Blessing Blackburn ~ The Sequel ~ Installment 1

"'Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home give it your greeting.'" (Matthew 10:11-12)

Friday, 8/28/09
10:00 pm in Brooklyn, New York

Until a certain paradigm-shift moment in April, I had never really considered visiting Scotland even once, much less twice (or more). Although Del and his brothers had talked about it on occasion, their idea seemed more like a dream than a concrete eventuality. And it would be the Good Old Boys Club, I thought – something they would all enjoy together while I cheerfully stayed home and tended to my responsibilities here in Brooklyn.

Even last Christmas, when someone gave me a lovely three-CD set called Celtic Treasures: 50 Hymns And Songs Of The Celtic Tradition, my thoughts were about the sweet givers and the nice music and the One they honor – certainly not about traveling to the place of origin!

But on April 15, 2009, my twin sister, Marie, who lives near San Francisco, sent an email to her siblings and friends telling us to watch this lady – she would make our day! I didn't delete the message, but neither did I click the link. I was too busy that week. However, a day or two later, our New York morning newspaper had a very large article and picture of a lady in a gold dress, singing. The article's first few lines noted that she had an otherworldly voice – and I wondered if perhaps she and my sister's lady were one and the same. I decided to recheck Marie's email, and clicked the link. Shock! Tears of delight! Del, come here, watch this! Tears in his eyes, too! I don't remember how many times Del and I watched Susan Boyle's audition video that day, each time with tears, but they were the first of hundreds of views that led to countless comments and many new friends nationwide and globally – along with an unexpected interest in Scotland of all places!

I realize that the Scottish people and government have been preparing a big global reunion called Homecoming Scotland 2009 for quite some time. A major attraction was to be the 250 years of Robert Burns. How about the 5 months of Susan Boyle?! And her first CD is just in production as her 500,000,000 internet viewers wait like the RCA dog for the sound of her voice.

Marie had wanted to accompany Del and me to Blackburn in June, but her passport had recently expired and she needed a little more time to renew it. Within weeks of my return to Brooklyn, Marie was offering to treat me to another visit to Blackburn! Of course, I accepted! We quickly arranged our flights so that her best fare and route would bring her from SFO to JFK, where I would meet her at the gate for the JFK to EDI flight – occupying adjacent seats! We ended up choosing exactly the same Delta flights that Del and I had taken. God willing, we will depart on September 1 and return on September 8. It's all good, really good.

Marie called the Happy Valley Hotel to see if a room might be available, but they were completely booked because of the Edinburgh Festival. I had seen a couple of bed and breakfast signs in Blackburn, so we Googled around and at last found the charming Burnview Bed and Breakfast in Blackburn! Marie emailed and then called, and within minutes we had booked the Twin Room!

Other exciting arrangements are also in progress, and we will note those as the blog unfolds during the next couple of weeks. Marie will kindly oblige as a guest blogger, and readers will have an opportunity to ponder whether heredity or environment is the greater influence in twin development. With just a few days remaining until we depart on Tuesday, the challenge now is to see if we can travel ultra-light – each of us carrying only a purse, a laptop and a very small bag. If Susan could wear the same dress in every concert on the BGT tour, we can repeat our outfits a few times in Blackburn, can we not?

Please read installments in order ~ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Blessing Blackburn ~ Installment 5

“And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.” (Ezekiel 47:9)

Saturday, 7/11/09
11:00 am in Brooklyn, New York

Did I say bye bye Blackburn? But Blackburn has followed us to Brooklyn!

Perhaps most important to all of our frugal Scottish readers (I know what you’re thinking…she’s so redundant), our T-Mobile bill has arrived. For the first four days of sporadic international calling, both incoming and outgoing, the total cost including taxes was about $55.00 for all of our calls. The ultimate redundancy is that I called Del four times, costing $0.99 each on my section of the family plan bill, and when he answered these calls he was charged another $0.99 each on his section of the bill. The basic problem is that Del is only half Scottish. EXHopefieldroad had warned me about this some time ago when he wrote, “Is he only half careful with money?”

The other T-Mobile cost was the $8.00 charge for sixty minutes of wi-fi at Edinburgh Airport, with only half of that actually used. On the other hand, the T-Mobile wi-fi at JFK was free, and the internet connections in the greater Blackburn metropolitan area were free-to-ultra-cheap. We’ll have to return to Scotland just to use up the rest of that $8.00. Can’t let anything go to waste, can we Darling?

Also spanning the globe from Blackburn to Brooklyn were the newspaper articles. We had stopped in at the weekly West Lothian Courier office in Bathgate, and they had sent a photographer and reporter the long distance of a mile or two to interview us at the Happy Valley. When we returned to Brooklyn, we saw the article online and were pleased that it was almost entirely accurate. Then the Daily Record in Glasgow picked up that article and added a few things from this blog , and we gladly spotted their report online as well. The Sunday Mirror of London had also sent a photographer, and the reporter had interviewed us by telephone. Their article was generally positive, and we appreciate their intentions, but we must say that we almost didn’t recognize ourselves in the description – quite a makeover! Ummmm….no, we’re not organizing tours; no, thousands of people didn’t contact us; no, merchandise hasn’t been approved; no, we don’t expect fans to be queuing round the block for tours; no, we never call her SuBo. We’re just two regular people who considered that in our own little way we might see the village, share the experience with fans, encourage other respectful visitors, and try to open a connection for fans to honor Susan by tangibly expressing their generosity toward her home village. We completely funded ourselves, and will always act on a 100 percent voluntary basis, without compensation, in any matters related to blessing Blackburn.

One of our internet fan friends in London went right out and purchased a copy of the Sunday Mirror and generously offered to mail it to us! On Monday, she walked the long distance to her post office, mailed the article, and we received it only two days later in Brooklyn! We can mail something to New Jersey in the same amount of time! The print article has many more pictures (eight) than the online article (one), and the whole effect is really quite cute. The major title is “Wish Su Were Here” and our little picture is perched at the bottom of the collage of photos and text. The Sunday Mirror article generated other reports and inquiries, and I was rather busy addressing those matters for a few days, trusting that the results will be all good for Susan and Blackburn.

