Off doon South for the day

Visiting family in a town south of the border. Anyone recognise it?

Thought for the Week

'Why are same sex marriages so controversial? After all, most people are in a same sex marriage. They have sex, and it is always the same.'

Oban Whale update

For those of you concerned about the future of our local Oban Bay whale it appears to have moved on.  Whale I like the bit when the writer thanks the local boat owners for letting the whale to be about the Bay, they had a choice?

Never let talent get in the way.

Guess where Sir James Crosby (knighted for services to the financial industry, two years after Fred Goodwin) went to work when he left HBOS? The FSA (Financial Services Authority) of course. You really couldn't make it up. Have one guess who is (or used to be) a special advisor to the Treasury on the operation of the mortgage market. Got it in one.  For those of you not familiar with the gent here is a link http://goo.gl/zsjP8 

If you think having talent will help your career have a look at what happened to Mozart.  Bitter and twisted me??

Turn for the worse.

Can I misquote from Emperor Hirohito on his speech to end the war with the Allies, "my career situation has developed not necessarily to my advantage".  I had applied for a position as 2^nd Mate back in February and having not heard anything I contacted the office a couple of times to ask about the interviews, I hold the required qualifications, have relevant experience and indeed my appraisals have indicated I was suitable for promotion, last time away I was sailing as 2^nd Officer. 

Today after not being contacted by our HR department, I managed to speak to someone who informs me that the interviews for the post were last week and I have not been considered.  I asked if there was any reason, but apparently the man who decides such things is leaving the Company on Friday and it seems unlikely that I will receive any feedback. Thank you Caledonian MacBrayne, I feel like a valued employee. 

I know to many this probably makes me sound like a spoilt brat and that I should be grateful for my present job, but what makes me annoyed is that I spoke to the office when they were probably doing the interviews and was fobbed off, it took me to call them and now this is the second time this has happened. 

Here we go again

The start of another season, as ever spirits are up and the hopes are that this is the year when the winds will be fair and the sun shining to allow those long down wind cruises to far flung exotic spots to the South and West of Arran.  Remind me of this when I write to complain about being storm bound in Rothesay.

More whale pics

The whale is still with us here in Oban Bay, some say it's a sperm
others a Minkie. Whatever species, it seems reluctant to leave and we
are getting a bit bored with the regular broadcasts from the
Coastguard warning all vessels of its presence.

Whale spotting

We have been dodging a whale in the Bay here at Oban the last couple of days.  There is some uncertainty as to its species but it is big about 20 odd feet long with a hump and big T bar tail.  I along with most of the crew have been trying to photograph it but this shot is much better than anything I have managed. http://goo.gl/swA1a

Travel disruption nationwide

Seems to be no end to this winter weather. We did one sailing across
to Craignure this morning and had a lot of trouble getting in to the
extent we went in astern eventually and all the traffic on board had
to turn around to get off. The rest of our scheduled sailings for
this day have been cancelled, along with the majority of the West
Coast.
The gales are from the East and most places are not sheltered from
this direction, the (previously) prevaling direction being west or
south west.
Next go is tomorrow morning, but things don't look good.

Spotted on a wardrobe this morning

Nosey Parker.

Up a ladder

The day was spent pleasantly enough going up and down a ladder polishing the port side of the boat, this after washing it down and rinsing off.  I then set about the starboard side to find that I have become old, it was a case of either finish the job and fall over in a stupor or go home and fall asleep in a chair.  I chose the latter.  Anyway I think the photo shows that I have done a reasonable job on the bits I did do.

Why do we have DST?

I am an early riser, at 6:15 today I looked out at the wintry scene above and across at the morning twilight.  Which was lovely, and at that time of the morning there are few folk around to appreciate it which brings me onto my blog writing today.

Why do we continue to have the clock changes for winter time when we do?  The winter solstice, when the sun is at its lowest in the sky, and the daylight is at its shortest, occurs on the 21st of December.  Some 2 months earlier on the last Sunday of October we put our clocks back to GMT, the sun then rises at 7:15 and sets at 16:45.  By the 21st of February the days are getting longer and the sun rise and set times are the same as at the time change in October.  As things are at the moment however it is still more than a month till we change the clocks again and "spring" forward to British Summer Time on the 31st of March.  By then the sun is rising at 5:53 and setting at 18:51.

Would it not make so much more sense to put the clocks forward at the end of February?  We would enjoy an extra hour of daylight in the evening, and it will still be getting light by 6:45 in the morning so that should keep the farmers and school children happy and we won't need to put the lights on for another hour.  Better for the environment and our general well being.

A change from sunsets, a moon set.

Spotted this morning at 7, the moon dropping down behind Kerrera Island.

