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Four Weddings and a 40th Birthday Party…
By Shaz (submitted 7th June 2006)
(Non Member’s Account of the Rannoch Dinner Meet 2006)
Despite the fact that I had signed up for the Dinner Meet months in advance, it
would appear that it had not been possible to add my email address to the Dinner
Meet circulation list. The advantage of this was that I did not have to witness
the horror that was the Pre-Dinner Meet Planning Operation. The downside was
that I was reliant on a third party to feed me selected snippets of information
as and when they saw fit. I suspect that said snippets were selected on the
basis of their likely impact on my sanity rather than for their informative
value.
I was to travel to Arran with Rhona and, anxious as ever to escape from our
domestic responsibilities at the earliest possible opportunity, we girls had
opted to catch the earlier of the two ferries on the Friday night. JD, keen that
we were not let loose on his patch unsupervised, made sure that he was there to
keep an eye on us from the outset by catching the early boat too.
All went well with the arrangements until the cafeteria on the boat ran out of
fish just as we were placing (or should that be ‘plaicing’…ho ho) our order for
three fish and chips. We were told it would be ‘two minutes’ and, as we were
feeling relaxed and in the holiday mood, this was not a problem.
Some time later however, the food had not arrived and we could see dry land fast
approaching. We were starting to get slightly on edge about the whole fish
thing. And then it happened…..one by one, other passengers in the queue started
arriving at the till with plates of…..you’ve guessed it…..FISH!! Rhona could
keep her cool no longer. She sprung out of her seat and rushed up to the guy at
the till to point out the injustice and unfairness of it all. We were assured it
would all be sorted out and, a short time later, our fish did finally arrived
along with the Manager who offered profuse apologies and complimentary teas and
coffees. Sadly, subtle hints about free drinks were not acknowledged.
As a result of all this upset, however, we had to rush our meal and to get our
bags as the ferry docked. It was not until we had disembarked (I believe that is
the correct terminology) and arrived at JD’s Island Home that I realised that,
in the midst of all the confusion, I had left my purse on the boat….and by that
time, the boat was half way back to Ardrossan.
Remaining calm, cheery and optimistic throughout, I managed to get in touch with
someone at CalMac. However, attempts by staff there to contact the boat were
unsuccessful and it looked like we would have to take matters into our own
hands.
We tried to ring the mobile phones of various members of the B team who were due
to come over on the next ferry, starting with the most sensible and working our
way down. Most mobile phones were turned off, however, eventually, we ended up
with Nick. After explaining calmly and succinctly what had happened, we left it
to him to speak to the staff at the ferry office in Ardrossan. To cut a very
long story short (too late?) information was received and conveyed that the
purse had been found before the ferry left for Ardrossan and that it was in fact
in the ferry office in Brodick ready to be collected when the office re-opened
in time for the arrival of the next ferry.
A short time later, we walked back down to the ferry office and picked up the
purse along with members of the B team – Mary, Andy, Carol, Alan, John and Nick
who had just arrived off the boat. A small welcome reception Chez JD followed to
kick off the weekend officially, however, before long, JD, anxious to be rid of
us before too much damage was done, ordered a taxi to take us on to the Corrie
Hotel. Rhona, clearly still fired up after the earlier fish incident, had a wee
go at the taxi driver for failing to help us to load our luggage into the back
of his car, not realising obviously that we were not in a strong position at
that point, the last bus to the hotel having departed some three hours earlier,
and also forgetting that some people have to live and work in that area and that
it is important for them to forge good relations with the locals.
We made it to the hotel, however, without being thrown out of the taxi and were
shown to our respective rooms and bunkroom to dump our stuff. A few returned to
the bar for a night cap where they were interrogated by locals eager for
information about where we had come from and who we had been visiting, all the
while giving the impression that they already knew all the answers to the
questions they were asking.
The next morning, after breakfast, we had a stroll along the costal road and
enjoyed the views all around. Couldn’t quite see the top of the hill but we were
optimistic that it would clear later on in the day….
