A Day in the Life of a Burger Van
Posted: Tuesday, 27 May 2008 |
You have to understand running a burger van on Coll (even when it is the only burger van and I don't have the worry about anyone stealing my pitch) is not exactly a full-time occupation, or even one I do through the winter now. I worry about the hatch blowing off in the gales and then the rain blows in and all the rolls get soaked and then the ferry gets to the green buoy and slowly turns and heads back to Oban, having decided it isn't safe to land. But at the moment I hitch up the trailer and bounce (our new West end road is quite humpy, I think the peat is still resettling after the airport traffic) down to the pier every Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I try to get there 20 minutes before the ferry, but Lord of the Isles has speeded up and normally arrives early on Sunday and Monday. The usual suspects are there waiting; to get the post, the delivery van, the taxi looking for those booked on the two-hour tour of Coll. On Saturday all the parents are in to fetch the kids from the High School and it is change-over day at the self-catering places, so there are lots of visitors coming off, not sure where they are going. And after the cars, the cyclists wobble off and struggle up the hill. Then it goes quiet. I mop the floor, drink more tea and do Sudoku puzzles from newspapers I have liberated from the recycling bin. Two hours later the action starts up again as folk queue up to leave, the post van comes back down with the 'going away' mail, the taxi rushes back and there are still wobbling cyclists.
Sometimes my quiet Sudoku time is interrupted. On Sunday I watched an orange boat chug its way past the big pier heading up the bay to the middle pier (there is an old pier too, but that is very wee). After 15 minutes it chugged back and landed briefly at the big pier, then headed off to tie up at a mooring. Marching up the hill came a mafia of men in one-piece black jump suits. Terrorists. If the boat had been bigger I might have thought Army, I'm not actually sure how they all fitted on the boat. As they got closer they began to look less threatening. The first one up ordered a cheeseburger. And another, and another. One was different and had an egg and bacon roll and one ordered hot chocolate, he was accused of being effeminate, and five more had hot chocolate too. I think they were divers, but the boat didn't look big enough to dive from. Some went up to look at the Nevada gun after their burger, then the boat came back, they got back on and headed back to Tobermory. It seemed a long way to come just to get a cheeseburger. I hope they don't think that is all there is to do on Coll.
Today saw the departure of a lot of regular visitors, very reluctant leavers. But in May it is hard to imagine wanting to live anywhere but Coll. Whoever wrote 'Oh to be in England, now that summer's here' had obviously never been to the Hebrides in May. One of the reluctant leavers even leant over and gave me a farewell kiss. They are back in September, and maybe June as well, the 'it doesn't really get dark' time.
Meanwhile, I am also planting stuff in the polytunnel, the cover is finally on and the grass inside is twice as high as the grass outside. The baby chicks are in a run and are supposed to be eating it, but they aren't making much impression yet. The airport has passed its CAA check, or maybe it hasn't, and flights start at the beginning of June, or possibly the week after. No-one actually knows but somewhere out there is a website with the timetable on. I think we get return flights on Monday and Wednesday and a link to Tiree airport. It is a shame they won't be flying from Coll to Colonsay though.
Sometimes my quiet Sudoku time is interrupted. On Sunday I watched an orange boat chug its way past the big pier heading up the bay to the middle pier (there is an old pier too, but that is very wee). After 15 minutes it chugged back and landed briefly at the big pier, then headed off to tie up at a mooring. Marching up the hill came a mafia of men in one-piece black jump suits. Terrorists. If the boat had been bigger I might have thought Army, I'm not actually sure how they all fitted on the boat. As they got closer they began to look less threatening. The first one up ordered a cheeseburger. And another, and another. One was different and had an egg and bacon roll and one ordered hot chocolate, he was accused of being effeminate, and five more had hot chocolate too. I think they were divers, but the boat didn't look big enough to dive from. Some went up to look at the Nevada gun after their burger, then the boat came back, they got back on and headed back to Tobermory. It seemed a long way to come just to get a cheeseburger. I hope they don't think that is all there is to do on Coll.
Today saw the departure of a lot of regular visitors, very reluctant leavers. But in May it is hard to imagine wanting to live anywhere but Coll. Whoever wrote 'Oh to be in England, now that summer's here' had obviously never been to the Hebrides in May. One of the reluctant leavers even leant over and gave me a farewell kiss. They are back in September, and maybe June as well, the 'it doesn't really get dark' time.
Meanwhile, I am also planting stuff in the polytunnel, the cover is finally on and the grass inside is twice as high as the grass outside. The baby chicks are in a run and are supposed to be eating it, but they aren't making much impression yet. The airport has passed its CAA check, or maybe it hasn't, and flights start at the beginning of June, or possibly the week after. No-one actually knows but somewhere out there is a website with the timetable on. I think we get return flights on Monday and Wednesday and a link to Tiree airport. It is a shame they won't be flying from Coll to Colonsay though.
Posted on NiconColl at 00:10
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