Thistle Be Great

Back last month Jaggy offered to send me some local delicacy from Scotland, after I sent him a bag of beer chips by airmail. I didn't take him up on the offer, partly because the ruinous cost of international food shipment is not something you'd wish on anyone, especially a mate, but mainly because delicacies from Scotland fall into two unsuitable categories. Firstly there are things that are excellent but perishable, and therefore not ideal for putting in a box, in a plane. Half the time things that are sent by airmail actually end up coming by sea, and a haggis that had traveled the world for six weeks would be a risky thing to tangle with. Then there are other things which are excellent and non-perishable, but are out of all proportion to a simple packet of potato chips. 16 year-old Lagavulin would be a case in point - it would be too much to ask for, even if I could trust the post office not to drink/break it. (Fat chance.) Plus, I can already buy it down the road here.

So I didn't think any more about it until today, when an unexpected gift arrived from the old country: Campbells All Butter Shortbread. I used to stay in a hotel in the UK that had these shortbread fingers in the room, along with the tea and coffee, and I was incapable of saving them, taking them home or otherwise not eating them on the spot. So to get a whole packet is a treat indeed. Since Mrs Bison got the mail today, I won't have any choice but to share them this time, but I suppose that's only fair. Without her, Jaggy's beer chips would still be sitting in a cupboard, waiting for me to get my arse down to the post office...