Sunday sailings
Posted: Wednesday, 19 September 2007 |
Comments
I understand that it would be nice to have Sunday sailings, but do you not think it would be nice for the people who work on that ferry everyday to not have one day off a week themselves? The people that want to can get off the island now at least, which is better than when i first arrived and you were truly stuck here with no escape. Personally, and from no religious point of view, i enjoy the quiet Sundays which i thought had gone forever from my childhood, if the ferry runs then it is not just the people who work on the ferry that have to leave their own one day of peace a week but all the others who work around the ferry as well. What if they have their own commitments, such as church, spending a day of quality time with their families, are they just to give that up because a handful of people who might use a Sunday ferry occasionally want them to? This will be the thin end of the wedge if it is approved, next they will be needing the buses to run because people will say it's unfair they have to pay for a taxi, then the shops will be opened because if a bus comes into town then why not take advantage of that fact. I was one of the first people to work on a Sunday in a big home improvement store on the mainland all those years ago, and how i wish i hadn't. Only people who have either come here and cannot accept that we can have one day of nothingness a week and still survive OR those who have never spent many years on the mainland where life is hectic 24/7 would want this put through and not care about the ball it will start rolling.
tanith from point
I have to say I agree with Tanith. One of the problems with the way of life nowadays is that everybody expects everything all of the time and people seldom give consideration to those who job it is to provide that everything. For the majority it is absolutely no hardship not to be able to travel on a Sunday and for those who would like to is there an absolute NEED or is it just a little extra convenience? What are these mythical 'benefits'? A handfull of people coming back to spend Sunday in their homes (seeing as the shops are not open)? I can only see a 'benefit to the island' if, as Tanith says, the shops start to open and the buses starts to run. Even then is there any real benefit? Is there actually any extra trade? What you might buy on a Sunday you can just as easily buy on Saturday or Monday. I can see how Sunday sailings might make life a little more convenient for a few but I can't see the major economic benefits.
Les Ellingham from Middle of England now but Lewis in a few years
I agree that the time has come for Sunday sailings. Many people would benefit from this change and it would allow families to spend more time together as weekend vistits would be possible. I do appreciate that some people object on religious grounds and I would defend their rights to object but a balanced view has to be taken. It would be financially beneficial to the Island and consequently the people of the Island. Students would be able to return for weekends and keep a live link with the Island which might encourange them to come back to the Island and reverse the present trend.
Gordon from London
As one of those who for 40 years has,"Had to give up their day of peace." I would like to say 1) I didn't "have to," I could have done something else; 2) I had my days of peace when others ( the majority) were working so i could for example take my pre school age kids to the zoo on a quiet day; 3) I got paid well for it and 4) not all of us are sabbatarians indeed not all of us honour Sunday as a sacred day. I can remember as a youth the jewish shops which closed on saturday were allowed to trade on Sundays and a lot of goys took advantage of that.
Hyper-Borean from Back(shift)
Don't the ferrymen work shifts? Meaning they will get some Sundays off anyway?
Flying Cat from not doing the nine-to-five
I suppose it all depends where the 37 people come from and as to whether they are linked to any particular pressure group or indeed related to any Calmac officials. Strange this mail should suddenly land at Calmac esp when the levels od computer ownership on the island is quite low. I wouldn't know of many native Niseachs who use email.
