Is Scotland safe for tourists?
This is an article written for the #juneinleo writing prompt series with today being Day 23 ....
I won't lie I am getting addicted to writing articles for these prompts.
Catch the original announcement in this thread
Day 23! The community Hive Naija asks us about the state of security in our different countries. Drop your posts in their community letting us know if your country is safe, unsafe, good for tourists, if there is areas you recommend avoiding, how does the government deal with insecurity?
Are the ideas you have seen people online believe about your country real?
Brilliant topic ... I have seen good and bad security in many countries
First things first, I am only going to talk about Scotland and not the rest of the UK.
England has changed beyond recognition and it most definately not as safe and secure as when I worked there, and I am specifically talking about London.
But it is north of the border we go ...
So lets's cross the River Tweed and interestingly enough we shall talk about one passionate subject of many people in Scotland ...
Football
Yes football and back to that picture. That bridge is in the town of Berwick Upon Tweed which is in England ... But their football team Berwick Rangers play in the Scottish football league system.
They are most famous for beating my team Rangers 1-0 in 1967.
Talking of Rangers, their arch rival and mutually hated enemy is Celtic....
It used to be that those football matches were downright deadly, with police horses all over the place. Now though there are laws so much that if you tie your shoelace in public you will be arrested.. Not quite but it seems like it, of course they turn their eyes to many things but not involving Rangers fans!
The Euros are playing and you might have seen many pictures and stories of the Tartan Army...
Yes Scotland fans on tour are great, I remember being at tournaments wearing my kilt, in fact we were in a group with Brazil once ....
Those memories will never die .... The Brazilian girls could nut understand why men wore kilts with nothing underneath... Not to be outdone those girls did the same thing under their skirts! Fun times indeed....
I digress, football matches used to be times where there would be street brawls but now that is very very rare.
Violence in the cities?
Like many countries the larger cities i.e. Glasgow and Edinburgh are prone to more acts of violence.
If you go looking for trouble then as in any other place you will find it.
I mean I am a Rangers fan, I would not walk into a pub in the East end of Glasgow wearing my Rangers top or a ftp tshirt.
Of course Edinburgh have Hearts and Hibs are back in the day the same religious divide existed as in Glasgow. This time Hearts being the protestant team and Hibs the roman catholic team.
You are more prone to see violence at these peaceful protests ...
Of course the police do nothing as they seem to be part of the woke problem that we have.
Villages are safer
I remember growing up and visiting my grandmother in Elie in Fife. She never locked her car and often left the back door in the house open!
No fluffing way would I do that now. We have burglaries galore, many of it is opportunistic so open doors are a fluffing invitation.
In fact now the police don't even investigate unless there is bodily harm or it is a hate crime.
I think one thing that has changed since I grew up in Scotland is that people now have an apathy towards the police, they don't have trust in them.
When I went back to Orkney last summer after many many years I was pleasantly surprised to still feel safe no matter where I went.
Even where we live now in Kirkcaldy which is a small town it is pretty safe. We live across from the football stadium and there is no trouble.
The only trouble seems to when some people come here and try to force their religion upon you. Luckily it is a rare case here.
I was brought up with when in Rome do as the Romans do...
The last time I saw some aggro here was with people who moved here from overseas and just refuse to put their rubbish out properly. It meant there were rats all over the place, and it looked revolting. After repeated attempts by neighbours to show them how to recycle when to put wheelie bins out etc, it spilled over into a confrontation where the police were involved.
The result, cautions were given to the neighbours.
As I said trust in the police force by many people has now been lost.
For the time being Scotland is a safe country
I have worked and been involved in civil wars. I have machine guns pointed at me, even had a gun pulled on me whilst filling up my jeep at a gas station in Algeria. I have been arrested for taking pictures.
We have none of that here.
So yes Scotland is as safe as any other safe country for tourists.
But like anywhere, be fluffing sensible!
Sources and Reference documents
This article is an entry for this month's Inleo writing initiative.
You can find all the details in this thread
Todays prompt is Day 23 ! The state of security in our different countries
All ramblings are from me, the mad Scotsman TengoLoTodo unless otherwise stated, note lead image is generated with AI on pixlr .com from a prompt by me.
