Island dwelling. Have you? Would you? Could you?
Discussion
I love a good island, particularly British ones.
My latest was Alderney which was great fun, for a couple of days.
The idea of living full time somewhere that takes ten minutes to circumnavigate and leaves your travel options forever and entirely at fog's mercy and a requiring a healthy bank balance gives me some significant willie's.
Is it something you yourself would consider, have actually done or grew up in such a place and escaped from?
My latest was Alderney which was great fun, for a couple of days.
The idea of living full time somewhere that takes ten minutes to circumnavigate and leaves your travel options forever and entirely at fog's mercy and a requiring a healthy bank balance gives me some significant willie's.
Is it something you yourself would consider, have actually done or grew up in such a place and escaped from?
I've done Flat Holm which a very odd place strewn with rubble and rabbit skeletons. Steep Holm is next.
Isles of Scilly are firm faves of mine too but that's a pretty hard core place to be in winter too. I love the idea but I also thrive on fresh places too. I'm not sure I could take the grind of getting on and off.
Isles of Scilly are firm faves of mine too but that's a pretty hard core place to be in winter too. I love the idea but I also thrive on fresh places too. I'm not sure I could take the grind of getting on and off.
Yipper said:
Island holiday = exciting.
Island living = inbred tedium.
Either Yipper has extensive experience of island living, in which case he is - at least by is own assertion - a tedious inbred, or he's talking his usual standard of flatulent cobblers.Island living = inbred tedium.
I think most of is know which is more likely.
Personally, I would willingly spend much more time than I have done on the Inner Hebrides that have runways - Islay, Coll, Colonsay and Mull - and wish that the latter three had avgas as well - but have spent enough time there already to know that long term island living means being able to enjoy being part of the island community, warts and all. Not for everyone.
Edited by eharding on Wednesday 28th February 00:31
My grandparents had a house on this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangar_Island
I loved going there as a kid and when I was about 19 or so I lived in a boat shed there. I ended up leaving due to a run in with one of the more colourful characters on the island and ended up being stalked for years by her.
I loved my time there and would do it again if I weren't happy on my farm. I had an excuse to get out of going to pretty much anything and everybody was always really friendly.
Sadly the island mix of retiree's and hippies has made way for baby boomer millionaires who love the community spirit as long as it suits their agenda. They are like a home owners association gestapo. My favourite one was when the local bowling club chef died in his bed. The rich folk pulled some strings to make sure he was pronounced dead on the mainland as they were worried about how it would affect house prices. Good times.
I loved going there as a kid and when I was about 19 or so I lived in a boat shed there. I ended up leaving due to a run in with one of the more colourful characters on the island and ended up being stalked for years by her.
I loved my time there and would do it again if I weren't happy on my farm. I had an excuse to get out of going to pretty much anything and everybody was always really friendly.
Sadly the island mix of retiree's and hippies has made way for baby boomer millionaires who love the community spirit as long as it suits their agenda. They are like a home owners association gestapo. My favourite one was when the local bowling club chef died in his bed. The rich folk pulled some strings to make sure he was pronounced dead on the mainland as they were worried about how it would affect house prices. Good times.
I married and lived on an island called Utsira, (google it) smallest community in Norway approx 200 people. We have a farm/croft that is around 1/6 of the island, which my kids will inherit. Norway has huge subsidies to keep small communities alive, so shop, pub/restaurant (my ex ran them), sport hall, swimming pool, old peoples home/clinic, church, 3 car ferries a day to the mainland, (when i first visited they lifted the car on to the deck of a boat with the onboard crane).
I hated it, never did more than 10 days without leaving. Great thing was the school, 27 students 16 full time teachers. Problem was kids had no role models, so lacked ambition. My 2 oldest kids who traveled the world in their holidays had a fantastic education, they were ambitious and the time the teachers spent with then was unbelievable. Because they were totally bi-lingual at home they had an English teacher who came one day a week just to teach them English, They were twins and their class was them and a cousin.
But I'm sure you can imagine what such an insular life can do. My kids were lucky that we also had property in the UK and Asia so holidays were spent in the big wide world.