Meanwhile, Susan was finishing her BGT tour in grand style, Simon was praising the first song on her CD, and a new sensation was developing as virtual met literal! Back at the Happy Valley in Blackburn, we had told Jackie about the virtual version of her pub, known online as Susan’s Pub on the main YouTube channel with the 70,000,000 views (now almost 71,000,000). Well, on Monday, Jackie, yes that Jackie, literally joined the online conversation! She is the first known celebrity visitor to speak up at the virtual pub! The regular pubsters became hysterically rabid with excitement and occasionally green with envy and were queuing up for virtual rabies shots and empathetic counseling, while also managing to inundate Jackie with welcomes and questions! Poor Jackie! A televised football match between the Rangers and the Celtics would be easier to handle at her pub than the eager bombardment of happy fans at the virtual pub! But – bless her heart – dear Jackie has returned several times to chat and answer questions, and the results are being dutifully reported via the pub pals as well as at least one fan site. To show even more appreciation, fans are also subscribing to Jackie’s YouTube channel – jackieakajake – and she is rising in YouTube’s subscription rankings! Soon people will be sending letters to Susan’s house in Blackburn, hoping they will get to Jackie!

Considering this whole Susan Boyle phenomenon, now only three months old, and recalling our special time in Blackburn, I am reminded of another scenario that I have been pondering for a couple of months. Someone promised long ago that a river of fresh water would spring up and flow with ever-increasing depth and power, bringing healing and abundant life to what was bitter and dead. Through one example, like a parable for the nations, we have witnessed such a thing happening in the life of a humble Scottish maiden with a heavenly voice – now with more than 425,000,000 internet views. Dear friends, what seems virtual can become literal when we see by faith. I encourage you to lift up your eyes from your screen and say to Him, “For me, too.”

Blessing Blackburn ~ Installment 4

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Note: Please click on image to see slide show with more photos in a larger size at your own pace

Friday, 7/3/09
2:15 pm in Brooklyn, New York

Following our Wednesday visit to the West Lothian Local History Library, we returned to the Happy Valley and to our conversation with Alison, who met us there in a semi-quiet corner of the pub. Refreshed by cold diet Cokes on this warm Blackburn day, we continued to dream a bit with Alison about ways for fans who love Susan to demonstrate their love to her village, too. We showed her some of the concrete ideas that people are willing to offer to Blackburn. Of course, we are all going to buy Susan’s CDs and DVDs and eagerly await her appearances, but because Susan has extraordinarily inspired so many of us, we want to do something extra, too. So Blackburn is a focus of our good will.

We asked Alison if we might attend the evening meeting of the Blackburn Community Council, not to say much but just to be there as visible representatives of these ideas for blessing Blackburn. We did not want to disrupt the agenda, so Alison suggested that we arrive about 45 minutes after the start of the Council meeting. She noted that useful meetings of that sort never need to last more than two hours, and we agreed!

We also asked Alison how she had gotten so involved in Blackburn community issues, to the point of being Chairman of the Blackburn Community Council. She didn’t really know how that had happened! Early on, she had been involved with a tenants’ group, then one issue after another, and often several at once. But of course she gave credit to many other community workers in various organizations that seek to benefit Blackburn residents. We were privileged to meet Alison and to encourage her and the other public servants in the village. Blackburn has had hard times, too many times, but always there has been a community spirit that keeps them together, striving for something better despite the obstacles.

After Alison left, we spent a few more minutes talking with our pubster pals. Jackie telephoned a taxi company that we had seen around town, arranging for our early morning departure to Edinburgh Airport. The cost would be twenty-five pounds, and we realized that we had approximately enough UK money left, but not enough for “just in case” expenses. Del especially dislikes being caught without cash (ewwww, shame!), and although we had exchanged some more dollars for pounds at the Blackburn Post Office earlier in the day (at a better rate than at JFK), we decided also to try the ATM on our way for a bite to eat before the meeting.

In suspense, we wondered if our little debit card would be rejected in the same way that Simon’s credit card had been denied after his expensive meal with Piers recently. “The greatest moment of my life,” Piers had said. “Now what’ll we do,” we might have said – except that the ATM neatly accepted our card and pin number, then quickly dispensed pounds while debiting dollars. And forever in our bank statement will be the record of cash received at an ATM in Blackburn, West Lothian.

Just across the small mall from the ATM was the Scotmid co-operative grocery store, which allows anyone – even Americans – to shop there. We knew that Susan was a lifelong customer, and in addition to finding something for our dinner we thought it would be fun to see what sorts of American products might be on the shelves. In other words, would it be total culture shock for Susan to visit the USA, or would she at least have had the opportunity to get accustomed to some of our products? I’m sure she won’t be in American grocery stores often, not even with Simon’s credit card, but we can dream, can’t we?

Several major American name brands were represented at the Scotmid, including a particular favorite of my husband’s – Del Monte. We cruised the aisles and took some photos, and finally a manager asked what I was doing. When I explained that we were Susan’s fans from America, looking for American products, he said he thought it was something like that and cheerfully turned away. I was careful to examine the cat food selection, because you know how finicky cats can be, especially when taking private jets to stay in five-star hotels in world-class cities.

For our last meal in Blackburn, we settled on a packaged egg and cress sandwich, potato chips, a heavy malt pastry, a diet Coke, some wrapped chocolate eggs and a small bag of Smarties. It was the American junk food experience, in Scotland. Well, we knew there would be some wholesome meals on the flight the next day, so this was our moment. We ate once more in the small mall, and said final farewells to our new friend, the security guard who was constantly on duty to keep kids and perhaps others in line.

