
Wha's like us?
A gentle reminder of
the Scots contributions to the World
The Average
Englishman in the home he calls his castle slips into
his national costume –
a shabby raincoat patented by chemist Charles
MacIntosh from Glasgow, Scotland.
On his way to work he strides along the English lane,
surfaced with asphalt
invented by John Macadam of Ayr, Scotland
He drives an English car fitted with tyres
invented by John Boyd Dunlop of Dreghorn, Scotland.
At the office he receives the mail bearing adhesive
stamps
invented by John Chalmers of Dundee, Scotland.
During the day he uses the telephone invented by
Alexander Graham Bell,
born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
At home in the evening his daughter pedals her bicycle
invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan, blacksmith of
Dumfries Scotland
He watches the news on TV, an invention of John Logie
Baird of Helensburgh, Scotland
and hears an item about the US Navy, founded by John
Paul Jones of Kirkbean, Scotland.
He has by now been reminded too much of Scotland and
in desperation he picks up the Bible,
only to find that the first man mentioned in the good
book is a Scot –
King James VI - who authorised its translation.
Nowhere can an Englishman turn to escape the ingenuity
of the Scots.
He could take to drink, but the Scots make the best in
the world.
He could take a rifle and end it all, but the
breech-loading rifle
was invented by Captain Patrick Ferguson of Pitfours,
Scotland.
If he escaped death he could find himself on an
operating table injected with penicillin,
discovered by Alexander Fleming of Darvel, Scotland
and given an anaesthetic,
discovered by Sir James Young Simpson of Bathgate,
Scotland.
Out of the anaesthetic he would find no comfort in
learning that he was as safe as
the Bank of England, founded by William Paterson of
Dumfries, Scotland.
Perhaps his only remaining hope would be to get a
transfusion of guid Scottish blood
which would entitle him to ask
"Wha's like us“
So have a dram! My vote for the "Sinclair
Dram" is Caithness's own from Wick!
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