Travel Update

I was supposed to be home and on Tuesday.  Instead I ended up in the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow in agony. Problem solved and a couple of nights in hospital and I was released late yesterday afternoon after a wait for most of the day for my medication. 

On Monday I rang CALMAC to tell them that I would not be on the sailing on Tuesday evening and could I move to the Thursday evening sailing. No more room until the 2 August.  WHAT? If one lives on Lewis one cannot get back home for 7 days!  

The implications of that could be colossal for lots of people. It could be a serious problem for me because I have commitments as well as no clean clothes nor enough of my medication (the cancer medication is not generally available on prescription nor in any pharmacy) nor of my 'external plumbing' stuff.  Why did I chose this occasion to break the habit of a lifetime and travel light?

Apart from that a hotel or other accommodation in Scotland in the middle of the holidays is impossible or prohibitive anyway. 

My son is away on the mainland but I do have friends and neighbours who will look after watering the vegetables in the polycarb and garden, the birds and so on.    

What if I had a job to go to? As it is I have missed a funeral, medical appointments and a civic reception at which a friend of nearly half a century is to be awarded the Freedom of The Western Isles. In the greater scheme of things none of that matters.

What matters to me as I write this is at lunchtime on Thursday 27 July is that I just want to be home!

I'm about to drive up to Ullapool and try and get on the Freight ferry at 3am tomorrow. 

Please wish me luck. 

Waiting For Service

Today I tried to order some central heating oil. The local office of Certas Energy is in Stornoway but since Covid you can no longer pop in and order anything over the counter. You telephone Certas Energy and give your details and eventually someone will hopefully ring you back at a time when you are not half way through climbing a ladder onto the roof or some such other inconvenient moment. 

If you live on a western Scotland Island there is a good chance a great deal of your life is involved with the Country's ferry operators, Caledonian Macbrayne Ltd. At the moment residents of Lewis have the opportunity to pop into the Stornoway Port Office for tickets and bookings. That's fair enough given that it's a lifeline service and we frequently have to change booking because of cancelled mainland hospital appointments or cancelled ferries because of the weather or breakdowns. 

However it's not possible for everyone to get into the office. So they have to telephone the main booking number or use the website. This is where Calmac have absolutely excelled themselves and, in my experience of using websites they have managed a first: a waiting list to access the website. The other day this popped up in response to me trying to access the website:

It's all very well for business to do everything they possible can to streamline things and keep costs down (if they reward customers with fair prices) but it seems to me that the last person ever to be considered these days is the service user - whatever it is.

Sixty years ago I joined Liverpool Corporation. When I was given the job I was told by the Assistant Town Clerk "You have joined Liverpool Corporation. It will look after you  (and it certainly did in that it sent me to University and much more) and ALL YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER IS THAT YOUR JOB IS TO SERVE THE PUBLIC! NEVER FORGET THAT." 

I never did. I just wish that the same could be said in any organisation today.

ADDENDUM: A friend pointed out yesterday that he had started off at with, let us say 3000 people in front of him and when he went back at this expected time he was further down the queue with 800 odd more people in front of him and even more time to wait. That looks like a system in turmoil to me.

A Heartwarming Welcome

I arrived home last night after a good drive up the A9 and across to Ullapool and a good sail over The Minch. I arrived in Ullapool to find that I wasn't on the manifest for the evening sailing and that it was pretty full. Fortunately I had the emailed booking on my phone so all was well. However moments like that are always a bit heart-stopping. What if I had booked the wrong day? What if....? The chap marshalling all the vehicles seemed surprised that I wasn't annoyed at Calmac's failings. It hadn't actually occurred to me to be annoyed - relief being my principal emotion.

Today has been spent trying to sort out all the shopping I brought back (for me and for others) and unpack, attend to mail and all the other odds and ends that need doing after a fortnight away. 

I went into town and the shopping having been done (ablative absolute) I decided to visit The Woodlands for coffee and a cream donut and to write a few notecards. The place was packed. Jean Anne, one of the wonderful young staff there, remarked on my absence and asked if all was well. I explained that I'd been off the Island for a couple of weeks. To which she responded that they had missed me and that she was glad that I was back. Well that truly happified me. I've felt on Cloud Nine ever since.

After I arrived home from town I managed to get the recalcitrant lawnmower working. The grass hadn't been cut since last September because I was away and when I got back it was too wet and has remained that way until just before I went away when the mower, despite having been overhauled, displayed it's usual Spring obstinacy and refused to start. The sky was promising rain so I set forth and spoke sternly to it and it roared into life and I filled a large wheelie bin with grass clippings. 

I'm hoping to return to Blogland again this week. I've really missed you all.

Post script: I've been wondering how the saying "On cloud nine" originated. It would seem that a commonly heard explanation is that the expression originated as one of the classifications of cloud which were defined by the US Weather Bureau in the 1950s, in which 'Cloud Nine' denotes the fluffy cumulonimbus type that are considered so attractive. It sounds a good explanation to me. 

The World Will Never Be The Same

The MV Isle of Lewis today had her first scheduled Sunday ferry sailing - ever. The largest of the Outer Hebrides, Lewis was, until today, the only Island not to have any Sunday ferry service. Until now that has suited Caledonian MacBrayne who run the ferry services to the Islands but the introduction of road equivilent tarrif fares and the increase in traffic resulting from it has now made it worthwhile. Whilst there is a vociferous minority who are opposed to the Sunday service on Sabatarian grounds and some who feel that it will spoil the Island's Sunday in other ways it would seem that a very large proportion of the Island's population will welcome the new service. Not long ago there was opposition to the introduction of Sunday flights to Stornoway and now the flights on Sunday are exceptionally busy.

MV Isle of Lewis raising her bow for the first scheduled Sunday intake of cars

The route

Who stated that The European Union (which Caledonian MacBrayne are alleged to have cited as the reason for having the new service) did not have a right to overrule the word of Christ. (I think I have paraphrased him correctly)

Members of the Lords Day Observance Society opposing the new service

And those applauding the action

Cars waiting to board the ferry which carried an almost capacity vehicle cargo.

Photos are from the television news programmes

An Advantage of Age

One of the advantages of being a senior citizen ie over 60, in Scotland is that one has free bus travel anywhere in the Country. True I've only been on a bus in Scotland once in the last many years - from Glasgow Airport into the City - but the thing is that I can. In addition those of us who are Island dwellers get vouchers for four free journeys to the Mainland each year. These can be exchanged for a six-journey ticket on any one Calmac route.