The Council meeting was held in the large community centre in which the Support Our Susan parties took place, a few hundred yards behind the small mall. The man at the desk was expecting us, and guided us to one of the classrooms at the end of a hallway. The Council members had already considered some of what we had discussed with Alison, and graciously gave us an opportunity to explain a bit more and to answer questions. They were very appreciative and properly deliberative. We all wanted to make sure that the people closest to these matters would welcome any next steps that might be taken. We left the Blessing Blackburn portfolio of fan messages with them, and departed hoping they could finish their meeting within the ideal two hours. Again, we were so thankful for the quality of people and leaders in Blackburn, Susan’s home village.

Back in our room for our last night at the Happy Valley Hotel, we mostly packed and then I prepared another batch of photos and a few paragraphs for my blog – anticipating that the next wi-fi availability for thousands of miles would be at Edinburgh Airport. In the morning, the taxi arrived as scheduled and it was bye bye Blackburn – until we meet again.

What did we really learn in Blackburn? What are some of the results? I want to spend a little more time meditating, and even praying, about that. I also want to give a few things an opportunity to develop more fully before saying much more. Please come back for my next Blessing Blackburn blog entry in the next day or two! In the meantime, why not start planning your own trip to Blackburn? May you be blessed and be a blessing!

Blessing Blackburn ~ Installment 3

"Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear." (Matthew 13:16)

Note: Please click on image to see slide show with more photos in a larger size at your own pace

Wednesday, 7/1/09
10:39 pm in Blackburn

In Bathgate, next door to the internet café, we found a place that served curried lamb and chicken. We also noticed cans of Irn Bru in a refrigerated case, and remembered a picture of an Irn Bru delivery truck driver giving some of this favorite Scottish soft drink to Susan. Waiting for our curry meal, we sipped a can of regular Irn Bru and were amazed to taste something reminiscent of carbonated Bazooka bubble gum. It was delicious, as was the curry dish with rice, which we ate while perched on a low garden wall in the next block.

One thing we need to mention about dining out so far in Blackburn, and at this shop in Bathgate. There were no chairs or tables in most of the establishments that we visited, as apparently people are accustomed to taking their meals elsewhere to eat them. Except for our several lunches at the sit-down café in the small mall, the rest of the meals that we purchased in Blackburn were for take away (that is, to go). So we either sat on chairs in the mall or went back to the Happy Valley to eat. The Happy Valley does not serve food in the pub, although as hotel guests we could have had breakfasts upstairs. The food that we have eaten here in Scotland is very tasty, so we are well pleased.

As I filed my Monday report at the internet café in Bathgate, Del was conversing with the capable young lady who was helping us. It turned out that Emma was born and raised in Blackburn, and still lives there. She boarded the same bus home to Blackburn with us, and alerted us to exit the bus at the right stop. We have had so many wonderful experiences with local people who are extra friendly and considerate.

As much as we love the fish and chips, we decided on Monday evening to try something different – Chinese food! Across a short field and narrow road from the small mall is one of the two Chinese food places that we have seen in Blackburn. It seems that both of them have take away service only. We wondered if Susan ate there sometimes, and the answer was: not often. A woman came in to pick up her phoned-in order, and we asked her to recommend something good. She said the chicken chow mein was her favorite, so we tried that along with sweet and sour chicken and special rice. Returning to the Happy Valley, we watched the British favorite (a Scotland native) win a long, difficult Wimbledon match as we munched on our Chinese food. It was really very good – and a slightly different style than what we have eaten in Brooklyn.

The Wimbledon match went on and on – ending at the latest hour in Wimbledon history. The BBC airs many of these matches very prominently during the day. Andy Murray, the great hope for the Brits this year, is from a small city in Scotland, only an hour or so away from Blackburn. He won the match after nearly four hours of strenuous play in the hot, hot London weather. Meanwhile, here in Blackburn – often overcast and misty – temperatures remained mostly in the fifties and sixties, creeping occasionally into the sunny low seventies with humidity that we barely noticed compared to steamy Brooklyn in the summer.

Next on our informal agenda was the Blackburn Community Education Centre on Tuesday morning. This is a fairly large complex, built specifically for that purpose (with a youth emphasis) in the 1960s. Surrounded mostly by fields, it is located a few hundred yards behind the small mall. This centre was the site of both Support Our Susan parties during the BGT semi-finals and finals. It is a well-used building providing for many kinds of activities. Colin gave us a tour and explained that the West Lothian Council (which oversees Blackburn governmentally) has plans to rebuild the centre if funds can be pieced together from various entities.

We dropped by the library, Blackburn Connected, to see if someone from the local Blackburn Community Council might be there. Several people had recommended Alison as the person to contact, and we knew her name as the lady who had organized the Support Our Susan parties. The librarian remarked that she had heard we had managed to ride the bus the other day (news travels fast in small towns), and then phoned Alison for us. Alison was happy to meet with us – and we made an appointment for the next morning. Then I followed the proper procedure for using the Blackburn Connected internet service, and was delighted to find that my twin sister, known online as MarieUrsula, had fixed the slide show on my Blessing Blackburn blog so fans could view our first batch of photos. The librarian kindly extended my computer time for one more segment, but alas many emails and comments remain unanswered – and my twin can only do so much in my stead!

Back at the Happy Valley, we had a brief paparazzi moment – spotting Susan’s brother in the pub and asking for a photo with him. He very kindly obliged, and we also took about a minute to explain our hope, along with other fans, to support Blackburn village. He was so friendly. He had already looked through the Blessing Blackburn fan messages, as had many others.

Two genial fellows, John and later Tony, conversed with us at length as we sipped our diet Cokes. They both absolutely adore Blackburn. John had an endlessly funny sense of humor and Tony provided excellent Blackburn insights and historical information. In the meantime, Jock motioned toward the waiting pool table, and I was happy for his narrow victory. Soon after, Tony suggested that we go with him to the West Lothian Local History Library, located nearby in one end of the primary school that Susan attended. Important books, photos and documents for the whole collection of villages are available at this special little library. We spent half an hour there, and saw the new large file on Susan Boyle – actually a box of clippings that, of course, will be growing larger and larger over time. The librarian, Sybil, had written a history of Blackburn and we eagerly bought a copy.

