I hadn't realised it had been so long since the last blog but we've been busy.  Sorry about that.

Our last publication of 2022 is just about due from the printer.  In fact it should have been here, but there were 'delays at the factory', so it missed its promised shipment date.  We're now hoping that Ramsey past & present will arrive next week, so it will still be in time for those of you looking for something for Christmas (?!), even if it's later than expected.

Part of the problem with deliveries to the Isle of Man is, of course, the weather and how it affects shipping.  Rain is a nuisance, but worse are high winds, which can delay the boats.  Incidentally, other countries have ferries, we have boats.

Our shipment will probably arrive on the Ben my Chree, the Steam Packet Company's largest boat and the one used for most freight.  The Steam Packet's fastcraft, Manannan, pictured above in Douglas harbour, is great for a quick crossing, but rarely sails in stormy weather and only goes out in the winter if the Ben is out of action.  We can see the boats from the office when they make one of their rare voyages to Northern Ireland.

Ben my Chree is Manx for 'lady of my heart', and Manannan is the Celtic god of the sea.  A new boat is on order, supposed to arrive next year, with the rumoured name of Manxman.  It's a traditional name for one of the Steam Packet's boats, but a bit unimaginative (and sexist).  They might at least have managed either something in Manx - something like Lught yn Aarkey would do; it means 'seafarers' - or Lord of Mann, which, contrary to appearances, is not gender specific.  The Isle of Man is a Crown Dependency, but the British monarch is always the Lord of Mann.  The late Queen was therefore Lord of Mann.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
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
Read more
Image
 Above is Dreemskerry Quarry in the snow.  It's just up the road from the office.  It's actually quite small but looks almost alpine here. No longer a working quarry it is occasionally used for motorbike trials and is also home to a colony of feral cockerels.  Their previous owner kept the hens, as they provide eggs, but the cockerels were non productive (no comments please, ladies) so were 'freed' (aka dumped) in the quarry.  The Isle of Man has no foxes so the birds seem to be doing quite well.  They do appear to have the occasional rowdy party, however, as we can sometimes hear crowing from the office.  Local residents are less than happy at the occasional wake-up call at five in the morning. The island gets very little snow as a rule, but, like most of the north of Britain, had its share today.  The office is sheltered from all but an east wind, but, as that's what it was, we came to work to find the windows plastered with stuck-on snow.  It was like working in
Read more
Image
It may not look earth shattering (sea shattering?), but we saw the island's new ship Manxman go past the office over the weekend.  Distances are deceptive, but from camera to boat is about three miles.  We're not sure what she was doing as she steamed (dieseled?) north quite quickly, turned round in Ramsey Bay and then headed south at a much more leisurely pace. She's not in service yet - in fact she only arrived from Korea where she was built about a week ago - and is still undergoing sea trials.  The crew have to know that they can get her in and out of the various harbours efficiently and at all states of the tide.  She'll enter service later this month and replace Ben-my-Chree as the island's main ferry later this year. While she is undoubtedly a good-looking, modern boat, the name is rubbish.  It manages to be linguistically non Manx, sexist and boring all at the same time.  It's not even traditional, as the only other Manxman to serve in the Steam Packe
Read more