calumannabel from Luddite House Fivepenny
Well, i can honestly say that even when i lived on the mainland with a whole town 10mins walk away i never bothered going. Yes, when Sunday shopping first became a norm it was a novelty, but it soon loses it's appeal. I can see it would be nice for those who work all the other days of the week to be able to go and shop and thats fair enough, but i'm sure that even here it would lose it's appeal and soon become economically non viable. I like my peaceful Sunday, i'm NOT religious, i enjoy that i can sit out and not see a bus at all or a car for hours, i have a bike or my feet if i need to go anywhere as i don't have a car. Thats what i moved here for, if i want 24/7 city living i can live in the city. And for those that have to urgently get a chocolate bar Ingies is open part of the day lol There are times when i would have liked to use a ferry on a Sunday, but not EVERY sunday and i'm sorry but i don't buy the students coming home on a weekend argument, tell me honestly how many students are going to come home to quiet, no real night life Lewis on a Friday or Saturday, probably having to travel for hours before they even reach the 3hr ferry journey and then just hop back on the ferry on Sunday and travel for hours to get back to college again?? Maybe a few, not enough to justify a ferry, and for the workers, can you honestly say that 2journeys on a ferry with a car (which you will have to bring because there are no buses) is going to be cheaper than the plane. People always want want they havn't got and then in a few years they wish they hadn't bothered. I can sit on the fence and see both sides but in the end it comes down to do we NEED a sunday ferry or just WANT a sunday ferry??
tanith from point
I like a quiet day of rest myself but I would not wish to impose it on anyone. The comments being made are interesting. We have Les living in an area where he has all the benefits of a 24 hour lifestyle but wishing to deny that to others. We have the want/need arguement which becaomes facile very quickly. The one I have to take exception with is students coming home for the weekend to face nothing to do and nowhere to go on a Friday and Saturday night. If nothing else they can go to the Fank in Ness and indulge in unknown debauchery. But much more important, speaking as someone who spends a great deal of time around student, they can get their washing done.
Gordon from London
They surely wouldn't want to do debauchery of a Fankly nature on their own doorstep. That's what leaving home to be a student is for. Among other things.
Flying Cat from feeling sceptical
Fankery of any kind should be confined to the islands. And entry should be limited, with some of us being grandfathered (and grandmothered?) in. I would not want Calum. to run out of barbecued salmon ...
mjc from NM, USA
1. all those concerned, Cal Mac staff on the ferry, port authority staff etc are working on Sunday NOW and have been working Sundays for years! The only staff who would have to come in would be the Calmac office staff, for a couple of hours, and no doubt they will be well paid and time off through the week to compensate. 2.In the summer Calmac are back to refusing bookings on peak sailings because the ferry does not have the capacity, even with the HGVs going on the Muirnag- our 'experts' at HIE missed this for years in all their surveys about the local economy, and only when a rival shipping service started a few years ago, without subsidy, did everyone realise that calmac had been turning away HUNDREDS of tourists every week for YEARS! 3. I bet there are more than 35 PCs with email in Ness- who are you trying to kid? 4. nobody from any church will be dragged kicking and screamin up the gangway- it will be voluntary....(unless you've been convicted of summat, an PC Plod is assisting you to Porterfield) 5.Roll on RET- we subsidise the rest of the country's road network through road tax, extra tax on fuel, etc etc- if motorists down south of Perth had to pay a toll of 拢80-00 for a 40 mile stretch of the M90 we would soon hear the squeals!
local bod from Stornoway
I have heard about this and my sister visiting from the mainland [Somerset] recently signed a petition on the subject. Personally, whilst not a Free churcher or anything, I would prefer the way it currently is - a really quiet day to reflect and recuperate. I like life really quiet on Sundays and prefer it that way.
Another whitesettler from Lewis
The ferry crews work 14 days on and 14 days off. They do work on Sundays, which if you are ever in Stornoway on a Sunday you will see them quite often doing maintenance work on the ferry then. I personally don't think the argument is about whether we need a sunday ferry but more about having the right to a service and not being denied the same right as everyone else has in the UK to travel on a sunday if we choose to do so.
Tamsin from Isle of Lewis
How selfish, those of you who enjoy YOUR peaceful Sunday and don't want it ruined by a noisy ferry. Have you ever stopped to spare a thought for the absent parents who cannot visit their children as often as they would like to because they cannot get back to the Mainland in time to start work on a Monday morning? Yes, tanith from Point, a Sunday ferry is a NEED, not a want.
