Travel Reference
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desk where he wrote. There were also windows that you could see through, and doors that
both opened and closed.
I can see the appeal in looking around a house such as Graceland, with all its extra-
vagance, or even Michael Jackson's Neverland, but Robert Burn's house just looked like a
house. And a fairly unremarkable house at that.
I think my distain for unnecessary 'places of interest' stems from my visit to the Henry
Ford Museum, just outside Detroit, Michigan. Henry Ford was… how can I put this po-
litely?… a complete freak. He created, during his lifetime, a model village of significant
buildings andthings that hadinfluenced hislife. This soundsfair enough,butthen youdis-
cover he had a favourite text book when he was at school, so he located the birthplace of
the author of that particular book, and had her entire house shipped to his model village.
That's not a normal thing to do. Still, at least Robert Burns House was dry and warm.
'If that was one of the best things to do in Dumfries, then I don't think there's much
hopeforthisplace,'saidBen,oncewewereoutside.'IwouldrathergototheNorthampton
Shoe Museum.'
A little further down the road we came across a shopping centre. There was nowhere
suitable for us to leave our bikes, so we wheeled them into the shopping centre. Within
seconds we were apprehended by a security guard.
'Ye cannae brin' those bikes in here,' he said.
'Iknow,sorry.It'sjustthatwedon'thaveanywayoflockingthemup.We'vejustcome
in to get something to eat.'
'Whaur ur ye gonnae eat?' he asked.
'Wimpy!' I said, spotting a Wimpy close by.
'Awe rite. Weel jist prop yer bikes up by th' dyke thaur ootwith. an' dornt gang ridin'
them aroond in haur.'
'Did you get that? What are we supposed to do?' I asked Ben.
'I'm not sure. I think he told us to leave our bikes by this wall and not to ride them in-
side.'
'Dammit! I've always wanted to ride my bike around a shopping centre. Why did you
tell him we were going to Wimpy?'
'I just saw it here and thought he might let us bring our bikes in if we weren't going far.
Also, I was genuinely excited about seeing a Wimpy. I thought Wimpy became extinct in
the 1980s.'
'Me too. But how are we going to get free food here?' asked Ben.
'Same way we have for the last thirteen days, I guess.'
Pam, the manager, was a large, jovial lady in her late thirties. She had a huge mane of
black hair and an even bigger smile. We tried to win her over by telling her about the ap-
palling weather and how kind and generous all Scottish people that we had met had been.
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