91Èȱ¬

We now have a timetable!! Interesting timing; planning has just gone in for the terminal building and no work (other than paper) has happened. These (there are several) are proposed timetables, not actual, and we are asked to comment on them. I didn’t think it was possible to make sense out of the coloured sheets, but I persevered and may have made some progress. There is a basic, an intermediate and an advanced. No flights on Thursday and no flights after dark, which is a bit limiting in the winter. In theory there will be two return trips at least twice a week, but as the maximum time between flights at Connel is 3 hours and I don’t know what the check-in times are it will limit time in Oban, probably not much use for hospital appointments, although we might squeeze a dentist trip in. Obviously more useful for ‘experts’ coming to Coll. Some flights link with Tiree, although never a double call. I haven’t worked out how it will link up with the boat, but by the time this starts the second linkspan will be up and running and boat times will be completely different. The school kids get priority on some flights, but no word on the size of plane.
Last night Coll had one of its irregular fire festivals. How far away were we visible?

I’m beginning to feel Spring is on the way. Partly because I sense it is time to start the tomato seeds off (even though the tunnel is still a mangled heap) and partly because I am now tuned in to the tourist season, and there is the odd visitor about (I don’t mean the visitors are odd!). There is a steady stream of building material arriving, another sign of better weather, but we can’t be as busy as Tiree. I understand the ferry is often fully booked, so if anyone is planning a visit, book early!
I mustn’t grumble about the tunnel as we took advantage of a cracking day to glaze most of the greenhouse, it was so easy I can’t think why we didn’t do it sooner. The last bit was less pleasant as the next day was colder and the left-over glass was all the wrong sizes. Now all I have to do is wire the frame down, dig inside, put up the staging and move the garlic in. Why do hens insist on knocking absolutely everything over all the time?

Strange animals have been washed up on Coll again. Not a fin whale this time, and up the East End, which probably explains a lot. Six deer, probably red and definitely hinds, tied together and not skinned or gutted lay on the sand. The coastguard said it was a matter for the police, but I gather the tide has taken them away again. They were in good nick, the eyes were still OK so the meat would have been fine, if half cured into venison bacon, but law-abiding Coll now knows not to remove anything which might be ‘The Queen’s Fish’ so the carcasses were left. The favourite theory is poachers towing the deer by boat and thinking it prudent to let them go, but whether they were from Rum or further West is anybody's guess. Anyone out there want to confess?

The Coll Magazine has been appearing every year since 1983 and there is a project to make back issues available online. This involves scanning the text in by computer and then a team of two proof-readers remove the computer-generated errors: a favourite is Coil for Coll. So just recently I’ve been reading a lot of back issues. One thing that comes across very clearly from the historical articles is the number of people who emigrated, nearly all to Australia and New Zealand. As an English incomer this is one of the major differences between where I come from and where I am. The Enclosure Acts in England were earlier, led to movements within England and aren’t in the oral history of the rural communities, at least not where I used to live.

And the point of all that introduction is to say Coll is still losing people to the ‘Colonies’. A mini invasion from Glasgow met up with Coll folk over dinner and a dram or two to look at embarrassing photos tied to helium balloons and remember past summers. David is away to Australia after Easter and although he has been in Glasgow ever since I moved here, he is always part of the summer scene. Apparently his boss tried to persuade him not to go, but was unable to match the warmer weather on offer in Perth! The lure is the better quality of life (and weather), which was what brought me to Coll (not the weather). Australia may be closer now than 150 years ago when the first emigrants left but it still means saying farewell to lots of friends.

I wish him all the quality of life he wants, but I doubt he will be the most successful emigrant. One Collach went to Australia to the goldmines, made his fortune and went on to New Zealand and became the biggest landowner ever there.