Following another meal of fish and chips in the small mall, we walked to Susan’s home and determined that it would take her six or seven minutes to walk from the mall and five or six minutes from the Happy Valley. At the mall, and later on our walk, we saw some of the kids that I had spoken with the other night. We had already seen other people at multiple places and times, and several had been relatives of others that we had met, or had known of some of our comings and goings in Blackburn. It seems that Blackburn, with an extended population of just under 5000, is actually much smaller in its nucleus of interconnected people and primary businesses.

Back in our room, I made the tactical decision to open Sybil’s Blackburn history, knowing that I would forego many hours of sleep. Published in 2006, the book summarizes the history of Blackburn from the late 1700s to the present. It had been a feudal agricultural community, and in 1772 the Blackburn House was built by a new owner of the large estate. Textile production soon became the main economic activity in Blackburn, but drastically declined in the mid-1800s, at which point mining was on the rise, only to dwindle and then end abruptly by the mid-1900s, just in time for a major auto manufacturer to relocate here, before moving out within a couple of decades, leaving vandalized shells of empty apartment buildings hurriedly built to house workers who couldn’t remain. For centuries, the people of Blackburn had been hard working and hopeful, but ever subject to the few in authority whose decisions radically affected the many in the village. Though finishing on a positive note of potential Blackburn renewal and growth, Sybil’s history ended without a mention of the Belle of Blackburn who would soon put her tiny village on the map, with all the world as her stage.


Thursday, 7/2/09
12:07 pm/7:07 am on Delta 97 EDI/JFK

Yesterday morning in Blackburn was the warmest and sunniest to date. We met Alison at the library, Blackburn Connected, and were delighted to become acquainted with this wise, experienced and dedicated public servant who has volunteered many years and perhaps some tears toward the betterment of Blackburn. Of course she knew that there are fans of Susan numbering in the millions, but still she was glad to learn from us in person that the love of so many fans is real and overflowing. We conveyed the message expressed by several internet friends who want to honor Susan in extra ways, by voluntarily supporting the village that had helped to nurture her for 48 years. We discussed concrete examples that some fans were already exploring, and worthy means that could widely benefit Blackburn residents. We understood that small beginnings and baby steps are good, and proper foundations are important. Alison was happy to speak with us, but had to rush off to another meeting, so we agreed to talk further in the afternoon.

In Sybil’s history of Blackburn, we had read about Blackburn House, the manor built in 1772 by the new owner of the feudal estate. Unlike Finlaystone, with its three resident family lines over 600 years, Blackburn House has had many tenants over two centuries, most often renters not owners. In recent decades, its condition had seriously deteriorated despite its historical significance. Sybil in her book had written about new plans soon underway, to renovate Blackburn House and develop it as a gathering place for artists who could be inspired by its gorgeous view of a fertile valley.

We decided to walk to Blackburn House and see how the work was progressing. About a mile eastward, we found the estate in beautiful condition, obviously the result of a major investment. Prominent on the grounds is an equestrian centre with horses pastured and boarded. Tony told us later that the equestrian centre had been there for several years, and that the renovations to the main buildings of Blackburn House were a separate enterprise, publicly funded. Still, having spent time at a Wyoming dude ranch years ago, Del and I wondered how a Scottish dude ranch with draft horses might fare.

We walked back to the village, gazing at green fields that may not have changed much in two centuries, and sat down for chicken noodle soup and a cheese sandwich at the Mill Café in the small mall. As usual, we received back coins in change for the ten-pound Scottish note with which we paid for the meal. At this or other places, the coins returned included denominations of two pounds, one pound, half pound, twenty pence, ten pence, five pence, two pence or one pence, in diameters, shapes, thicknesses and substances more varied than US coins. Bills less than five pounds are almost never used – meaning only coins are used in denominations of under the equivalent of about eight dollars. No equivalents to fives, nor ones, for example. Pocket change really adds up quickly to a valuable amount.

After lunch, we strolled back to the Happy Valley and then to the West Lothian Local History Library to follow up on Tuesday’s introduction. Sybil answered questions about the kinds of housing in Blackburn. In her book, she had noted that in the early 1970s about 96 percent of homes were council houses and apartments, owned by the government and rented to the residents. This is the kind of home in which Susan has lived all her life. Sybil had also written that due to policy changes a couple of decades ago, people were allowed to buy their council homes from the government. We remembered that this was also Susan’s dream. And, as of seven years ago, it had been the dream of almost 50 percent of Blackburn residents who had finally purchased their homes. Now, Sybil clarified, the number of private home owners in Blackburn is in the neighborhood of 70 percent. Castle sweet castle.

Blessing Blackburn ~ Installment 2

"Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys." (Exodus 40:36)

Note: To see the slide show with larger photos at your own pace, click on the image and you will be linked to the source.

Saturday, 6/27/09
3:45 pm in Armadale, near Blackburn, West Lothian

David arrived at the Happy Valley Hotel promptly at 10:00, and we were still asleep. How horrifying to check the local time on my cell phone, to discover that it was almost 11:00! Showering quickly, I ran to my handy travel hair dryer, plugged it into the adaptor, turned the little screw to 220 and was amazed at the cyclonic hot winds that soon rendered the hair dryer useless. Have you ever wondered what would happen if you plugged an American appliance into a foreign outlet, even with an adapter? Wonder no more. The travel dryer is the only electrical appliance that didn’t survive our Atlantic crossing. Thank the Lord for the cordless butane curling iron that had made it through security. I needn’t have worried much about the hair, because out in the umbrella-proof Scotland mist the styling soon reverted to that of the long-haired sheep pixeling the green pastures around Blackburn.

