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We attended an exhibition of model ships in Ramsey Courthouse yesterday.  It was raising funds for the RNLI, which was founded on the Isle of Man two hundred years ago this year.  Model lifeboats weren't the only ones present though.  There were brigs and barques, tugs and tramp steamers, ferries and fishing boats.  It was a really good display. Model boat building is very popular on the Isle of Man, and what was on display was only a fraction of the models available.  The Model Boat Club put on a couple of shows per year, with different exhibits appearing each time.  And it's free!  (Although donations are encouraged and welcome.) Talking about donations, the organisers could teach governments a thing or two about raising revenue.  There were different collection points around, so putting a pound coin in one box got the lifeboat to launch,  in another a coin caused a lifeboat to toss about on the sea, in yet another the lifeboat crew waved at the donor.  Customs and excise sho
The Loaghtan Books office is out in the countryside, which is lovely, but does mean that we occasionally have problems with delivery drivers who can't find us.  We have detailed directions which we email to delivery firms, although whether they actually reach the drivers seems unlikely. A case in point.  Our latest consignment of books was due on Monday.  We knew it was on its way because the driver (who had delivered here before) had telephoned saying he was lost.  We worked out he was only a mile away and there are only three possible roads, so the senior partner phoned with directions and was standing by in case the driver took a wrong turning and needed more.  The junior partner was stationed on the road to wave at truck drivers in case they were him (that was fun!).  He'd be with us in ten minutes, he said. We waited.  And waited.  It had started to rain slightly so the junior partner was getting wet.  The only delivery vehicle she'd seen was a furniture van coming out
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The good ship Mangelwurzel .  
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Isn't it typical?!   On pages 65-6 of our latest book Strandings & Sinkings , are pictures of Alauna , a fishing boat which sank at her moorings in Ramsey on 26 February 2023.  As we put the book to bed, questions were still being pondered about what to do with the boat as, although patched up, she had sustained more damage than was at first realised. Almost the instant  Strandings & Sinkings  was printed, the decision was taken to scrap  Alauna , repairs being considered too costly.  Here she is, or rather what's left of her, being cut up at the keyside: a sad end for the 40-year-old boat Of course it was far too late to get the end of her story into the book, but at least those interested now know what it is.
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Tholt y Will Glen (above) is the closest photograph we have of a rainforest, and much too beautiful to represent Amazon. Those of you who like Amazon should stop reading now because I fear that this is going to be a rant. We have been selling books through Amazon for nearly twenty years, since before we set up Loaghtan Books in fact.  We didn't like dealing with Amazon because we thought they were greedy; it's completely reasonable to charge commission but they take too much.  For example, our A Brief History of the Isle of Man retails at £12.95.  Amazon charges the customer £15.75 explaining that the additional £2.80 is for postage.  Not that we get anything for postage, Amazon keeps that.  Amazon credits us with £10.75 out of which we still have to take the postage, currently £4.16.   Briefly, the customer pays £15.75, Amazon gets £5.00, the postage is £4.16, we get £6.59.  Nevertheless we put up with getting only pennies more than half of the price of the book because Amazon
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  Everywhere else has ferries, but the Isle of Man has boats.  A rose by any other name... As many of you know, our new boat Manxman  promised a lot but is turning out to be a bit rubbish (stop giggling at the back there ladies).  The boat's owner, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co., is the oldest shipping company in the world.  With its home port in Douglas it has almost a monopoly of things carried to and from the island.  Almost but not quite. W.S. Mezeron is a shipping company based in Ramsey, the Isle of Man's biggest town now that the capital Douglas has been elevated to a city.  Most of Mezeron's work is done by  Silver River , seen above unloading at Ramsey.  Mezeron mainly handles container freight but, judging by the brand-new transit van on its deck, is quite happy to carry other items for paying customers.  Or perhaps it wasn't a brand-new van, just a frustrated passenger defecting from the Steam Packet as Manxman fails, once again, to cross half of the Irish