Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1956-05-15
e OUR
"a TOWN

and the real Scottish country
on the North Channel is ac-
complished without incident
and we are soon established in
a snug hotel right on the wat
er. Having spent the night at
the Bull and Royal Hotel in
Carlisle refresheS us all and
we are prepared for further
exploration of this fine land.
Black-faced Scottish sheep
dot the rolling landscape and
it is Spring everywhere. We've
been mighty lucky with the
weather and have had but two
rainy days so far along and
those both while riding in the
Truelove's Humber motor car.
The Humber is big" car
here. Seven passengers.
Prestwick is the home of the
Prestwick international Air
port and the flags of all coun-
tries served wave at the port
entrance. Prestwick also hous-
es about 800 American Air
Force men who are perman-
emily based here. We will no
douot have the opportunity to
meet some of these fellows as
Harry is a great friend of the
port authority, Commandant
Jimmy Jeffs. We learn that
British airports operate some
what differently than ours in
that full staff is on duty "a
hours day to see to every
need of the traveller. Too, you
can have any kind of food at
any hour and the airport
building itself is as clean as
a pin. The policy of the entire
staff is to kill the customer
with kindness and, believe me,
it pays off.
Jim Jeffs and his good wife,
Phyllis, ar tops we find, and
Jim shows us all about the
place. We find that he is a
cousin of Wing-C Commander
Jeffs, an Raj. man whom we
met a few years ago down at
Snow Hill golf club near Will
mington, Ohio. Pack Sidener,
Pete Lanigan and were
guests of George Dewey at the
time and young Jeffs was then
attached to the All-Weather
flying station at that time.
He (Jeffs) is now in Stock
holm as the R.A.F. chief there.
Small world.
The adjoining town, Ayr, is
a famous fishing village and
quite picturesque in all re-
spects. AS "A lark, we visit one
of the waterfront pubs where
we see the fishermen drinking
straight Scotch whiskey and
washing same Gown with huge
mugs of black beer. The Scots
are great for this sort of
thing but we do not attempt
to initiate them.
But word about our hotel
which is quite as nice as any
one would find in the States
except that it has the inevi-
table bathroom located at the
lend of the hall'. Funny thing
but even the best hotels do not
have rooms with bath al
though some of them are be-
ginning to install such facili-
ties. 1.-The Links, as our
Prestwick home is called. is
operated by Mr.. and Mrs. Nc
Farland, both genial and kind
people who make us feel at
home in quick order. They tell
us that during the war the
hotel was a rest and recupera-
ton hospital for over 100000
British troops and airmen who
came here during the seven
years that England was at
war. The hotel is still a haven
for air force officers stationed
here or en- route from all
parts of the world. Right now
there are six Canadian Air
Force men sitting across the
room. They are having a good
old get-together as they have
a few days before pushing Off
to no one knows where.
This part of Scotland is uni
que in many ways. First of
all, the natives here speak
genuine Scottish and when
they do, you might as we'll be
in Montenegro for you can't
understand a single word. Sec
ondly, these people are small
people where as some of the
Highland Scots are giants.
The talk here is good-humor-
ed and with much laughter
while, we are told. some of
the Scots in other places are a
little on the dour side. Our
preference is for these laugh
ing ones.
Day by day and mile by
mile, Peggy and | more and
more realize how fortunate we
are in knowing Harry and FL
'ecn since this is the way to
really "see" d country. It is
far different to travel with
people who know the layout