After breakfast at the café in the little mall, we bought some items at the co-op grocery store and established that Susan, indeed, shopped there regularly. We asked if there were other business areas in town, and the cashier generously listed several locations that we didn’t understand. We decided to go to Finlaystone on our own tomorrow, and on our way out of the Happy Valley in search of an internet connection, we found David in the pub and profusely apologized (he had already wisely assumed jet lag).

Recalling the librarian’s instructions from yesterday, we walked Susan-like to the bus stop and immediately caught a very modern little bus full of well-dressed ladies on their way to the next village, Whitburn. They all said the library in Whitburn (which we knew had wi-fi) was closed until Monday, but anyway we would enjoy Gala Day in the village! After allowing the bus driver to fish through my coin purse for the proper fare, we arrived ten minutes later in a literal business district festooned with banners and Scottish flags. We noticed the Lothian office of the Scottish Parliament, near the library with its large internet hotspot banner in the window. It had closed about an hour earlier, but we saw a computer shop across the street and went in to ask for an internet connection. The owner kindly referred us to the internet café in Bathgate on Bridge Street (I think), just a short bus ride away. We walked to the bus stop again, jumped on the Bathgate-bound bus, paid all by ourselves, drove off on the road lined with sheep-filled pastures, and determined that the driver had never heard of Bridge Street. But at the next stop a guy and four little kids boarded and, hearing of our plight, insisted that there was an internet café in Armadale! It’s a good thing this collection of villages is rather compact! At Armadale, the gentleman explained the route in language that was completely understandable twenty percent of the time, and then just led us all the way to the internet café at Computer Solutions. That phrase translated well enough. It turns out that our rescuer and his brothers had sung with “our lassie” at the Happy Valley and other places, and he was thrilled at her success.

Here at the internet café, with its Dell computers, my own Dell laptop is now connected by wi-fi and I hope to file my blog post within minutes. I didn’t ask about the hourly rate, because at this point I don’t care how much it costs. Del gave the manager a button with Pebbles’ picture on it, and he said his own cat had been named Pebbles. Alas, he is not a Susan fan, but he is forgiven! Soon we shall return to the Happy Valley in Blackburn, glad for our unplanned bus tour of the collection of villages. We hope to keep you posted sometime tomorrow, during or after our bus trip to Del’s castle west of Glasgow! (He’s a part-owner of Dell computers, you know.)

Sunday, 6/28/09
10:36 am on the train to Glasgow

On the way home to Blackburn from Armadale, we learned that buses require exact fare. We had jumped on the bus with our twenty-pound note, only to jump back off in search of change for the fare that was less than five pounds. But this gave us an opportunity to buy some more Smarties and some cookies in a small grocery store, and to meet a young lassie at the bus stop while we were waiting again. She was from another village, and wanted to visit New York! Then she told us that she had gone with a man for five years, and he had left her, and then another man for several months, and he had left her. She wondered if there was anyone who would not leave her. I quietly said one sentence, “Honestly, you need Jesus – He will love you and never leave you.” After chatting for a while longer, she decided the bus she wanted was at another stop, so off she went down the street. When our bus arrived, there she was on the bus! I gave her my card, with a blog address, www.brooklynblessings.blogspot.com, and she took it appreciatively.

The bus went through Bathgate village, which is the biggest that we saw yesterday (Blackburn is the smallest). At one of the bus stops, who should board but our friend the pool player from the Happy Valley. Especially when I see people “coincidentally” more than once, I know that God wants me to pray for them. Jock is his name. He asked if we would be in the pub in the evening, and if perhaps we could play some pool again. I apologized for beating him, and said he was really a very good player and I just had some good breaks that time. Later we happened to see him at the small mall on our way to buy fish and chips for dinner. Back at the pub, Del gave him a new knit cap with a USA emblem – exactly the style and color Jock always wears – that Del had happened to pack just in case. Jock had prepared a CD for us, with all of Susan’s main pre-tour videos, so it was a nice exchange.

After eating our fish and chips seated in the small mall, called The Mill Centre, we thought it would be interesting to try to trace Susan’s route back home. She would have taken a much more direct route, whereas we took a number of wrong turns. Once I casually asked a young lady where a particular street was. She gave me directions and said, “You’ll find Susan’s house there.” How could she possibly have known? The camera? The accent? Del finally gave up the search when it seemed we were close to the Happy Valley, and he went home. I retraced some steps and realized we had passed Susan’s house without noticing because we were looking on the wrong side of the street. But that is the story of our lives in Scotland!

Susan’s house is special because it is hers. Taking a few photos, I tried to imagine living in one home in one village for 48 years, walking the same roads, seeing the same people, knowing every life story. There is a pleasant security in that anchor. After my own parents passed away 13 and 25 years ago, and Del’s long before, none of our widely-scattered siblings have all gathered for, say, Thanksgiving or Christmas in one traditional place with a matriarch as we had before. Independence has its limitations.

Next I decided to trace Susan’s route from her home to the Happy Valley Hotel for lemonade and karaoke. It would have been a brief straight walk with one little turn and then a diagonal across a small park. But on the way, near the school, a group of young girls stopped me and began asking all kinds of questions. They wanted a photo, and they wanted to hear my American accent because they had never met an American before. They all loved Susan and tried in various ways to sing I Dreamed A Dream. One girl had already seen us on the bus earlier, and her dad already knew about us from the Happy Valley. The girls noticed my Susan lapel button and asked if I had more. Yes, yes, I said I would go back to my room and bring them some buttons. Then they asked me to sing a song. In real life, because of my calling, I usually sing in Russian and always about Biblical themes. So I sang The Lord’s Prayer in English, and asked if they knew the words. Most could recite the words, and I showed them in my compact Bible where Jesus had spoken them. Then they asked me to sing the same song in Russian. When some boys came over, they asked me to sing it again in English. They said I sounded like Susan. No way, I said! The boys asked for another song, and in Hebrew and Russian I sang a version of Psalm 23 and read the text in English, “The Lord is my Shepherd…” Finally, I broke away and went back to my room and got enough buttons for everyone. By then, more kids had arrived, and I went back and forth to get a few more buttons for them all. Bless their hearts, the next generation of Blackburn villagers!

