Just part of island life... or never too old for the Mum-run!
D-d and the NYM have just had a short break for the two of them, going somewhere they had always wanted to see - namely Iceland - whilst the children (OK - the teenagers!) went up to their gran and grandad's.
D-d and her husband are well used to the vagaries of off-island travel and so, luckily, took a mid-morning flight to London last Tuesday even though their flight to Reykjavik was not until early Wednesday morning from Gatwick. This was a good thing, as by Tuesday evening we were in the middle of a gale with 50+mph winds so flights off island were somewhat disrupted!
They were flying from Iceland back to Manchester yesterday, rather than Gatwick. This proved to be a fortuitous decision... When I got up yesterday I could only just make out the houses across the road as we had reached, as we sometimes do, the point where a thick sea mist meets an equally thick low cloud cover and the whole island is shrouded in a thick white fog, known locally as Manannan's cloak.
The best way to illustrate it is to show you the view from the Douglas Head webcam at the moment;
Now consider that yesterday morning the only thing visible was the tree in the foreground - not only could you not see as far as the harbour, but you couldn't actually see the road in the foreground!
A quick look at the local airport website showed almost everything cancelled - with the impression that the only flights not yet cancelled were still showing because no-one had yet got around to doing it, after one flight from Manchester late morning got as far as the island, flew around in circles for 30 minutes and went back to Manchester.
A series of messages as soon as their flight from Reykjavik landed showed they were on the case already and, Manchester being close to Liverpool, were able to get a train to Liverpool and had got seats on the Fast-craft for the evening sailing.
They could have got a taxi home (his car being in the airport secure parking facility and hers parked outside their house), but there would be a lot of people coming off that boat and so taxis would be in short supply - hence the need for the Mum-run.
The boat left Liverpool a little late, but it was a calm sea (it usually is when we are under Manannan's Cloak), everything was going to schedule and I went down to the sea terminal in plenty of time so that I managed to get parked and even get a seat in the waiting area.
At 10.00pm, 5 minutes before the boat is due to dock (had I been at home, and it not been foggy, she would have been within sight), the lady beside me gets a text message and goes "Oh my goodness! Delayed until 10.30 as they have launched a lifeboat! They must have a problem!"
I consider... if the boat did have a problem such that they were launching their lifeboats surely they would not have an ETA. Perhaps one of the lifeboats has been accidentally launched and they are retrieving it?
Then I get a text message. 'Delayed until 10.30 due to Lifeboat launch.' Clearly no worries. Then it occurs to me. I text back 'Douglas lifeboat?' Answer 'Well that's what the captain said.' I explain to the somewhat stressed lady beside me. (D-d did wonder, she told me in the car, why I had asked, and had been tempted to say 'No - Peel...')
Douglas lifeboat is launched from the harbour, and if there is an urgent 'shout' she would be getting underway the minute there are enough of the crew there - and the fast-craft (the Manannan, as in the sea-god with the cloak) coming in at the time would slow down, or prevent, them getting straight underway. Manannan did dock at 10.30, it took a while for everyone to disembark as the boat was very full, (they were not the only ones who had managed to get to it as an alternative to cancelled flights) but eventually I got them home to their house about 11.10pm, rather than the 6.00pm they had expected when they left Iceland that morning.
So, in one short break they had just avoided a flight off-island in 50+mph winds (yes - somewhat delayed until the storm calmed to that level, the evening flight did go that night!), had their flight home cancelled due to fog, and then their arrival by sea delayed by the lifeboat. All part of the rich tapestry of island life!
They were probably glad of the gift I had left for them - I had made a gin and tonic cake;
Oh - and the lifeboat launch was in response to a vessel in trouble halfway across the Irish Sea. A lifeboat from the English side also launched and, as is normal under the circumstances, the nearest ordinary vessel to the one in trouble diverted slightly and stood by until the lifeboats arrived.
