Just SherringBookstores & Love Stories: My Trip to Scotland Inspired by ‘One Day’
At the top of the year, my eldest niece aka Niece invited me to join her on a trip to Scotland.
Dear Reader, I was just as perplexed as you are that my first-generation Haitian-American niece (like me) a) wanted to visit Scotland and b) visit during early Spring, whilst still chilly and rainy. The tropical Caribbean—where her mother was born—is right there! A shorter flight, no less!
Well, the trip was centered around the musical adaptation of the bestselling novel One Day by David Nicholls. Turns out I had watched the Netflix series a couple of years prior. It wasn’t until the credits were rolling that I learned it was based on a book. Had I known, I would’ve read the novel, then jumped into the series to do what we readers do: compare and contrast. Niece also watched the movie starring Anne Hathaway.
Set in Edinburgh, Scotland, One Day revolves around Emma and Dexter (Em and Dex), who meet at a “uni” (university) graduation party in 1988. What’s supposed to be a one-night-stand expands into a decades-long friendship fraught with unspoken, secret feelings.
It’s frustrating and endearing because the feelings are reciprocated. This isn’t a story of unrequited love. Somehow, through his immaturity and womanizing, Emma loves Dexter, and despite his sometimes selfish behavior towards her, she really is the only woman he’s ever loved .
For years, they’re not in the same place in life—geographically, career, relationships, maturity, financially. He’s white; her family is of Indian descent, though in the play she’s depicted by a Black woman. Em and Dex go on vacations together, call, and write letters, a crucial one is never delivered nor read. There’s a feeling of FINALLY! when they become a couple.
Then you realize there’s too much left in the book. Clearly, the coupling is not the typical happily ever after ending. I screamed at the TV watching the series, talked out loud to myself while reading the book, and was grabbed by Niece on my left and Sister on my right in the theater during the musical.
Niece and I knew what was coming. Sister did not.
The play was our second-to-last night in Scotland. It was a wonderful evening. We snapped photos and bought souvenirs in the downstairs lobby of The Royal Lyceum. Niece surprised us with a VIP experience in the theater’s upper room. A reserved bar table awaited us. The bartender served us chilled champagne until it was time to claim our seats—first row of the mezzanine.
Niece, ever the researcher, planner, and fellow book lover, found several bookstores for us to visit while in Scotland. I’m an over-packer and had to be mindful of suitcase space. I still had to buy a bag. In addition to the ONLY FOUR books I bought, I purchased lovely-smelling body butters, a vase from a museum gift shop, funky overalls for The Roots Picnic in Philadelphia in May, mini bottles of whisky for myself and brother, and whatever else escapes me at the moment.
It was late March. We braved chilly winds and rain. I wore leggings under my clothes every day and still never got too hot as we walked around, especially when we bookstore-hopped.
One of the first days, if not the first, we visited Waterstones, a chain bookstore. I purchased Before We Hit the Ground by Selali Fiamanya and a leather bookmark branded with the store name. On a separate day, Aunt-Niece Day, (my sister stayed at the hotel), we visited the combo McNauhtan’s Bookshop & Gallery and Typewronger, where I snagged Redwood Court by DeLana R.A. Dameron. The store owner stamped the inside of my book and gave me an elephant origami.
A short, brisk walk brought us to Topping & Company Booksellers, where I continued my purchases of Black-authored books with Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh and Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah. I also witnessed a real-life love story in real time.
While browsing on the lower level, I watched an elderly couple enter. They were both stooped over and took small steps. They were also snazzy dressers. The wife declared she’d wait for him downstairs, to which he replied, “You’re not going to come with me?”
The combination of the raspiness of his weathered voice, the longing in his voice, him reaching out to place his hand on hers, her quick and simple “ok,” and them shuffling off together towards the elevator left me teary-eyed with a lump in my throat.
I bet they didn’t squander years like Emma and Dexter did.
I want that elderly couple’s relationship one day.
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