Comments on: A lovely Superstition at Isle of Jura http://davidlansing.com/a-lovely-superstition-at-isle-of-jura/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-lovely-superstition-at-isle-of-jura travel writing from a modern-day flâneur Fri, 01 Aug 2014 18:49:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Clive Loveless http://davidlansing.com/a-lovely-superstition-at-isle-of-jura/comment-page-1/#comment-1039 Clive Loveless Thu, 20 May 2010 17:34:40 +0000 http://davidlansing.com/?p=1819#comment-1039 This all takes me back... I just bought an etching by Jason Hicklin at the London Print Show recently entitled "The Paps of Jura"...a fabulous, dark and atmospheric piece of work he made a couple of years ago. I had to have it as it took me back about 45 years ago when my parents, Tony and Joan, ran the Craighouse Inn. I remember my first visit, arriving into the jetty at Small Isles Bay on the MacBraynes boat, probably in 1962 or 63 on a dark pre-Christmas evening. I fell in love straightaway...with the wildness of the place but the intimacy of the village. I remember the characters but not all the names (was it Mr. MacDonald the farmer and his sons), the quiet warmth of the company, the energy of the local ceilidhs, the little shop by the Bay, rowing out to the Small Isles and beating off Greater Black Backed Gulls who dived on the little boat when they saw our beagle hound. I got drunk as a skunk on the whisky, climbed all three Paps on one fine day with a young local who I think was called John James (McKay?)...and made a pilgrimage to the north end of the island, to my hero, Eric Blair's ( George Orwell's) house above the Corryvreckan whirlpool. Over the years I took girl friends up there, including the late Wendy Richard of East Enders fame, who even then caused quite a stir..and finally my wife to be, Jane, before we married in 1970. Strange I haven't visited since....but maybe the images and feelings were so strong then..I feel I'd never recapture them again. A wondereful place...and likewise the people! I wonder who else is alive and living there now from that time....? Clive. This all takes me back… I just bought an etching by Jason Hicklin at the London Print Show recently entitled “The Paps of Jura”…a fabulous, dark and atmospheric piece of work he made a couple of years ago.

I had to have it as it took me back about 45 years ago when my parents, Tony and Joan, ran the Craighouse Inn. I remember my first visit, arriving into the jetty at Small Isles Bay on the MacBraynes boat, probably in 1962 or 63 on a dark pre-Christmas evening. I fell in love straightaway…with the wildness of the place but the intimacy of the village. I remember the characters but not all the names (was it Mr. MacDonald the farmer and his sons), the quiet warmth of the company, the energy of the local ceilidhs, the little shop by the Bay, rowing out to the Small Isles and beating off Greater Black Backed Gulls who dived on the little boat when they saw our beagle hound. I got drunk as a skunk on the whisky, climbed all three Paps on one fine day with a young local who I think was called John James (McKay?)…and made a pilgrimage to the north end of the island, to my hero, Eric Blair’s ( George Orwell’s) house above the Corryvreckan whirlpool. Over the years I took girl friends up there, including the late Wendy Richard of East Enders fame, who even then caused quite a stir..and finally my wife to be, Jane, before we married in 1970. Strange I haven’t visited since….but maybe the images and feelings were so strong then..I feel I’d never recapture them again. A wondereful place…and likewise the people! I wonder who else is alive and living there now from that time….? Clive.

]]> By: David http://davidlansing.com/a-lovely-superstition-at-isle-of-jura/comment-page-1/#comment-206 David Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:39:13 +0000 http://davidlansing.com/?p=1819#comment-206 Yes, there was a certain poignancy to this conversation that I overheard. So many people have left Jura (the population was larger a hundred years ago) and you get the feeling that there is a certain way of life that is being abandoned. So the kilt thing becomes a metaphor for how the people on Jura are losing certain traditions. Yes, there was a certain poignancy to this conversation that I overheard. So many people have left Jura (the population was larger a hundred years ago) and you get the feeling that there is a certain way of life that is being abandoned. So the kilt thing becomes a metaphor for how the people on Jura are losing certain traditions.

]]> By: Sonia http://davidlansing.com/a-lovely-superstition-at-isle-of-jura/comment-page-1/#comment-205 Sonia Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:24:12 +0000 http://davidlansing.com/?p=1819#comment-205 Im smiling...The conversation makes me smile and think, " Oh to have such a worry about a timeless tradition maybe lost". It saddens me and makes me smile all at once. Im of scottish decent, now wondering," Hmmm who may have worn kilts to a dance in my family way back in time?". I so enjoy your writing. Smiles, Sonia ;) Im smiling…The conversation makes me smile and think, ” Oh to have such a worry about a timeless tradition maybe lost”. It saddens me and makes me smile all at once. Im of scottish decent, now wondering,” Hmmm who may have worn kilts to a dance in my family way back in time?”. I so enjoy your writing.

Smiles,
Sonia ;)

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