Haggis

is made by taking a sheep's stomach and washing it. (!) This is after it is removed from the sheep. One throws in bits and pieces of meat, what we would call chitlins, and uncooked oatmeal and blood. The stomach is sealed and thrown into a pot of water to boil for hours. It's a bit like Uncle Ben's microwaveable rice dishes, isn't it?
In Scotland, no one with an ounce of integrity will admit to ever having eaten haggis, although it's sold in tins (cans) for tourists to take home. The hostess of our B & B in Inverness, Gillian, refused to heat any up if we bought some. She said it would make the house stink.

There is an equivalent here in the South (U.S.A.) that is called, "Potted Possum." It's not really possum, but cans of it can be bought for oogling tourists to take home and laugh about. Which brings me to an interesting observation: both the Scottish and Southerners were conquered nations, forced in extremity to eat that which would not normally be eaten. Both foods are now considered jokes by the world. History is, indeed, always written by the conquerors.

Meanwhile, back to Orkney. The morning after touring Skara Brae was beautiful (frozen.) And we waited two hours at a bus stop after reading the schedule wrong and not realizing what day it was. The ferry trip back was incredibly uneventful. We landed in Thurso, starving to death, and had pastries for lunch. Bakeries are the equivalent of what Sheetz or McDonalds is for us. That is, a place where one can obtain food that can be consumed right then. We ate an enormous amount of tuna fish salad sandwiches, which were unremarkable except for the fact that the bakers put corn in it. I don't know why and neither did anyone we asked. We also ate a good amount of doughnuts, pastries, etc., which of course, a bakery would specialize in.

We took a bus back to Inverness and collapsed.

Next: The Superiority of the Scottish as Evinced by their Bus System and Water Heaters.