Hearty Welcomes & Salutations! Originally an action-packed travel blog from a globe-trotting Scotsman, An Ache for the Distance has, over the years, slowed down (I post less often), mellowed out (domestic life has found it's way way on here) and become more of an expat/photo blog. Take a look around, leave a comment and share the love if you like something.
Stuart Mathieson, Lübeck, Germany

Saturday 6 August 2011

Italian from a Scottish perspective - Gola

How times change.  When I was younger I once put off joining a local football team for four months because of my football boots.  Golas just weren't cool.  Rather than risk social humiliation, I waited until Christmas.  Santa eventually came with a pair of Adidas boots and I was able to devote my Sunday afternoons in exotically windswept locations like Arbroath losing football matches (normally in double figures) safe in the knowledge that my social credentials were firmly in tact.

Of course, with hindsight, it was stupid to wait for four months.  I mean the boots were terrible, my best friend regulary took the piss because somehow they became shinier when exposed to mud,