A number of years ago I bought a hotel in that country and from day one my wife and I were vilified. You see, we were incomers, white settlers, and in consequence we were hated by the locals. We were subjected to vicious anonymous phone calls, usually in the early hours of the morning.
We were sworn at, our property was damaged, and on one occasion a car was driven straight at me. Our hotel was bad mouthed, visitors were warned off and we were invaded by troublemakers. The antagonism was continual, unremitting.
It mattered not that we employed local people, or bought all our produce locally, or indeed substantially raised the standard of the hotel, we were simply not welcome. And they got their way. After three years we were mentally and physically exhausted. We sold up and left.
We have since discovered that we are not alone in the treatment we received. Other businesses have suffered the same fate.
The irony is that my Scottish roots go deep – in all probability a darn sight deeper than those of the people who made our lives such a misery.I just happen to have been born and bred south of the border and do not have a Scottish accent.
So keep your country, Scotland (lovely land, pity about the inmates) and good luck to you.
Any chance of rebuilding Hadrian’s Wall?
Robert Macmillan
Wiltshire