Sinead from Cumbria
OK, for those who say it's nice for the crew of the "Isle of Lewis" (ferry) to have a day, they are still working on a Sunday, they just don't sail anywhere. My second point is that the Western Isles, whichever way you look at it, have an aging, declining population. Seven day a week sailings would be a huge boost to the economy of the islands. My family live on the island, but I work on the mainland mostly. Because of the religoius views of some restricting my right to free movement, I cannot see my family so much (although now I can thankfully fly on a Sunday- albeit with a greater financial and environmental cost). It is no use saying that it's nice to "preserve" a society as if it's a museum exhibit- for Lewis to thrive again, it needs to be a dynamic place and one which embraces change. This is something that some of its more parochial, inward-looking councillors and church elders are incredibly resistance towards.
Bemused of Back from Isle of Lewis
as the island blogger living closest to the ness fank I'm against sunday sailings if it means noisy student debauchery next door, I thought I'd left debached london ways just there in london, IT who has got to make the dreaded trip to big bad lundun to see the family next month,
island threads from south dell
Gordon - you might see benefits in a 24 hour lifestyle but I can't see the 'benefits' in living somewhere I don't want to live and having the opportunity to shop 24/7 when I have no desire to do so. Nobody NEEDS to shop 24/7 just as nobody needs to talk constantly on mobile phones just to tell their friends that they are in the queue at the supermarket. It's not a case of denying others rather of trying to stop those who want to destroy a simpler way of life, a way of life that I feel is much better. Having one day a week not doing anything is not a hardship, it is in itself a benefit in a society that wants everything and tries to enforce that desire on everybody else.
Les from Stafford
Nothing should ever be banned on religious grounds . Religion , thankfully is on it's way out . The only strongholds of religion that are left are in your backward countrys such as the Middle East , Ireland and the Excited States . these people need to grow up and accept responsibility for their actions and stop saying "the devil made me do it "
Rob Smith from Toronto Kanada
Ireland? What planet are you living on? They're way more go-ahead than the rest of us, having embraced the EU with open arms and made good use of the subsidies to upgrade their infrastructure, without slavishly following every directive to the nth degree. I think you'll find Irish cities are as 24/7 as anywhere. They also have a growing YOUNG population and a vibrant economy, hardly comparable to the Western Isles. Give me Irish catholicism with whatever its faults still are any day over black-hearted Presbyterianism!
Flying Cat from agnosticatty
as some one who some times travels to Mull and would love to go via the islands instead of the mainland, I think the people who go on about a thirteenth ferry service for Lewis, when other islands in the Outer Hebridean chain have far fewer ferries, makes the people who demand the sunday service seem very selfish and self centered, why shouldn't Harris, Barra and the Uists have sailings six days a week too before selfish Lewis gets yet another ferry sailing???
island threads from lewis
I am against Sunday Sailings, and for the record, i was born and brought up on Lewis, and i am in my 20's! I feel that if Calmac listened to the views of the people and introduced an improved and efficient 6 day service, we would not need a Sunday sailing. We should also remember that we have a Biblical command to Remember the Sabbathe Day and to keep it Holy. Our previous generations honoured this command, and we should likewise honour this command so that we can hand down our unique way of life to our descendants.If we loose our Sabbath we will never be able to replace it.
DON MAC from Westside
In my experience a huge number of the brightest and best people coming out of the islands leave never to return precisely because this kind of 'debate' is still happening in the year 2007. Its time we woke up to the fantastic potential of the isands and addressed real rather than imagined issues.
ISLAND GOING from LEWIS
Why is it that i can go to the pub and get hammered on a sunday yet i cannot get home to see my family let alone take my kids swimming? If i move to Barra I can , which is controlled by the same council is it not? Let's be frank, this is bonkers..
iain from Back
I have been in Lewis since late 2004 and am observing life on this fascinating island from an outsider's perspective. I look out at the lighthouse every day - as it looks out over the island and the sea. 
RSS Feed