Returning to the Happy Valley for the evening, I fell asleep for a few minutes that turned into a few hours, after which I prepared our photos just in case Finlaystone has a wi-fi connection. Here’s hoping!

Monday, 6/29/09
1:30 pm in Blackburn

Yesterday’s trip to Finlaystone, west of Glasgow, was delightful and mostly trouble-free. We caught a sleek double-decker bus to Bathgate, instructed by a young lady at the bus stop that our best option was to take a train to Glasgow by way of Edinburgh. But at the Bathgate train station we discovered that their trains were not running on Sunday. A man who happened to be there said we should take a taxi to Linlithgow to catch the Glasgow-bound train. A taxi driver happened to be parked nearby, and he drove us through green meadows to the modern station in larger Linlithgow, the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots. The train was wonderfully modern and upholstered, smooth and quiet on the tracks. How totally different from the subway trains in New York City! Many of the seats had tables, just right for a laptop!

At Queens Station in Glasgow, our mission was to find a bus to Langbank, the village near which Finlaystone castle is located. Why Finlaystone? It is the home of George MacMillan, chief of the Scottish clan to which thousands worldwide belong – including Del (spelled with a Mc). There were as many different transport instructions as there were people to ask. We waited unsuccessfully for the right bus from Queens Station, and finally acted on one man’s advice to walk to Central Station several blocks away. Glasgow is big and impressive and busy, and I thought of Susan in January coming here alone by bus from her little village, finding her way to the audition in an imposing auditorium, sitting and waiting for hours for her big break, entering the stage before a skeptical crowd, confiding her dream to mockers, and within a few glorious moments becoming the new Queen of Scotland and eventually the planet! God bless her!

At Central Station, at last we asked the person who gave us just the information we needed – a helpful policeman in his office. He found a detailed map, made copies and told us exactly which train to take to the station nearest to Finlaystone. He walked us to the right platform, and within a few minutes, we were on our way to Langbank, from which we then walked more than two miles past the village and through the grounds to the castle.

Finlaystone was built about 600 years ago, and has been the home of three families. It is said that the famous reformer John Knox gave communion to one of the families in 1556, under a yew tree that still exists on the vast, beautifully landscaped grounds. The public is welcome to tour the lovely and varied gardens, and by appointment the castle, which is now occupied by three generations of the MacMillan family. Del and I did not make it into the castle, but we did receive a twenty-percent McMillan discount at the gift shop and a tour of the private Clan MacMillan room with its interesting displays, artifacts and references. The only disappointment was that there was no wi-fi connection.

Finishing our Finlaystone day, we walked back two miles to the train station, retraced our route in Glasgow from one station to the other, grabbed a Whopper at Burger King, sped back to Linlithgow, asked some nice people to call a taxi, rode directly to Blackburn, and got to the evening service at Blackburn Gospel Hall just in time for the guest preacher to give his message from Psalm 90. His English was so understandable, and he had such a gracious yet forthright manner of speaking life principles from the Bible. Afterward, a lovely couple invited us to their home to eat, along with some other wise and kind people who regularly gather there after church on Sunday nights. We were so happy to visit with these Scots who really have a heart for Blackburn. They all appreciate Susan and were glad to learn that many of us around the world are praying for her and caring about Blackburn. We spoke as volunteer emissaries about the interest of many of Susan’s global fans, to bless Blackburn in ways that will widely benefit the residents of the village. It was very good to have an opportunity to think through the possibilities of a practical and reliable process through which fans around the world could connect to Blackburn community leaders with the same vision. During the next few days, we hope to explore some of those possibilities.

Monday, 6/29/09
4:35 pm in Bathgate

Passing through the pub on our way out, one of the pubsters motioned us over to greet Susan’s brother John. Gentle and trim, he stood up and spoke with us for several minutes. He had recently been interviewed by People magazine, and the reporter had confirmed that Americans love Susan Boyle! John agreed, noting that 95 percent of the fan mail coming to the house is from America. He appreciated the open-hearted frankness of so many. Of course he knows about the many loving fans from around the world, too. He said Susan is singing in Ireland, and the BGT tour and commitment will end on Sunday. We said we hoped she could spend some time resting at home before her next events. John will be here again and will look at the book of Blessing Blackburn greetings from fans.

Jackie was there, and said that she had tried to find Susan’s Pub on YouTube but so far was unable to do so. I wrote out the proper details, and she will try again. In the meantime, we ourselves would try to find a wi-fi connection. Our hope was a bus ride away, and indeed we found an internet café – yes, on Bridge Street in Bathgate.

Blessing Blackburn ~ Installment 1

“Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You. For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, as were all our fathers…” (1 Chronicles 29:13-15a)

Thursday, 6/25/09
7:20 pm in New York

Here's our first small report on the Blessing Blackburn trip...we're comfortably waiting at JFK airport for a direct overnight flight to Edinburgh. Del forgot to pack his kilts. He neglected ever to buy any, for that matter. Just as well. Thank you to the many who wrote messages of blessing to Blackburn.

Friday, 6/26/09
11:35 pm in Blackburn

We had a wonderful flight, arriving on time this cloudy morning in the green countryside of Edinburgh Airport. Throughout the terminal were banners announcing Homecoming Scotland. Del, half Scottish, is here for the first time but probably not the last! Our very humorous and considerate internet friend EXHopefieldroad, whom we had virtually met at Susan’s Pub, was waiting for us with his Del & Leslie sign! Walking out to his car, a Ford, I found a coin on the ground – a pound, worth about $1.65! This enabled me to buy a pint of lemonade later, with change to spare! EXH gave me a lovely beaded bracelet with the name Susan spelled out, designed by his daughter. Then he gave me the choice of another, from among a variety of colors, and I chose the violet-glassed strand.

