Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[sevenlayermuddle]

My Gaelic-speaking pals at University came from various islands, including at least two from Islay.   I have no idea how Islay Gaelic might compare to Skye, or which would be more perfect?

BTW Mike, I hope Weaver will agree, whilst Gaelic speakers Islanders may be rightly proud of their language, I have never met one who does not also speak perfect English.   More perfect than certainly myself, and many parts of England in fact, owing to absence of bad habits such as “Estuary” (from watching East Enders).   And all Gaelic speakers I have met are only too willing to speak in English when needed.

[Weaver]

I do know a couple of people whose English is pretty iffy, although improved recently in one case. And I know of people who at certain times never had much of an opportunity to speak English - there would be a chance a few times per week. It’s very rare


Gàidhlig Ìle / Islay Gaelic is very different to Skye Gaelic in some respects not in others. It’s getting closer to Donegal and Antrim (RIP) Gaelic. One odd thing I am told about Islay Gaelic is that it is more common now in the towns / villages of Islay than in the rural areas. Its sound system is different, the vowels very very different to Skye / Uibhist / Mull so that math pron [ma] in Skye and neighbouring areas is [mɛː] where that vowel is like that in ‘where’ / ‘mare’ / ‘care’ and adopt an East Yorks, Hull/York accent. And that’s a systematic odd trait other words adopting that [mɛː] instead of [a]. Well known idioms are different, such as ‘thank you’ is ‘tapadh leibh’ [t̪ʰapa l’v] / [t̪ʰapa l’e(j)v] and various other variants in the ‘standard’ that is Skye + Uibhist/Barra/Harris and even Lewis, but in Islay it is ‘gura maith agaibh’ [gurə mɛː akəv] with stress on the second word. ( Nite that I am using the non-familiar form of pronominal inflections like tu/vous in French and du/Sie in German, I have given the form that is the equivalent of ‘vous’ as that is what you will hear being a stranger.) This latter Ìleach idiom is that used in Manx Gaelic and in Irish Gaelic and they would find Skye incomprehensible.

I have been listening carefully to recordings of Ìleach Gàidhlig speakers on the BBC but I’ve never been fortunate enough to meet anyone in person.

Were you by any chance at Glasgow University?

[sevenlayermuddle]

Were you by any chance at Glasgow University?

Indeed I was. 

At about age 5 or 6, Dad showed me how to complete a circuit, using a pair of scissors, between a torch bulb and a battery.  I was smitten.   From that day onwards I knew I wanted to be an Electronics Engineer.  I lived in Glasgow, Glasgow Uni was good for engineering, and I clearly lacked any sense of adventure, so why look further?

Not entirely sure how I lost focus post-graduation, spending my career in boring software, but there you go.

[Weaver]

I have awe and total respect for anyone who is electronic design literate - it is all dark magic to me. I have been software only. My relationship with digital electronics ended in a row and divorce with me and my friend OurKeith trying to wire up a set of traffic lights - miserable failure. Finding out that I could get a job writing assembly language and I was gone, games programming in the West End.

Languages have always been ‘my thing’ though and took over my life in the mid 1990s when I decided that I was seeing nothing new in software, that and various other unrelated things.

[tickmike]

We have been back for over a week now and I am just getting around to give an update on our trip. 
Part 1
I noticed my mobile phone was a bit low on charge so put it on charge before the taxi came to take us to the nearby railway station, When I was at the station my wife asked what time is the train so putting my hand in my pocket to get my phone and look, what phone, ****  What phone, yes you guessed the phone that is still in the house 10 miles away and still on charge. 
It only had all the train times, Sleeper train PDF tickets, guest house details, my Driving license, My Credit card, my photo ID for the Plane. and lots more.
So not a good start. 
Lucky I had all my train tickets in my coat, when I got to Euston Station to get the Caledonian sleeper train, the chap just asked our names and did not need any PDF tickets.
As expected we went on the old sleeper train, I had not used a uk sleeper before and was not impressed at all, we booked first class cabins but was more like a second class, the ride was not too bad but the shunting of the train to split it up into smaller sections at Edinburgh would wake the deepest of sleepers.
The breakfast was a bit of a joke, with dried up Scottish breakfast, the problem was one host looking after four coaches of people. 
If you book  'Club ' first class you can use the Caledonian lounge at Inverness, free food and drinks, nice very clean toilets and showers with towels provided.
The next problem was at Inverness, there was no way the chap would let me have the car hire I had booked and paid for some months earlier without seeing my driving  even though I gave him all the details of the booking and I had a special code so they could look at my driving license on line .
By chance my wife had her driving license and also my daughter did.
In the end they let my wife be the main driver and my daughter second driver after paying another £276 because of my daughter age.  being I had already paid £500 for the car hire.
I had a very nice relaxing time 'Back seat driving'  to be continued.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Oh dear, didn’t really go to plan, then.   

If it’s any consolation, anytime we depart on a remotely important journey, by the time we get to the end of the driveway, better half will have asked at least three times “Have you definitely got your wallet and your phone!”.   And yes, she speaks with an exclamation mark, rather than a question mark.    It is an unsympathetic reminder of the very rare (by my estimation) occasions I have left things behind.   

Sorry to hear the sleeper train disappointed, that was kind of on my bucket list.    I wonder if service levels are simply dropping?    I am in GWR region and can testify, comfort in the new Japanese-sourced rolling stock is a dreadfully poor imitation of the old HSTs (/125s), and that applies to both first class and standard.

[Weaver]

British customer service for you.

[tickmike]

Lets hope they get the New sleeper trains sorted out soon, I will give it a year then book on them again.
Part 2
Having freshened up in the sleeper lounge opposite Inverness station we had our first look around Inverness then had some lunch before we set off down the side of Loch Ness on the B852 on our way to Ilse of Skye stopping lots of times to take pictures including Eilean Dolnan castle.
The bungalow (on the LHS as you enter Portree, Cnoc Mhairi ) we hired for the week was very nice and the view out of the window was mind blowing and we voted it the best view we have ever had.
We spent all week going around the island and looking at the wonderful scenery, walked up some Mountains  hills and visited lots of the ' out of the way ' area's the busiest was Neist Point lighthouse, no way was the isle of Skye 'Full'.
We asked ourselves why we have waited all this time to visit The Isle of Skye.

[j0hn]

The next problem was at Inverness, there was no way the chap would let me have the car hire I had booked and paid for some months earlier without seeing my driving  even though I gave him all the details of the booking and I had a special code so they could look at my driving license on line .

Do you mean seeing your photo driving license?
I wouldn't blame that on the hire company. It's possibly a legal/insurance requirement.
The hefty increase in cost is not so good though.

I regularly hire vans and occasionally cars and don't think any of the companies I've used (usually Arnold Clark) allow me to hire a vehicle without bringing my photo license along.

Despite having hired from them a dozen times, them having photo copies of my license and me having the necessary DVLA code, they insist I bring my photo license with me to collect vehicles.

I hope you enjoyed your trip 

[tickmike]

@j0hn
Yes it was with my mobile phone which was on charge in our house a long way away.
It was nice to just sit back and look at the wonderful scenery and take photo's. 

[Weaver]

Brilliant