Our target was Goat Fell. It was a day which smacked of Kylie Protocol, with
people walking together up the hill, stopping to chat and waiting for those who
had opted for a more sedate pace. It was also a bigger hill day than some of us
had envisaged and, eventually, the weather could hold off no longer and the
heavens opened to leave all soaked to the skin by the time the summit was
reached. However, as always, with the summit came relief that that the worse was
over and all we need do was smartly retrace our steps knowing that we were
getting ever closer to the foot of the hill, a hot bath and the bar. Not so….
Apparently, there was an alternative route off the hill which would allow us to
prolong our day and provide countless opportunities for scrambling over wet,
slippery rocks and climbing up and over large rocky pinnacles with treacherous
drops below. It was the obvious choice.
Relief at arriving back at the hotel some hours later was immense. Miraculously,
we made it back in time to factor in showers and baths, and naps or drinks (but
not both) before dinner. All were glad to be able to get dried off and changed
into fresh clothes after being soaked on the hill. All, that is, except JD whose
plan was to take a taxi back to his Island Home to get washed and changed for
dinner. Good plan, except there were no taxis available due to the fact that
there were four weddings (and a 40th Birthday Party) on Arran that day….or was
it just pay back time after the previous night’s taxi incident? I guess we will
never know the real answer to that one.
Not to worry, the Rannoch rose to the occasion and, before long, JD was kitted
out in borrowed t-shirt, trousers and pants generously donated by the team.
Just before the dinner gong sounded, the local bus drew up at yards from the
hotel and off jumped……Colin. Despite only being back from the Hot Rock trip for
a matter of hours, he had pulled out all the stops and used up six months’ worth
of passes (and I don’t mean bus passes) to arrive at the Dinner Meet with
minutes to spare. Unfortunately, I was not part of the welcoming party due to
being upstairs getting dolled up for the dinner and thus missed all the jokes
about bus passes and Saga holidays. However, some jokes are worth repeating ad
nauseum.
Dinner was excellent. The standard of the food seemed to be more than
acceptable. The standard of conversation was at the usual low ebb. But what can
you expect.
Diners retired to the bar afterwards for an evening of banter, sociability and
drinking, not necessarily in that order. However, for some, it had all been too
much and an embarrassingly early night ensued. For others, the bitter end was
stuck out till.
Breakfast next morning was a sociable event with all present and correct - some
more present than others. C made an early escape on foot to Brodick for the
morning ferry while those remaining had tea in the sunshine admiring the views,
the hill clear and proud against blue skies. Shame all our gear was still
soaking from the day before or it could have been the perfect hill day.
Just as I was starting to relax in the sun, the call went out…..the bus leaves
in nine minutes. There followed a hectic scramble to pack, pay the bill and get
to the bus stop before the bus arrived. Somewhat dishevelled and in disarray,
the team arrived just in time - last to arrive at the bus stop but first on the
bus which is always good (but not always popular with the other passengers).
Despite the last minute scramble, we had made it. But where was Mary? Oh My God.
We had forgotten to inform Mary of our last minute decision to catch the bus to
Brodick and she had been left back at the Hotel….alone. But who was going to
phone her and break the news? Rhona chickened out so it was down to Nick.
As luck would have it, the bus arrived in Brodick before the morning ferry
departed so we got there in time to give C a good send off. Shortly after that,
a taxi arrived with Mary in it. Least said, soonest mended, that’s what I say.
Some of the team had opted to prolong the weekend and spend a few more hours on
Arran before heading back to the mainland later in the day. Just as we were
heading for the boat, we spotted Kylie member Anoif trying to sneak past us on
her bike but we managed to holler her down and she was forced to stop and chat.
Looking slim, glamorous and fit as ever, she explained that she was just
completing a three island challenge with some of her mates on bikes where they
had apparently washed, dried and styled their hair on three separate islands
over the weekend and all for the price of £16….at least, I think that was the
gist of it.
The Kylie team were heading back on the same boat as us so there was a good
chance to catch up on all the gossip and make tentative arrangements for an
inter-club curry night in the not too distant future.
So that was the Rannoch Dinner Meet 2006. Thanks to Andy for arranging it all.
Looking forward to next year’s already.
CLICK HERE
FOR IMAGES OF DINNER
Shaz
23 May 2006
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