Our fantastic run of weather unfortunately seems to have petered out today, bit overcast with mist patches, still dry and quite warm so as they say mustn't grumble.

Some personal news, I will be returning to the ship next month as 2nd Mate.  Not a full time post but a step in the right direction.

To Colonsay and back.

Strange days here for February. Wall to wall sunshine with light
easterly breezes and no particular sign of any change in the near
future, bring it on.

Amazing view this evening.

Sunny day on the west coast.

Duart Castle

 It was too good a day to miss out on the opportunity to take some photos of my regular haunts between Mull and Oban.

View from the office window looking forward.

Lismore Light, no sign of spring yet

Independent Scotland, no thanks.

For a change to my usual posts on ferries and bagels, I thought that I would like to go public on my stance to the Scottish Independence debate.  I have never had a romantic notion of our nation becoming some kind of self-sufficient utopia, as the referendum approaches I am even more convinced that it would be a grave mistake for us to separate from the rest of the UK.  Do I want the status quo to continue, yes more or less maybe with slightly more power devolved to the Scottish Parliament in particular tax raising powers but Independence would be bad for the Nation.

If the referendum did go for separation what would our independent nation actually be like?  Well I don’t believe anyone knows, it would only be once we started the process that all the details would have to be considered seriously.  The reason I say that is because up till now I have not read or heard of much detail on so many subjects that will have to be addressed.  It is evident to me that many of the questions raised have not been considered in any kind of depth.

EU membership.  It is agreed by all parties that we should be a member, the legal advice and the word from the EU say that Scotland will not be an automatic member as it will be considered a new state and as such will have to apply.  It doesn’t sound unreasonable and furthermore two countries Spain and Belgium, which have separatist movements of their own, will not be willing to let Scotland automatically become a member.  If we then have to have to apply what will the terms be? Not the same as the UK with its rebate and place at the top table that is for certain.  With our population and GDP we will be considered alongside Estonia and Latvia somewhere down the line from Portugal, a member but without any particular influence over policy.

I would ask that you consider some of the other issues that have recently been raised.  Royal Mail, it presently charges the same price to deliver a letter or parcel from one part of the UK to another.  Clearly the cost of delivering to Uist, Barra or Ullapool are greater than from NW1 to SE3 so the profits from the huge amount of mail that moves around the South East of the country subsidises the mail to the rest.  Same applies to the BBC, a transmitter in the Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool area serves millions of viewers, the population being about the same as the whole of Scotland, whereas the Mull transmitter serves Oban, Tobermoray and Craignure.  STV here in Glasgow can’t afford to transmit the same programmes as in England.  My business, shipping, will we automatically become a member of SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) a convention to ensure that all ships meet certain standards.  We will need to set up departments to administer and negotiate our membership.  It just goes on, pensions, national debt, VAT, banking, currency, so many issues that will need to be addressed with the new extra associated costs.

No doubt in your own area of interest you will think of problems that will arise should we separate from the rest of the UK.  The grubby reality is that little of this has been thought through and proponents for independence cast these questions aside with a “that will all be settled in due course”. 

I just hope that those living in Scotland who are getting to vote, use their head’s not their hearts when it comes to the decision.  A cynical observer might consider giving the vote to 16 year old’s as a move towards appealing to a slightly less informed electorate but not me.  A number of my English friends and colleagues are all for it, indeed some think that we are already off on our own.  Why do you think that might be? 

I would urge you to discuss this with your friends and family and consider in detail the consequences of separation.

Which cathedral city is this?

We are just back from a trip to England to see some friends and relatives.  On our way we stopped off at this ancient city with its steep hill and cathedral, anyone recognise it?

There is a canal and a river.

Good looking tourists

And this is the Tourist Information Office.

Some more photos here

Bagels for breakfast

For a while I have been trying to make decent Bagels, with mixed results.  I hope that the cinnamon and raisin one I donated to Dave and Lorna didn't result in any broken teeth. 
Today's batch were cooked using a blend of recipes but as with all true Bagels they were boiled in water before baking.  Admittedly I need to do a bit of work on the shaping of the ring but the taste is great, hard crust with a chewy inside as I believe they should be.  If they ain't boiled they are just "a roll with a hole".  To be fair they are a bit of a faff but then at home just now with time on my hands it passes the afternoon.
For those of you interested my recipe is at Bagel Recipe

My office

A rather distorted view of my office or the bridge of the Ferry Isle of Mull.  Where I spend a considerable number of hours each day while providing the vital lifeline service.  Which today, Tuesday the 29th is off, along with lots of other ferries due to the appaling weather, though it gave a wonderful sunset here in Glasgow strangely enough.