I've been looking forward to today because Jean Smart, the pharmacist from Creemore was coming to Oban to catch a cruise ship. She's travelling with a girlfriend from Creemore also. It promises to be a wonderful 10 day cruise right the way around Scotland, including St. Kilda and the Orkneys and ending up in Edinburgh.
I found out that she was coming a couple of months ago when I was getting my prescriptions organized for the 6 months here. Well, Creemore is a small community and didn't she say that Lorna MacDougall (my GP) had mentioned that I stay here in the summer ... hmm ... so much for patient confidentiality!
Aside: Lorna MacDougall's family seat is right here in Oban and we live right beside the old family home: Dunollie Castle AND the current head of the clan is, you guessed it, Lorna MacDougall.
Anyway, what with one thing and another, I was able to go and greet them off the bus and onto the waiting ship. It was all great fun and a good laugh.
First of all, I got mixed up and thought that they were coming yesterday. I figured out my mistake in a hurry when a ferry was positioned at the north pier and no sign of a cruise ship.
Because I am so smart, today, before setting out, I checked the Oban webcam at Eeusk the seafood restaurant, first, and sure enough there was a white hull taking up the whole frame and I knew that was a cruise ship.
Jean had told me an ETA and I was in enough time to get a chai tea latte and then wander over to get some photos of the ship docked at the north pier. As I was walking back a couple of tour buses drove slowly by and I thought that it was them. I started waving my Canadian flag like mad and tried to make eye contact ... the passengers looked horrified and tried NOT to make eye contact - in fact I think that they asked the drivers to hurry along. The buses carried on right through town.
I am sure that those passengers were delighted to be leaving Oban which obviously allows lunatic tourists to wander the streets ...
Jean's double decker bus arrived right at the ship so I could wave my flag with confidence this time. Everyone smiled, laughed and waved back .... one passenger even gave me the thumbs up and that was Margaret Atwood.
When she got off the bus she came over and we shared a couple of innocuous words about why I was there. Then, she asked point blank if I was going on the cruise; when she learned that I was not joining them, she turned heel and left me with my mouth open and the rest of my sentence left unsaid ...
Note that I did not include her in my list: Working Girls ... obviously, there was a reason for that.
I've since looked through the internet and Ms Atwood is listed as the trip leader for 'The Great Excursions Company'. Jean is with 'Adventure Canada,' I wonder if Ms Atwood will talk to them?
On the other hand, Jean and Marjorie were delighted to see me and we had a good visit. Jean said that there were two other couples from Creemore on board as well as a couple from Collingwood and another from Shelburne. (I suppose it's not that surprising as the trip is organized by Canadian based tour companies, but still kinda neat). I took photos of the girls boarding, and I even remembered to give them the bottle of 'Heather Cream' (alcoholic) that I got for them to have in their stateroom.
Himself has been at Chardonnay all day getting her organized. He and Keith (our sailing buddy who sails solo) and I have decided to grab a pizza later on and may see Jean and the 'Clipper Odyssey' sail off into the sunset ...
No comments:
Post a Comment