Melting tar no more
Posted: Monday, 04 August 2008 |
Comments
How do you fix your Calabrese, Nic? About winning ribbons/medals at the fair: there is always next year. # Yes, Nic, sorry I could not land; forgot to attach the pontoons to the Skyhawk. # About the ferry: maybe there should be a policy giving priority to the locals.
mjc from IN,USA
would that be the same tourists you flog your burgers to?
on both sides from over here
I hope you won't actually need your anorak for a few weeks yet, Nic. I don't know how us island-dwellers are going to afford to eat soon...there'll be no food waste here in Anorak Towers if I've got anything to do with it!
Flying Cat from freight train freigtht train goin' so fast
mjc, there is no way I can keep the calabrese until next year.
Nic from Coll
The burgers are very politically correct and are equally available to tourists, swallows and residents. The point I was sort of trying to make is that the RET scheme is supposed to remove some of the economic disadvantages of island living and I don't believe a blanket fare reduction is the best way to do this. I applaud the reduction in commercial fares but feel other regular travellers, who have had to squeeze everything into 5 metre vehicles because of the fare structure are now being dealt the short straw. A better system would have been to introduce ten or twenty trip tickets at a much reduced rate to lower the transport costs of the shop, hotel and cafe.
Nic from Coll
Next year's fair, and next year's Calabrese, Nic. # A rejoinder of mine to "on both sides" has not seen the light of day.
mjc from IN, USA
Let me get this right Nic 鈥 it鈥檚 OK for the 鈥渢ourists and summer swallows鈥 to bring their money but not their cars in case they take an 鈥渋slander鈥檚鈥 space on the Clansman? What next? You could have separate queues in the shop and benches marked 鈥淐ollachs only鈥 as well. You claim to object to the RET but it appears you have a personal issue with the people whose seasonal visits keep the island鈥檚 economy afloat. You would do well to consider the wider implications of your comments. These visitors driving gas-guzzling 4x4鈥檚 (I guess that must include me) that you are trying so hard to alienate and guilt-trip are the very people being approached to support the 鈥渋slanders鈥 in the biggest fundraising effort in the island鈥檚 history. Presumably under your vision for Coll 鈥渋slanders鈥 will get priority when it comes to spaces in the car-park of An Cridhe once it is built? Presumably it鈥檚 also OK for 鈥渋slanders鈥 to drive gas-guzzling 4x4鈥檚 to pull their snack vans around? It鈥檚 also real big of you to tell people how they should get about once they arrive on Coll - us 鈥渧isitors鈥 should walk, hitch, cycle or take the taxi but shouldn鈥檛 dare bring a car in case they inconvenience 鈥渋slanders鈥? To use the example of the islander struggling to reach the mainland in an emergency because the ferry is full of visitors is in astonishingly bad taste. If ANYONE has to leave Coll at short notice and the ferry is busy they face the same problem - irrespective of whether they are an 鈥渋slander鈥 or a 鈥渧isitor鈥. If as you claim you have an issue with the policy-makers regarding the RET it might have been more constructive to raise your concerns in a way that didn鈥檛 alienate people who genuinely endeavour to contribute to the economic and cultural preservation of the island. You really want to drop this 鈥渋slanders鈥 versus 鈥渧isitors鈥 stuff. Frankly, it is offensive.
Sandy MacKinnon from The Mainland
Sandy from the Mainland, may I say that Nic is one of the least political people on the island and your comments, I feel, are rather quite harsh. The 4 x 4 comment was probably just a wry remark, after all as you quite rightly say, many on Coll have a 4 x 4, but as the island is only 13 miles long, fortunately, we do not do much gas guzzling. Space on the ferry is becoming a problem, but we need to remember that the boat serves two islands, and as it picks up on Tiree first, people leaving Coll sometimes do get left behind on the pier. Not often but it can happen. Visitors are so very welcome to Coll, and as Nic states she enjoys watching out from her burger van to spot the visiting yachts, (by the way, the burger van is a great asset to both islanders and visitors). Many small businesses depend on the summer visitors, affectionately known as swallows, the Hotel, Shop, Cafe, Pottery and Arts and Crafts, and all people employed therein, so I am 100% sure that Nic did not intend to alienate anyone and like I said earlier, Nic is one of the kindest people on Coll and I am sure she never in a million years intended to offend.
In defence of Nic from Coll
In Defence of Nic - thanks for your response. I am familiar with the problems of ferry travel to and from Coll having been there once or twice myself. I am sorry, but I stand by my earlier post. Whether it was intended or not I found the inital blog to be ill-judged and offensive (and having sounded out several other "visitors" I know I am not alone). If Nic or anyone else has an issue with the RET (after all that's what her "mini rant" was supposed to be about) then perhaps they should direct their concerns to those responsible for the pilot scheme and not take cheap shots (intended or otherwise) at "visitors" to the island.
Sandy MacKinnon from The Mainland
Yacht's do little or nothing for the local economy like fish, we come and go with the tide, you seem to have missed the point on RET. The inner or larger Island's which are closer to the mainland [Mull for example] get a much better deal on the ferry, why should the traveller's to Coll, Tiree and Barra be penalized by a system that is funded with public money? For once "they" might have got it right ,this could be a boost to the economy on the Islands that come under the RET system and a major boom to the Burger business.
THE FLYING FISH from SKIMMING PAST THE NEW PIER
Why some folk feel the need to a) take offence when none is intended, b) leave their sense of humour on the ferry and c) make it sound like they've done a Mori Poll among visitors, when probably all they've done is find another humourless moaning minnie to grumble with, beats me! What happened to reasoned discussion, Sandy M?
Flying Cat from sweetness and light
Sorry Sandy, I didn't intend it to be interpreted that way.
Nic from Coll
Reasoned discussion, a la Jura, FC? Personally, on a quibbling note, I can't figure out why Sandy M. put quotation marks on the word visitors (they are or they are not transients). Anyway, Nic does not take "cheap shots" - straight as her courgettes, Nic is. In passing (a bona fide visitor I would make), have you tried Jura, Sandy M.? Highly recommended. Check in with Rev. A Lation, and see whether he'll give your 4WD (the latest gas efficient V8, I should hope) a berth on his Ark.
mjc from IN, USA
Is this a new thing in Coll a Nic fan club.? I think I might be in agreeance with Sandy M as where would Coll be without the day trippers, swallows and holiday makers in the summer, similarly the folk who have holiday houses who by virtue of buying on the island keep the island surviving till they come back again. What should be remembered all these people were coming to Coll no matter what the fares were.
Hermit crab from Low water mark
Hermit crab, I don't know about "all these people" but I would not take the ferry to that tarry island unless my Humvee gets pride of place (as befits a dinosaur) . I would rather fly to Coll International (so I would) with my folding bike and spend some good scottish pounds (on cordon bleu burgers, wonderful crab salads, etc ) before returning to mainland purgatory. As to the Nic fan club - did I detect a note of interest on your part, Hermit crab? Welcome, welcome - stand in the back of the queue, por favor.
mjc from IN, USA
Good point, Hermit Crab. Perhaps we should all move away and leave the island for the visitors, as clearly they are the only thing that make the place viable as a home? "similarly the folk who have holiday houses who by virtue of buying on the island keep the island surviving till they come back again" Are you actually serious?
A Normal Crab from Coll
To tell you all a secret, I would rather have lobster than crab. # I may not be consistently awfie serious, but Hermit Crab dang well is. Yes, yes, I am alarmed.
mjc from IN, USA
It's looking horribly like a pincer movement...
Flying Cat from crawfish pie me oh my
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