The weather in Scotland has been pretty miserable lately. Trees have been knocked over. Umbrellas have been distroyed. Trains were delayed. And my hair hasn’t looked right in over a week. Imagine Carrot Top’s hair but less ginger. Then picture it on me. It hasn’t been pretty.
But if you live on a remote Scottish island, bad weather can be more than a minor inconvenience. High winds meant that Caledonian MacBrayne had to cancel two sailings from Oban to Colonsay this week. Since the CalMac ferries bring fresh food supplies to the island’s only grocer, the shop was looking pretty bare by the week's end. Once all the bread, milk, eggs and fruit were gone, the store was left with the following items:
Whisky
6 tins of caviar
Butter
1 leek
2 small carrots
Several packets of cornflakes
I’ve often fantasized about living on a Scottish island. I love the beautiful beaches, close-knit communities and the laid-back island lifestyle. Here’s the problem – I love food more.
I love living in Glasgow because I can buy all the poncey, overpriced vegetarian food I want. I can choose between a dozen different kinds of tofu at Roots & Fruits. I can get a very smelly chunk of Brie de Meaux from the cheesemonger. I can buy things like nori seaweed, blood oranges, quinoa and dolmades. I can’t imagine having to rely on just one shop. The thought of having to eat a leek/carrot/cornflake casserole because of cancelled ferries makes me very, very hungry.
Maybe someday I’ll learn to value natural beauty and tranquillity over organic chilli chocolate and Lupe Pintos’ homemade guacamole. Until then, I’ll remain a stressed-out and highly-strung but very well-fed city dweller.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
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7 comments:
You know the worst part? I bet these people were more concerned the grocer would have to ration the whiskey than about having to fight over who got the leek
I would love visiting but living on a small island would be very difficult.
I always tell The Beautiful Children, you live near a Starbucks, you go visit the scenery. It's always worked for me !
I love, love, love the islands here. But, unfortuntately, living on one would be totally impractical for me. It's not only the food thing - I have no car, I wouldn't know what to do for work, and, as much as I like the idea of laid-back island life, I'm too tightly wound to enjoy it.
Totally wrong - you'd survive easily. We don't have a car and it's easy. Bus services here are cheaper, safer and more reliable (truly door to door) than Glasgow. About as different from the no.40, which we endured in Maryhill, as you can get.
Once here, get online and look for work. Telework, whatever. My other half does proofreading and builds websites. I research the use of virtual environments in UK academia.
Shopping - do most of it online e.g. 3 cases of wine at a time from Virgin Wines.
Bills - don't have a car and they'll be lower, especially mortgage repayments. Here, 130K buys you a 4 bedroom detached house with gardens down to the sea. Convert 2 bedrooms into offices, and work from home. Hmmm, what can you buy for that price in Edinburgh? :-)
My brother lives on Skye, despite it's amazing beauty, it would be a cold day in Haiti before I moved there.
Silversprite - Hmmm...well, right now I work on websites and do editing, so I could potentially do that from home. And I'm very impressed by the cheap housing - 130K won't get you much in Glasgow or Edinburgh.
Maybe someday....
A Brit Different - Skye is my favourite Scottish island (so far). Plus I found a place there that makes AMAZING veggie burgers.
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