The Dream
Posted: Friday, 16 March 2007 |
It was January 2006, when my wife Sarah and I thought we needed a change (not from each other) but from the rut of working for a large corporate business and funny enough we were watching a TV program about the Isle of Skye
Well after such a fantastic overview of the programme about the island, I said maybe we should buy a house in the western Isles? So over the next few weeks Sarah and I searched the internet for properties
In March we managed to find 3 properties, one on the Isle of Raasay (local inhabitants around 49), the other 2 on the Isle of Lewis
We planned our journey to view the properties which was 700 miles by road, 15 hours drive laterand 2 ferries away we eventually found our new home, as in the photo
Stornoway, is the main town on the Isle of Lewis and when you see Boots the Chemist, and Woolworths you dont feels so remote. So we viewed the house and fell in love with it, and made an offer on this property
On meeting and familiarising ourselves with the locals I had never felt so welcomed, it was quite endearing we thought that we might feel out of place but that was not the case they also welcome outsiders with or without families coming on the Isle
The 4 occasions that we have been to our house, everyone was pleased to see us, In the South you would almost say that thay are being nosey? but here thay actually do care, our little Daughter Holly who is 6 years old and the locals know her already, even the man with his dog on his daily walk that passes twice a day, knew we were visiting for the week due to the man in the timber merchants who apparently is one of my neighbours
Comments
Hello Fred Blog! Welcome to Island Blogging!
Anne from IBHQ
no...i think you will find they were being nosey LOL and i mean that in the nicest way......if theres one thing i've learned after nearly 4yrs here is that the locals want to know everything about you so they can tell someone else everything about you and a bit more besides, and as a taxi driver once told me'what they don't know they'll make up' You'll get used to it, although it can be a little frustrating at times, it's a small price to pay for the better way of life, although i must admit that some areas are genuinely more friendly than others....we were just unlucky and didn't do enough research into the village we moved to. As for not feeling so remote due to Boots and Woolworths....wait till we don't get a ferry for a couple of days and you need lazy shop bread and fresh milk, you'll soon feel remote LOL All this aside, welcome to a much better place than you could ever hope to bring your children up in. :-)
tanith from lewis
Fred, I think you'll soon find that the interest shown by your neighbours has nothing whatsoever to do with welcoming incomers. Rather it's a ploy to discover as much about you as possible so that the gossip mill can start to turn. And what vicious gossips they are once they get started. What they don't discover they'll just make up so it's probably best just to feed them a load of bull in the first place.
Cuillean_Dubh from Jerusalem
We can see why Jerusalem is such a divided city with residents like you in it.
calumannabel from Rumour Mill Ness
I don't think tanith and the black whatever-it-is understand the true nature of 'gossip'. (that's women of course. Men have 'discussions'!) It is necessary to know about strangers in your midst in a small community, in fact, it is one of the joys of living in one. Fpu can now recite quite a plethora of so-and-so is related to such-and-such via thingmyjig. If you want to remain annonymous, stay in a big place, but don't complain when you choose to enter a small one. Join in or, alternatively, leave. Many do. As someone on another blog says, you take your life with you - if it was sh*t in one place, it'll be sh*t in another. You can't leave yourself behind. Never mind it's a wise man that ken's his faither, it's a wise person that knows him/herself.
Flying Cat from in a fluff
So, what we're saying here is that to fit into Island life requires a degree of self awareness and emotional maturity? Let me think about that one.....nahh
Cuillean_Dubh from Jerusalem
funny though, that it was a local who pointed out the gossip thing in the first place, as i said- its a small price to pay, and not one that bothers me much as i've nothing to hide and nothing much to gossip about either. Maybe they can invent an exciting existance for me that involves more than looking after kids, cooking and cleaning, i just wish they'd hurry up, i'm boring myself now...... Soaplady may have chosen to bring her life with her, some of us are able to make the break from the rubbish we left behind and enjoy a better life here, gossip, discussions and all. I did make a point of saying i meant it in the nicest way, and i did.....
tanith from point
Why are you in a fluff with me anyway FC, put away your very sharp claws and sharp ponty teeth..... i just read what i put again and i wasn't saying anything that wasn't true, or being horrible about it. I don't want to join in,I shouldn't HAVE to join if i choose not to either and I shouldn't have to leave because i don't want to join in.
tanith from point
Thank you all for your comments so far, see i'm making friends already :)
Fred Blog's from Point
Welcome Fred Blog and best wishes to you and yours on your new life on Lewis. I had the same idea as you 4 years ago and what a life changing experience it was too. At times, you may think your neighbours are a wee bit nosey, but that's just the way it is on islands and remember those same neighbours, will also be looking out for your children, when you're away fishing in your boat and they're always there when you're clean out of bread. Coming from Yorkshire, I shouldn't say this, but I find island folk the friendliest, warmest most hospitable people you could ever wish to meet. The door is always open and the kettle on the boil. The Yorkshire Post magazine has been featuring a diary of a Yorkshire family who moved to Orkney. Their first choice wasn't quite right, so they moved again and are so happy, content and settled. It was a very interesting article. I wish you and your family the same. Best Wishes. Anney
Anney from Anney's Croft
we just chose the wrong area, sounds like the family on orkney problem, but we don't want to move again, and so we will stay where no one looks out for our children, just blames them for everything that goes wrong, to the point where i don't let them out anymore so they can't be blamed, amazing how the wrongs still keep happening though.....my neighbour won't speak to me or let his kids near mine because we are english, in fact no one speaks to us apart from one lovely couple over the road who would do anything for us, no one took us up on our offer to come for a cup of tea when we moved here, no one offered us in either, people will drive past you when its pouring with rain and waiting for the bus, where people in other areas have told me of always being offered lifts. When i speak to incomers from the villages all around us it is completely different and so i do hope that you and your family have chosen one of the lovely, welcoming areas this island does have to offer and i wish you a long and happy stay here.
tanith from point
Sorry tanith, I've re-read your original comment and would like to apologise for lumping you in with Cuillean_Dubh... I am sorry your particular natives aren't friendly. Maybe things will improve....I see Fred Blog is inviting people to bury bodies in his old Aga.....the solution may lie there....