EXH was born and raised in Blackburn, moving later to Bathgate a mile away. You know – Blackburn, near Bathgate, West Lothian. It’s a collection of villages, really. I’m so glad EXH was driving, because not only is the steering wheel on the wrong side, but so are all of the cars themselves. Add to that the many roundabouts, and I would definitely have lost my direction on the stage. Blackburn is a short fifteen or twenty miles from the airport. Along the freeway, in the distance, we could see the flat-topped hills that are the remaining evidence of the mining industry that closed down decades ago. EXH explained that Blackburn had been a mining town, and almost everyone who worked in those earlier years was a miner. The community bonds were very strong and deep, because of the camaraderie and interdependence of the miners in their difficult, risky work. After the mines shut down, some large manufacturers employed many people, but also eventually closed. Yet Blackburn kept growing because of an influx of people from Glasgow. EXH said there was some friction between the old-timers from the village and the newcomers from the city, but eventually people adapted to one another.

Along the M8 freeway, the signs announced Livingston, then Bathgate, then Blackburn! By way of the primary north-south street, Bathgate Road, we entered Susan’s village, located on the pleasantly rolling Almond River plain that has historically hosted military battles but now lends itself to ferocious football contests. If you have seen pictures of Susan’s house, now you know the appearance of almost every home and building in Blackburn! Stucco, light gray or light brown, usually two stories, tile roof, very close to the street. We drove along Hopefield Road, EXH’s former neighborhood, and saw where Susan went to school as a child. Our first stop in Blackburn was the most special – Susan’s house! We ourselves were the only paparazzi in sight! It’s back to being Blackburn. But I’m sure that when the Bonnie Belle of Blackburn returns, so will the flocks of photographers. Yet again the old-timers from the village will have to adapt to the newcomers.

Next stop, the Happy Valley Hotel – with the pub where Susan often sang karaoke and drank lemonade! The four very pleasant guest rooms are on the second floor, accessed by a side door or through the back of the pub. I had been cheerfully prepared for the possibility of a dark, smoke-filled tavern, but was even more delighted to find that the interior, upstairs and down, is completely bright and smoke-free! Our room is small but totally clean and functional with tasteful décor. It is located just across the hall from the common bath, and just down the hall from a common large-screen TV room with plush couches and two small dining tables for the breakfast guests. We have a little flat-screen TV on the wall in our room, and found just four or five channels – some of whose call letters are now familiar because of our internet searches for Susan news during the past two months. Has it only been two months??!!!

Paying for our room downstairs in the pub, we gave lovely, friendly, discreet Jackie several crisp new British twenty-pound notes, which we had purchased at the airport in New York. She explained that Scotland also has its own pounds, which are not accepted in England. EXH had mentioned earlier that Scotland sends members to Parliament in London, but has restored its own Parliament as well. Hmm…is the United Kingdom cracking up?

I sat in the chair where Susan always sits, at the table in an alcove beside the door, facing the dartboard and the flashing video game, near the pool table, with a view of a large screen TV at the other end of the room. The walls are a stylish cream color, and the carpet is a deep blue and green Scottish plaid. Everything is spotless and cozily modern. I ordered lemonade. Dear friends, in Scotland the lemonade that Susan drinks is exactly like 7-Up in America! I checked the spigot – yes, Schweppe’s Lemonade – but the clear, bubbly liquid is soft and sweet! Jackie had no idea that her pub is the inspiration for Susan’s Pub on the main YouTube site with the nearly 70,000,000 views! I explained that 2uCalifornia is her counterpart, and pubsters from around the world have imagined the interior with a fireplace, and a picture of Susan and Pebbles on the wall, where people come in to order a virtual beverage of their choice and to talk about Susan! (The Happy Valley has no fireplace. Perhaps we virtual pubsters can chip in and buy a fashionable oak-paneled electric fireplace as a pub-warming gift.) I said that we all know Jackie’s name, too, and we appreciate her consistent kindness to Susan, both in person and in the press. Jackie said she would check YouTube tonight, and I suggested that she use our names, Del and Leslie, as references to prove she is not an imposter!

Del, for the past thirty years, has truly enjoyed his hobby of making lapel buttons of the sort one sees for political or charitable causes. So, naturally, he had produced a nice selection of buttons, magnets, mirrors and key chains with various Susan pictures on them (and some of Pebbles). We presented a handful to Jackie, and have more to spare for the coming days in Blackburn!

Next on our agenda was to find an internet connection for our laptop. Alas, the Happy Valley Hotel is not a wi-fi hotspot. Alex, in the pub, suggested the library in the small covered shopping mall visible a short block away. We didn’t really understand his Scottish brogue without subtitles, so we bypassed the mall the first time around and ended up half a block further, at the open-gated entrance to Susan’s church. We saw no one around the small complex and its modest acreage, but decided anyway to try the door of the church. In we went, like thieves in the night (in the proper Biblical sense)! There were no signs with the church name anywhere inside or out, but we picked up a bulletin and sure enough it was the church mentioned as Susan’s in reports. No mention of Susan in the bulletin for that day, though. The sanctuary has the same semi-modern style as thousands of American churches, and probably seats 300 people in long wooden pews extending from each side of a center aisle. Who among them knew that Susan who sang to them would one day sing to more than 300,000,000 worldwide – all within two months of her televised BGT audition?

On we walked, trying to find something like a business district. So far, in this orderly little village, we still have found nothing of that kind. We stopped at a convenience store and bought a tube of Smarties. Susan had never even heard of YouTube before she seized global control of it. She said the only tube she knew was a tube of Smarties. They look like M & M candies in a six-sided cardboard tube, but their chocolate flavor has a bit of a fruity taste as well. Mmmmm!

