Where's our boat?
Posted: Monday, 02 April 2007 |
Comments
You lost me somewhere after Friday ( not the day Friday, but the word Friday in your blog, it's near the start ) too many boats, and having the knowledge about all the different boats and where they usually sail to and from is a knowledge worth having, I'm sure, however, my brain deletes that sort of data. It decides that it's a boat, it will get us to where we want to go, and there ends the required data, anything else is deleted ( apart from finding somewhere to sit, and getting off at the other end, the usual things one has to remember, although I don't sail alone ) nice to see your back again, there's a joke in there somewhere, but been deleted.
Tws from No Idea
Knowing which boat is vital because a) if is too small you won't get on. Our route has been very busy all winter and lots of bookings have been wait-listed, meaning there isn't space if everyone turns up, which they don't. But visitors don't know that so they don't come and then the boat is only half full. And b) if it gets delayed the Mull boat gets priority and we sit going round in circles outside Oban waiting to dock and giving the crew a load of aggro and it isn't their fault because it gets decided in Oban and the crew are p****d off too because they want to finish their shifts. And c) it is the other topic of conversation (apart from the weather, which has been so good for so long there isn't anything else to say about it).
Nic from Coll
We sometimes get the loan of one of your B&W tubs when our big shiny blue ones are on refit but I'm darned if I can remember her name. MV Rustbucket maybe....
Flying Cat from sooking up to an old salt
Our sleek black and white ships carve through the waves like a knife through caviar (almost), and there always seems to be a black and white replacement when (once in a blue moon) something goes wrong. I wouldn't want to rely on a ferry firm with no back-up. (not that we get any choice of course)
Nic from Coll
But you in the West ARE our backup Nic....and what's more we have joined your happy family of sleek black and white ships car....oh look here I can't continue with such rubbish, carving my a**e, wallowing more like. And no doubt when it suits calmac our big shiny blue ones will be replaced by the other kind. Isn't ADS wonderful?
Flying Cat from jiggling the spigot with a jolly tar
Fc you mentioned the word spigot, mjc will be on about it for weeks..
Tws from A very full croft
wish I could *afford* to travel on the ferries often enough to notice which boat I was on ...!! One time when I went, we had one which was like a floating casino ... Very swish ... No observation lounge on the very top though... But many more comfy (reclining) seats elsewhere ... On the usual ferries, you have to make do with the static (well slightly reclinable, if you're lucky) seats on the top deck, unless you have the couldn't-care-less attitude required to sleep full-length on the padded seats ... :-)
soaplady from pulling pocket linings out ... bilaterally ...
Oh?
Flying Cat from wiggling a washer
I think we should all buy a bar of soap from the soaplady, then she'll be able to go on the ferry. But don't do what I used to do ( when I was young and foolish ) on the sea-france ferries, just stay on for the cheap booze,
Tws from passingthehatroondfursoaplady
Let me get this right, Nic. The rock in the garden has been built up (with what?), then levelled, to turn it into a helicopter pad for visiting Russian mafiosi tycoons, who could also get their cell signals from the same place? # Curious: what kind of poles? posts? What for, do you think? # What do you mean: the shop is bigger? There is a shop on the ferry from which you can buy supplies when the ferry docks? It all sounds very strange: different world out there. # Of course, a boat in the USA would be not called Clansman (particularly if painted all white) for fear of confusion and consequent demonstrations/riots.
mjc from NM,USA
Lorry load of Poles, are they coming to work on Coll, the last pair who came were very nice.
Lookingforagoodman from Virgin a
Doesn't it have to be spelt with a K mjc?
Flying Cat from an old rugged cross
Don't know much about spelling, FC. Got too spooked by those wild eyes staring from the hood, and the white sheet. Of course, it's spelled with a K, Flying Cat: after all, I did live in Augusta, Ga. for more than a decade and I made myself familiar with the local lore.
mjc from NM,USA
Oh. glad we got that sorted then.....
Flying Cat from Cheshire Grin
Did you get the Hebrides? That's a nice boat.
Caraid from Glasgow
We have the Hebrides until Saturday, when she heads north after stopping at Lochboisdale and Clansman comes back south. The ferries have their names in gaelic as well as english. I wondered what Hebrides was going to be, imagining some long word that would sound like Hebrides if you looked at it for long enough and removed half of the letters, but it is Innse Gall, does this have a translation, or is it just a place name, and where on earth did Hebrides come from, it isn't an 'english' type of word at all? PS mjc, the shop on the ferry sells postcards, chocolate and alcohol if the bar is shut and the shop is open (a very rare occurrance). Favoured people can get Sunday papers on a Sunday, but it depends which crew is on, some won't let you up the ramp- without a ticket etc.
Nic from Coll
Oh it's just like a Goon Show someone told me about...."You can't coom oop wi'owt a tickit."
Flying Cat from falling in the water....
Lorry load of Poles, are they coming to work on Coll, the last pair who came were very nice. Lookingforagoodman from Virgin a Are they coming in to build the new hotel? Where will they stay? In the old Hotel?
here&there from Coll
Hullo, here&there, the poles are coming to Coll to put down roots, stand firm and upright in a position of power serving the community.
Now&then from Coll
I love visting Coll and going on boat trips to see all the seals and other animals like dophins and scary sharks.
phoebe from football
Thanks Nic...the following might interest you. My understanding of Innse Gall (Hebrides) is that it translates as 'foreigners' isles', named so when the Islands were under Viking rule along with various other Islands now under British rule. Okay, my Scottish history can be quite ropey but given the number of Norwegian place names across the Isles it would make sense. If it was under the rule of a Norwegian King then that King would also be 'king of the foreigners' isles'. Of course the Outer Hebrides sometimes gets called the Western Isles and was once called The Long Island. I've even heard a Scot refer to Arran as being a Hebridean Island (pretty far from the Sea of the Hebrides!)
Caraid from Glasgow
LOTI might not be the best boat logistically but she's a pretty one. As for the Hebrides, you may have noticed that she carries the bell from the original SS Hebrides (MV Hebrides is number 3) and it's an appropriate boat to visit Coll as the first captain of the SS Hebrides was a Collach and I believe there used to be a 'captain's' house (which may have been the manse) on the island.
Buzz from Glasgow