Flying Cat from axe and feathers
Fred, welcome to Lewis. Follow your OWN instincts, and see if things bother you or not. There is no sun without shadow, and no shadow without sun! Good luck!
Arnish Lighthouse from Stornoway
Arnish thank you for your comments, and I will..........funny enough I been reading your Blogs for along time now even before we purchased our house.
Fred from Point
Tanith, interesting situation. Do the locals behave the same with each other, or just to you? and all because you are English? Why should this occur only in that village and not others? Have you asked them point blank why they won't be neighborly? No other "incomers" in that village? Is that friendly couple you mention locally born and bred? Have you asked them for a possible explanation? There must be an answer for the "peculiarity" of that village.
mjc from NM
There are no other incomers in this part no, only us.Possible explanations we have been given are....we choose not to go to one of their religious establishments on a sunday, although even if we did no doubt it would be the wrong one as there are a few to choose from. Also had it suggested that most of the people in this village have all inherited their land and homes and so us coming in and buying our house is wrong somehow(the way it was put to me) I don't know why they act the way they do, but i do notice that even amongst themselves they are no to friendly with not much standing about talking or visiting each other etc. I have asked once if there was a problem, if we had upset someone and was told no, if we had we would know about it. Having lived in a city for 30yrs i am quite used to not knowing my neighbours and keeping myself to myself and so it dosn't bother me realy. I respect the views of the people around me and so i do not allow my kids to play football etc on a sunday and never have i hung my washing out yet, even after being told by another local that as i had brought my house i can do what i want, including hang my washing out. I make a point of being helpful to others around me when i can because thats the way i was brought up, for eg, taking in neighbours bins when they are at work, telling them when their lambs have escaped and are in the road, helping them off bus with shopping etc but am getting to the point where i don't want to do these things anymore which is irritating as thats not the way i am. The couple over the road are from the island but not from this village and they just say not to worry about it, it's just the way they are and leave them to it.
tanith from point
MJC......yes it seems a strainge situation for Tanith, I have 2 neighbours eitherside of me one side they are very welcoming, and yes we have been invited in far a chat and coffee even a wee dram, and the husband was born on the island and cant wait to take me fishing, on the other side we have seen her, but she never stays around long enough to make contact, but she is an older generation and maybe fixed in her way.......As Arnish Lighthouse mentioned you have to follow your own instincts. I suppose alot of people in my area are incomers, and have been in the same position as me at one point or another. Living in the south, I would say that I have very little friends here if any outside my business, but I know with the community we are moving to we will rely on helping each other.
Fred from Point
The Western Isles by Alisdair Alpin Macgregor. Stornoway library has a copy. Should be compulsive reading for anyone contemplating moving to "God's country".
Cuillean_Dubh from Jerusalem
I'm guessing the recommended read is off-putting...unless Cuillean_Dubh has cheered up a bit! Tanith, it's always seemed a curious point of view to me that, having sold a house to an incomer, the buyer is then to blame for a) buying the house which was on sale and b) being from somewhere else. Every time someone moans to me about 'incomers taking over' I answer, "who sold them the property?" Answer came there none...
Flying Cat from canoodling a conundrum
I'm glad you have found one of the many lovely places i know there are here.
tanith from point
Dont worry Tanith, when we arrive we will touch base with you.
Fred from Point
You're right Flying Cat. After the book was published the local police refused to let him return on the grounds that they couldnt guarantee his personal safety. It's a brilliant read though and absolutely hilarious especially if you've lived here for a number of years and can recognise just some the personality traits he refers to. Hats off to Stornoway library for stocking it.
Cuillean_Dubh from Jerusalem
As long as it's not 'absolutely hilarious' as in the 'absolutely hilarious' writings of one Lillian Beckwith, for whom boiling in olive oil would have been far too good. Because, if it is, sensible cops would just turn a blind eye...
Flying Cat from a hard stare
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Glafkos from Mydoloveno
We are originally from liverpool and on moving to northampton found the people quite cold and unwelcoming.We are now nearing retirement and are hoping to move to the isle of Lewis,we hope that we will be accepted and given the oppurtunity to become involved with the islands community.I am very excited about moving to what appears to be a beautiful part of the world but apprehensive on starting a new life and being accepted by the local community.Can anyone give me any advice on our forthcoming move?.
eve from northampton
we are originally from liverpool but live in northampton,we find the people quite cold and unwelcoming and now that we are nearing retirement we are very much looking forward to moving to the isle of lewis but apprehensive at the same time on being accepted by the community.Can anyone give me any advice on our forthcoming move.
eve hunter from northampton
The Journey to our new live on the Isle of Lewis
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