc. But the skies do clear to cloudless more often than you would think and then it's glorious believe you me...but as a Scot I would say that would I not? :-)

The islands can't help their geographical conditions. This past Summer (especially July) has been scorching hot in practically the whole of the UK - except for the Western Isles, but there you go. They had 16C and cloud when many other places in Scotland had 30C and clear skies.

Gaelic is widely spoken, even by kids, as they are still brought up to speak it. You hear it spoken all the time in Stornoway, and bilingual signs are everywhere. On Lewis there are many signs of past civilisations, including the ancient standing stones of Calanais - pronounced <CAL-anish> which were erected c.1800BC.

Stornoway has a small regional airport with daily flights to the Scottish cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen, which in turn all have direct connecting flights to the main London airports, as well as other main UK cities.

Hopong you find these links helpful:

http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=10151

Main hotel where we used to stay: Seaforth Hotel in Stornoway, main town on the Isle of Lewis:

http://www.information-britain.co.uk/hoteltowns.cfm?country=104&town=Stornoway

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lewis/lewis/index.html

http://www.buyimage.co.uk/photonet/lewis2000/lewis2000.html

http://www.buyimage.co.uk/photonet/lewis2001/lewis2001.html

Suddenly I feel mega homesick.....<Damian looks up the time of the next train to Edinburgh.......only joking!>

Cheers

Live webcam from Lewis lets you know exactly what the weather is like at the minute:

http://hometown.aol.co.uk/pharmolo/webcam.html

Overcast skies, now that's comforting to me. I spent a year & a half working down in the Mojave desert from 1985-86, always blue skies, after 6 months of that I was cursing the sun. The desert has it's own beauty too, just not mine.

This is great. I took a look at the webcam and sure enough it was overcast. And it's a good thing the islands are relatively remote, a better chance of maintaining their uniqueness.

I've just started a book about the area; "Seasons On Harris" by David Yeadon. Seems like he spent a year there. But reading about a place just whets the appetite.

For all your information may I say: "Tapadh Leibh".

Na H-Eileanan an Iar - Fàilte. Chì mi a dh'aithghearr thu!

Oidhche mhath.

To Dunham, Where did you work in the Mojave Desert, i was at the Aero Space Center there working on a conversion of a Boeing 737 into a moded out aircraft to test avionics for a F-35 Fighter, that was ealier this year............For Lockheed


Agus go n-eiri an bothar leat!

I'm English and i've been for weekends in both Scotland and Ireland. And i must say the award for the biggest drinkers in the world goes to.... the Jocks! They can drink like there's no tomorrow! Had a great night out there!!!

There is far too much welsh abuse going on in here... FUCK YOU ENGLISH BASTARDS

***Had a great night out there!!!***

Only one, Wayne? Next time bide a wee while longer. We Jocks know how to hae a guid time without any fash :-)

Yep the Scot's sure like a good drink,and i'm sure i speak for a lot of English people when i say they sure give you a good time.I was in Edinburgh for a new year party one year and had the time of my life,in one of the most beautiful and cultural cities in the world.and to say the English and Scots don't get on is crap.The Scot's don't mess about,if you are a prat they will tell you to your face.

franny u r a prat! ah feel better now, p. s. please dont come to wales

What in god's name would i want to waste putting twenty quids worth of petrol in my car, and discending onto that outcrop of one of the worlds greatest nations.Name me one significent contribution that wales have given to the world and i'll name you ten English one's,and don't give me Englands bigger,because look what Scotlands given the world.You welsh are just riding on England and Scotlands coat tails.

"When we see British tourists in Ibiza and Greece rioting, wrecking the street furniture and vomiting in gutters there are plenty of Welsh, Scots and Irish there, too. In fact, being Celts, you've all got more chance of drinking too much and getting drunk than the English have. "

You have got to be joking. The British tourists you mention are primarily English, at least the ones in Greece; and I have a hard time imagining anyone being able to drink more than what I've seen in England.

That said, I have no beef against the English and I enjoy living in England just fine; but when you state things in a factual manner, better make sure you have your facts straight.

hi most scotland people speak english cause we get made to learn it at school.

In Scotland, we get taught to read and write english at school.
Then we come home and talk to each other in Scots.
Gotta love it :D

True. We Scots are linguistically schizophrenic by and large, depending on where we are at any particular time and who we are with at any particular time, as I've said before in this Forum. In a way it's like being bilingual.

You should see the expressions on people's faces here when a couple of us Scots in the office get together and sound off in pure Scots. Priceless!