Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head....and my foot and my restaurant.

A summer shower in the Highlands with Mr Howie.

Stomping the streets 365 days a year I have to confess the weather in Scotland can get up the nose of us locals so it is with nothing other than shock I report our lovely visitors love this awful weather. 

Well not all of them but honestly a huge number  do.

From the moment we open the restaurant doors in Edinburgh we stand watching and waiting as guests come in, drop their brollies, peel off  wet sodden jackets, step out of waterlogged allegedly waterproof over trousers revealing wisps of humid steam rising from their damp clothes below.

We often start our conversation by apologising profusely for our awful Scottish summer weather expecting an eye roll and a resigned and grumpy wet grunt in response.

But far from it. I promise you the response is generally a big cheesy grin.

“This weather?’ they nod to the  direction of the wind, whipping,  gales rain battering the doors outside, ‘Why we just love it!’

‘Love it?’ Stunned stare ‘ I’m sorry,  did you just say love it?’  

‘Yes ma’am’ they beam  ‘we LOVE IT’

On seeing the confused expression on the staffs face they go on

‘We come from a part of the world where the earth is parched, the humidity crushes your will to go on, and we must spend every hour of daylight exclusively in air conditioned malls’

‘Oh. Ok. Well I never thought about it like that.  Great! Well, welcome to Edinburgh. Now table for how many? ‘

And on we go.

Everyone happy.

Ok we are shocked

But they are happy.

And that’s the main thing.

So of course  this explains why December or July Cullen Skink is our all time year long, biggest seller – a creamy smoky traditional fish chowder the story of which I will write on this blog next– to warm them up. They order it.  Love it and so the world goes round.

We are soup dragons at Howies this is a seafood bisque'll  warm the cockles of your heart.

So as Scots in wellies in June heading for July we have vowed to step back (avoiding that puddle) and appreciate what we have.

It may be wild, wet, windy, wooly and winterish in summer –but it’s clean, fresh, refreshing, unpredictable and well……it could be a lot worse.

OK we are off to chant this under a pyramid and one day hopefully we will believe it.