Quote Originally Posted by cessna152towser
Gaelic is spoken frequently and fluently on Scotland's western islands. During the 1980's I was employed as an education authority lawyer and often when I visited the island schools on Tiree, Mull or Islay, people would talk to one another in gaelic.
An anecdote to illustrate Cessna's point: a couple of years ago we went to stay on Islay to visit the rels. We were meeting in a cafe in Bowmore for lunch - my wife and daughter were sitting down ordering in English when I got there (they don't have the Gaelic). I just stood and listened to the waitress taking their order in English and at the same time carrying on a conversation with the next table in Gaelic about what a crime it was that the island's creamery was being shut down by the government (they were being none too polite about it either).