In this case the nearest vessel was actually Ben-my-Chree, on her way from the island to Heysham in England, and she stood by the stricken vessel for about 90 minutes until the lifeboats arrived. Yet another occasional part of island life.
D-d and her husband are well used to the vagaries of off-island travel and so, luckily, took a mid-morning flight to London last Tuesday even though their flight to Reykjavik was not until early Wednesday morning from Gatwick. This was a good thing, as by Tuesday evening we were in the middle of a gale with 50+mph winds so flights off island were somewhat disrupted!
They were flying from Iceland back to Manchester yesterday, rather than Gatwick. This proved to be a fortuitous decision... When I got up yesterday I could only just make out the houses across the road as we had reached, as we sometimes do, the point where a thick sea mist meets an equally thick low cloud cover and the whole island is shrouded in a thick white fog, known locally as Manannan's cloak.
The best way to illustrate it is to show you the view from the Douglas Head webcam at the moment;
Now consider that yesterday morning the only thing visible was the tree in the foreground - not only could you not see as far as the harbour, but you couldn't actually see the road in the foreground!
A quick look at the local airport website showed almost everything cancelled - with the impression that the only flights not yet cancelled were still showing because no-one had yet got around to doing it, after one flight from Manchester late morning got as far as the island, flew around in circles for 30 minutes and went back to Manchester.
A series of messages as soon as their flight from Reykjavik landed showed they were on the case already and, Manchester being close to Liverpool, were able to get a train to Liverpool and had got seats on the Fast-craft for the evening sailing.
They could have got a taxi home (his car being in the airport secure parking facility and hers parked outside their house), but there would be a lot of people coming off that boat and so taxis would be in short supply - hence the need for the Mum-run.
The boat left Liverpool a little late, but it was a calm sea (it usually is when we are under Manannan's Cloak), everything was going to schedule and I went down to the sea terminal in plenty of time so that I managed to get parked and even get a seat in the waiting area.
At 10.00pm, 5 minutes before the boat is due to dock (had I been at home, and it not been foggy, she would have been within sight), the lady beside me gets a text message and goes "Oh my goodness! Delayed until 10.30 as they have launched a lifeboat! They must have a problem!"
I consider... if the boat did have a problem such that they were launching their lifeboats surely they would not have an ETA. Perhaps one of the lifeboats has been accidentally launched and they are retrieving it?
Then I get a text message. 'Delayed until 10.30 due to Lifeboat launch.' Clearly no worries. Then it occurs to me. I text back 'Douglas lifeboat?' Answer 'Well that's what the captain said.' I explain to the somewhat stressed lady beside me. (D-d did wonder, she told me in the car, why I had asked, and had been tempted to say 'No - Peel...')
Douglas lifeboat is launched from the harbour, and if there is an urgent 'shout' she would be getting underway the minute there are enough of the crew there - and the fast-craft (the Manannan, as in the sea-god with the cloak) coming in at the time would slow down, or prevent, them getting straight underway. Manannan did dock at 10.30, it took a while for everyone to disembark as the boat was very full, (they were not the only ones who had managed to get to it as an alternative to cancelled flights) but eventually I got them home to their house about 11.10pm, rather than the 6.00pm they had expected when they left Iceland that morning.
So, in one short break they had just avoided a flight off-island in 50+mph winds (yes - somewhat delayed until the storm calmed to that level, the evening flight did go that night!), had their flight home cancelled due to fog, and then their arrival by sea delayed by the lifeboat. All part of the rich tapestry of island life!
They were probably glad of the gift I had left for them - I had made a gin and tonic cake;
Oh - and the lifeboat launch was in response to a vessel in trouble halfway across the Irish Sea. A lifeboat from the English side also launched and, as is normal under the circumstances, the nearest ordinary vessel to the one in trouble diverted slightly and stood by until the lifeboats arrived.
In this case the nearest vessel was actually Ben-my-Chree, on her way from the island to Heysham in England, and she stood by the stricken vessel for about 90 minutes until the lifeboats arrived. Yet another occasional part of island life.