Finally – having frequently avoided oncoming traffic brushing by us from the wrong direction (had to think there!) – we returned to the pub for a repeat of Alex’s instructions, ssslllowwwlllyyy. The mall, easily in sight less than three hundred yards away, is probably the most convenient shopping location for Susan. It has a grocery store, a convenience store, a pharmacy, the newly-busy Blackburn Post Office that looks more like a gift shop, a lawyer’s office, a small café, a bookie joint, a couple of other shops, a nice seating area, and the public library called Blackburn Connected. We decided to eat first, so we ordered fish and chips in the café, but they were out of fish. They recognized Susan’s face on the lapel buttons that we were wearing, and said that she ate there sometimes. No fish, so the breakfast special at 1:00 pm was our preference. We didn’t recognize some of the Scottish items on the plate, but were glad for the opportunity to sample them and drink whipped coffee with milk.

Out in the mall and at the library, Blackburn Connected, people that we met were very friendly and helpful, despite the lack of subtitles. No one acted with overt shock when we said we were Americans from New York who love Susan Boyle, but we knew they would later be processing that little added fact of the phenomenon. In the library were many public computers with internet connections, but no wi-fi and no connections available for my laptop. After noting that Susan’s brother was there almost every day, the earnest librarian and a patron suggested the library in the next village for a wi-fi connection, and conscientiously gave detailed bus instructions which we couldn’t understand even though we live in Brooklyn with its countless buses, trains and connections. The patron said he would write it all down and deliver the info to us at the Happy Valley. I also thought I heard the librarian say I could just use the public computers in the library along with my flash drive (by some other name)! Happily, I filed my first brief Blackburn report on the YouTube site of Susan’s Pub, and proceeded on to www.susan-boyle.com and its eagerly-awaited new forum! But before I could update those fan friends, another customer told me I needed to be a member of the library and to register at the desk before using the computer. Apologetically mumbling something about not understanding the rules, I slunk away to the Happy Valley, where I simply pressed the single speed-dial buttons on my T-Mobile cell phone to call dear ones back in America and report our safe arrival! And what about my T-Mobile for a wi-fi connection? I’m afraid I could buy the company for the price per minute of being online at Susan’s Pub or Susan’s Village.

By this time – mid-afternoon – we were hearing more customers in the pub directly below our room. So we went downstairs and ordered diet Cokes and gave Jackie the portfolio entitled Blessing Blackburn which is full of fans’ messages to Blackburn, Susan and even Jackie herself. We watched as she read through the dozens of pages in between serving customers, and we were happy that other people also began to read the messages. Various genial pubsters came over to talk to us, and one lady, Annette, said that if Susan were there she would normally have done the same thing – she would have come over to us and struck up a nice conversation even with people she didn’t know. Bless Susan’s heart!

And bless Annette’s heart! She learned that we planned to visit Del’s clan’s castle west of Glasgow on Sunday. With some perhaps well-founded concern for our ability to travel by bus despite her instructions, Annette went over and asked her brother-in-law, David, if he would drive us himself! He kindly agreed to the 130-mile round-trip, but tomorrow – Saturday – leaving at 10:00 am sharp. He and his coworker drive grocery trucks regionally for a living, so why not haul a couple of tourists on his day off? We had a wonderful conversation with David, his wife Bridget and his coworker whose name we didn’t catch but surely will before we leave next week! David had known Susan all his life, and often ran the karaoke at the Happy Valley. On the night of her televised audition, all of the young guys were around the pub, waiting for their turn at karaoke – which would be delayed until after Susan sang. None of the young guys had heard Susan sing before, and they were as shocked and touched as the rest of the world when they watched her perform that night.

Meanwhile, here at the pub, we watched the guys, old and young, playing pool on the single table. Del nudged me, that I should put a half-pound coin on the edge of the table to challenge the winner. At this point, the reigning player was Jackie’s good-natured husband, Alistair. I had earned a Philosophy degree at the university thirty years ago, but had gained the more valuable skill of playing a little pool back in those heathen days. Well, here I was in Blackburn among the natives in the pub, so what else could I do besides drinking diet Coke and lemonade? I chalked up the cue, but lost a close game to Alistair, then watched two other regulars compete. I told Del those guys would just kill me if I played them. But, somehow, I beat each of them as the whole growing crowd watched and cheered. I thought I heard someone say something about a shark, but probably it was that brogue issue again. I know nothing, I know nothing. Thankfully for the mission of Blessing Blackburn, I then lost to another guy who wanted to defend the honor of Blackburn against the American. (He politely never referred to the fact that I am a woman.) He had never played against an American before, and I made his victory even sweeter by telling him that I was also a New Yorker!

It was again time to search for fish and chips. One young lady – herself an excellent pool player – gave us directions to the fish and chips shop just on the other side of the small mall. Of course we didn’t fully understand, and had quite a nice walking tour of the fences behind some Blackburn houses, and the fog-shrouded football field and playground, before finally arriving at the fish and chips shop. Yes, this is the place where Susan buys her take-out fish and chips – including, quite possibly, on her way home alone from Glasgow after the audition! There is no seating, so we brought our fish and chips home to the Happy Valley breakfast table next to our room. They were absolutely delicious, and WELL worth it!

The crowd was growing larger and louder below, and we decided to see if we could get some coffee. Susan’s Pub on the internet serves Starbucks, Susan Boyle Blend, but alas not a drop of java could be found in the literal pub in Blackburn. We settled for lemonade and watched the pool players as we sipped away. One of the guys from this afternoon was still there (actually, a lot of the same guys were still there), and he thoughtfully offered to play me again. What would you have done? We were among friends, were we not? So I played and, well, somehow beat him again. Should I tell him about thefloggingparson in Susan’s Pub? Thank God I lost the next game to another guy, and Del and I retired to our room for the night.

But it’s not really night. For one thing, the northern lights keep the sky rather bright until the wee hours. For another thing, by New York time it was still early. So, testing my power adaptor, I recharged the camera battery and wrote this entry on my fully-powered laptop! In the morning – perhaps at the 600-year-old family castle west of Glasgow – I hope to find a wi-fi connection by which to file this blog post!