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The summer timetable started on Friday, and normally we get The Clansman back. But not this year. Those pesky lot on Lewis/Harris still have her. Poor old Lord of the Isles is trying to do two jobs at once, and travel as fast as Clansman and carry the same number of passengers. Today and yesterday we had the Arran back. I like the Arran but she is sooo slooow. Tomorrow we should get Hebrides. She hasn't been to Coll before. Apparently she is just like the Clansman, so everything is where it should be, but slightly different, and the shop is bigger. But she should be heading north to the Western Isles soon and then we'll get our boat back.
I know all this because I've got the burger van back out so I can see who is in and who is away. Today we had lots of BT vans and a lorry with poles (should interest mjc) and a lorry full of straw and lots of people in cars who all waved, but I struggle to recognise anybody now because all the cars have tinted windows.
Back at the hotel the very useful rock in the garden where everybody stands to get a phone signal has been built up and levelled so helicopters can land there safely. When we get a break in the helicopter landings we are going to organise a golf driving competition and see how far into the bay the balls will go. Should be good target practice when the sailing club get their boats and are zipping about.

Well, that's easter done with. The place filled up and now most folk are away again and it's gone a bit flat. The weather has greyed up too. There was a cream tea on Saturday to raise money for the pensioners lunch club. Affectionately known as 'fossils club' their lunch used to be funded by the council, but after a year they stopped, so now it relies on donations and fundraising. The tea and raffle raised 拢400.33 so that should keep them in lunches for a month or two. It keeps their minds active as they need to remember whether it is at the Island Cafe or the Hotel, and don't think all they want is soggy cauliflower, next time we cook they are getting Mexican, courtesy of our new trainee.

The postman has his new van. It is very red. We are wondering what other official vehicles will join the post van and the water van. Will there be a landrover for the electric (with a wooden ladder!!) and one for BT (or Openreach). Talking of cars, or insuring cars, it is cheaper to get a new policy from Churchill than renew an existing one! 拢40 cheaper! And the best quote for our elderly dihatsu is from the post office. The quote was 拢120 ish and there is 拢50 cash back. Just imagine how cheap it could be if we didn't have the PA postcode.

The finishing touches are happening at the airport ticket office. HIAL come and inspect it next week. We had some official people in looking at our roads. We have good roads, at least, they are much better than those on Lismore. The officials went on to Tiree, and then Colonsay. They took videos of the road, so if there is an accident the video can be played to see if the road camber or condition was in any way responsible. I think 'they' will say any accident on a single track road with ditches is always caused by excessive speed, but it was nice to see the council wasting more money out here as well as all over the mainland.

Eight days since I looked at IB. Hopeless. But I should get my biggest paycheck ever this week! Out at the airfield lots of officials are coming and going, but no-one knows anything about planes. I'm beginning to think airports and airplanes are completely not connected. Has anybody ever built a disused runway before?
The helipad (mobile phone reception area) is due to be turfed this week. The sprinkler is on it. That is why it is raining.
My trainee chef has some new chefs gear, and looks very smart, almost too smart to do any cheffing. But the sleeves are a bit too long!
The phone book arrived today. Every issue seems to be smaller. Is the population of Argyll shrinking everywhere (except Coll)? Or are people giving up landlines and living on their mobiles?
It is book club tonight. I didn't buy the last book, and I haven't found anybody else who has read it either. I liked Neil Gaimon's Neverwhere, and I have mjc's suggestions on my wishlist, so I will probably buy the next book, but read mjc's instead. Bloggers are a bit like imaginary friends, useful as excuses, and real people indulge my pre-occupation with this not-real world.

We went to Tiree yesterday. It is very green. Maybe the rest of the world has gone green too, but Tiree is very very green. Except for the daisies and celandines. How do they manage to get spring so much earlier? On a Thursday Calmac's timetable lets Coll folk (or Obanites) go to Tiree for six hours, while the boat chugs out to Barra and back. We were taking some furniture across, which meant we had to go yesterday, otherwise we would have gone on saying 'next week' like we did all last year. Furniture delivered it was time to see how different Tiree is. It is very different, to start with, it is very green. The lambs are much bigger. We saw some smaller ones later, but the first ones I saw made me think of roast potatoes! We went west to Hynish to see where the Skerryvore lighthouse was prepared before it went out into the sea. The museum was closed, but there are signs up outside, and we had been to Ardnamurchan so we knew a bit about Stevenson and lighthouses. The walled gardens for the lighthouse men were impressive (and very green). On our way back we passed several places that were open which had been closed. Tiree in April works on a one until five opening time. Coll manages to have different times for every day of the week, but Tiree obviously refuses to let the ferry timetable dominate it. We passed the bus again, we passed it quite often, it always had the same driver so we wondered why it needed a number. We found the chocolate shop, which we had been told not to miss, they were right, DO NOT MISS THE CHOCOLATE SHOP. They rang Elephant's End for us to check they were doing late lunches. They were, we had steak baguettes, and got a loyalty card. Now we need to go back nine more times and we can have a free lunch. It was good steak. Back through Scarinish to find Skinners. On Coll Skinners is a legend. It proved rather hard to find but it meant we stopped at the cafe next door and had coffee and very sweet chocolatey cakes. I'm surprised Tiree folk have any teeth left. Skinners is by the airport, which is very red, and a polytunnel (I collect polytyunnels). We didn't buy anything in Skinners, but we can now separate some of the fact from the fiction. Back to Scarinish (and past a school bus) to buy steak for tea and visit the co-op. We resisted the urge to push a trolley round, some things have to be reserved for trips to the mainland. Then back to Gott Bay to let the dogs have a swim. We picked a bit away from the sand kite, which made me think of Owain. Driving a sand kite must be complicated, remembering to watch the kite and the buggy. We went east to look at Coll and the Icelandic ponies and then it was back to the pier. A perfect day weather-wise was finished drinking Lewis beer on the top deck. When we got home even Coll looked a bit greener. We had steak and chocolates for tea. The chocolates are good, the steak is very good. I suppose the short distance between the farm and the slaughter place is important, and understanding how a live cow becomes red meat and seeing it make that journey helps, but I think all that greenness must make a huge difference. And next time we go to Tiree we will visit the ringing stone and see the golfball and the pottery and eat lamb!