Burns se huis en tam o shanter

We then had a picnic lunch, as I packed all kinds of cold stuff and sandwiches. The dogs were in seventh heaven, as they could be unleashed, and ran around sniffing at everything that came their way. It is hard on poor Stout, as Benny was a little fighter, and could or would not leave any other dog, no matter how big or small, in peace, and therefor they were always kept on a leash when there might be other dogs around.
Then we went to the town, where we had a drink at a pub supposed to be the one that Tam O'Shanter, of the Burns poem fame, always had his drinks.To me it was so wonderful, as I had heard this poem being told in many pubs, as Burns evenings were done quite often, and to sit in the pub where Burns himself used to drink was amazing.

We had a funny interlude in the pub, where a man, quite intoxicated, and extremely talkative,  tried to pick one of us up for a bit of fun as he unashamedly put it, and we had a good giggle wondering whether he could be a descendant of Tam o'Shanter, who was a bit of a chancer! He started off by sending us each a dram, and shifted his alcohol drenched body closer and closer to Liz, who became quite agitated, and shifted closer and closer to me, almost pushing me off the seat.When this guy realized that Liz was not at all enchanted by his charm, he walked over to my side and pulled up a chair, giving me a very vague and wet lipped grin! I now started pushing towards Liz, who also had to shift, and when this man again saw his prey disappear, he walked around again to be near Liz on the other side. We decided to call it a day and to walk up to have a look at the house of Burns. The story of Tam o'Shanter is very interesting, and was first published in 1790. It tells of Tam oShanter, a local farmer who used to get drunk with his buddies in the pub, and one night after leaving the pub nicely sozzled, he saw that a haunted church in the village was lit up, with witches and warlocks doing some dancing, while the devil played the bagpipes. Tam decided to creep into the churchyard to watch, and was very much impressed by a young witch with a short skirt, and before he could help himself, he shouted: 'Weel done cutty short!'(cutty short means short skirt) at which the witches noticed him and chased him all the way to the river Doon. Witches can't cross water, but they came so near to catching him that the pulled off Meg's tail just as the two of them reached the river!