More Roamerisms from the 1980s
It was ceilidh time in the Small Isles as the directors and officials of Lochaber Limited, our local enterprise company, went to work – on Eigg. Overseas, aboard the Shearwater. The novel twist for their meeting and workshopping with the islanders of Eigg and Muck was that the business was being conducted aboard the Shearwater itself. The Small Isles cognoscenti among you will know that the vessel also doubles – and, in some cases, trebles – as the Eigg pub. The Shearwater is licensed and the locals troop down to the pier when it arrives to have a chat, a dram and a beer. So the Lochaber Limited ‘Boarding Party’ went with a real swing, with the islanders appreciating the efforts of the company in taking time out to sail across to meet them.
After working on seven consecutive nights, the Magnificent Seven from C Shift went to the Volley for a hard-earned pint. Led by Jimmy, they trooped in – much to the delight of their host, Sammy Ball. Sammy pulled four pints of lager and three of heavy. But Jimmy had been telling his mates all week that, much as he looked forward to having a pint at the end of constant night shift, the first one always tasted ‘horrible’. So ‘Cheers’! cried the lads, before each one of them, solemnly, leaned over the bar, and poured his pint down Sammy’s sink. Sammy, whom you’d think had seen it all in his catering career, was amazed. ‘Why the hell did you do that?’ he asked, totally flummoxed. ‘Well,’ responded Morry, ‘Jimmy here’s always going on about the first pint after constant night shift tasting horrible, so we’re starting this night out with the second pint instead. Same again, please, Sammy!’ (Not since the Sunday when Sammy, in the long black raincoat, black suit and Homburg hat was heading into town, was greeted at the town park by two elderly ladies who said in unison, ‘Good Morning, Father’ has Sammy been so lost for words.)