Hillbillies, Fight Songs, and a Frantic Flat Find

Well, I’m not sure what to make of this, but…

It appears that Scotland is …from whence hillbillies have sprung.

Now, bear with me:

According to a Scottish history site onto which I wandered recently, the Ulster-Scots who immigrated to Appalachia were fond of singing about their politics — and one song was about William of Orange. The Orangemen sang a song with the refrain “Hurrah! Hurrah! We are the Billy Boys!” — stating, in so many words, that they had King William’s back. The tune to this rousing bit of patriotism (apparently also part of the fight song for the Rangers Football Club)… is also the tune to “Marching Through Georgia,” a noted Civil War song (amusingly detested by General Sherman, as it was played at almost every function he attended after his… um, march. Through Georgia. I guess it was his own fault.) full of the usual romanticized nonsense written by the conquerors… At any rate, the ‘Billy Boys’ who lived in the Appalachian hills after a generation or two became hill…billies. And quite possibly hillbillies with no memory of the connection to the past, ironically enough.

If you get a chance, read this article in full. Though it reminds me, with great amusement, of the father from My Big Fat Greek Wedding who could explain (or make up) the Greek connection to everything on earth, it does have some fascinating aspects.

Looks like we’ve got an explanation on the visa work thing. According to the Home Office website, {And yes — there apparently is a building in the UK that has the words ‘Home Office’ above the door – it’s what they call their Office of Homeland Security. The easily tossed off phrase ‘The Home Office?’ Sounds much less threatening.}, D. doesn’t need to get permission to work, he only needs a National Insurance Number (NIN), but there are certain types of work he’s not allowed to do — one of them is being a professional sportsman or entertainer (!!!), being self-employed, or starting a business. I expect we’ll figure it out, but meanwhile, once abroad, we have to live frugally on what we earn in pounds and leave what we can in reserve for American expenses back home (including the house). I am glad they’re allowing us to work — and interested in seeing how little work we can get away with and still live well! (Gasp! I know – that’s not the Puritan ethic upon which our country was built. I tell you, we’re straying already.)

So, the other day my stylist was reminiscing about her time living in Belgium, and how there was this nasty thing that looked like a pizza, but instead turned out to be a rhubarb pie with “a sunken in crust, and hard sugar on the top.” Well, I went online just looking for tidbits about regional cuisine and all, and found first of all, a picture of the pie — only with apples, but it’s got to be the same thing (and looks quite tasty, to me!). AND, I found a BBC show called Good Food, and it appears that they are doing a Glasgow episode come autumn, and Scots celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay will be on hand. This… does not excite me. Perhaps because I think foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, sarcastic misogynists are a dime a dozen. But that could just be me.

Well, the staff at Her Majesty’s Britannic Consular were a bit surprised to find that we hadn’t already rented a flat, so we are now ending our five day, 12-step ‘stop-obsessing-over-online-rentals’ fast. Let the obsessing continue!

– D & T

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