But people had a great work ethic, full employment, no police, incredibly clean, no crime, no vandalism, Some times the police car would come on the ferry to do drink driving test, my wife's cousin was the master, so beer sales in the pub that night were restricted,
There were advantages, my FIL locked the front door in 1986 when he came to visit me, key broke, he could not remember the door ever locked in his 65 years, we had the house in 1999 and the broken key was still in the lock
In the 80's I spent a few weeks on Lundy climbing, which is about the same size, great to visit would I live on a small island absolutely not you need to be born to it..
I hated it, never did more than 10 days without leaving. Great thing was the school, 27 students 16 full time teachers. Problem was kids had no role models, so lacked ambition. My 2 oldest kids who traveled the world in their holidays had a fantastic education, they were ambitious and the time the teachers spent with then was unbelievable. Because they were totally bi-lingual at home they had an English teacher who came one day a week just to teach them English, They were twins and their class was them and a cousin.
But I'm sure you can imagine what such an insular life can do. My kids were lucky that we also had property in the UK and Asia so holidays were spent in the big wide world.
But people had a great work ethic, full employment, no police, incredibly clean, no crime, no vandalism, Some times the police car would come on the ferry to do drink driving test, my wife's cousin was the master, so beer sales in the pub that night were restricted,
There were advantages, my FIL locked the front door in 1986 when he came to visit me, key broke, he could not remember the door ever locked in his 65 years, we had the house in 1999 and the broken key was still in the lock
In the 80's I spent a few weeks on Lundy climbing, which is about the same size, great to visit would I live on a small island absolutely not you need to be born to it..
dmulally said:
My grandparents had a house on this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangar_Island
I loved going there as a kid and when I was about 19 or so I lived in a boat shed there. I ended up leaving due to a run in with one of the more colourful characters on the island and ended up being stalked for years by her.
I loved my time there and would do it again if I weren't happy on my farm. I had an excuse to get out of going to pretty much anything and everybody was always really friendly.
Sadly the island mix of retiree's and hippies has made way for baby boomer millionaires who love the community spirit as long as it suits their agenda. They are like a home owners association gestapo. My favourite one was when the local bowling club chef died in his bed. The rich folk pulled some strings to make sure he was pronounced dead on the mainland as they were worried about how it would affect house prices. Good times.
I've never heard of Dangar Island...I loved going there as a kid and when I was about 19 or so I lived in a boat shed there. I ended up leaving due to a run in with one of the more colourful characters on the island and ended up being stalked for years by her.
I loved my time there and would do it again if I weren't happy on my farm. I had an excuse to get out of going to pretty much anything and everybody was always really friendly.
Sadly the island mix of retiree's and hippies has made way for baby boomer millionaires who love the community spirit as long as it suits their agenda. They are like a home owners association gestapo. My favourite one was when the local bowling club chef died in his bed. The rich folk pulled some strings to make sure he was pronounced dead on the mainland as they were worried about how it would affect house prices. Good times.
I've been flirting with the idea of Scotland Island recently
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland_Island,_New...
Not seriously, but not throwaway either.
Have lived in Singapore for nearly 20 years now, does that count ???
can cross the island by car in about 25 minutes (early on a Sunday morning)
Takes about 18 hours to sail from the Causeway eastern side to Causeway western side (which is a circumnavigation of the island) last time i did the race.
Love it here !!!
It is a bit different to Alderney or Tresco though i will give you that !!!
can cross the island by car in about 25 minutes (early on a Sunday morning)
Takes about 18 hours to sail from the Causeway eastern side to Causeway western side (which is a circumnavigation of the island) last time i did the race.
Love it here !!!
It is a bit different to Alderney or Tresco though i will give you that !!!
XJSJohn said:
Have lived in Singapore for nearly 20 years now, does that count ???
can cross the island by car in about 25 minutes (early on a Sunday morning)
Takes about 18 hours to sail from the Causeway eastern side to Causeway western side (which is a circumnavigation of the island) last time i did the race.
Love it here !!!
It is a bit different to Alderney or Tresco though i will give you that !!!
Over egging the question/exclamation marks = early signs of cabin fever?can cross the island by car in about 25 minutes (early on a Sunday morning)
Takes about 18 hours to sail from the Causeway eastern side to Causeway western side (which is a circumnavigation of the island) last time i did the race.
Love it here !!!
It is a bit different to Alderney or Tresco though i will give you that !!!
I could live on Zante I reckon, for the record.
My mum was nearly born on an island called Hitsholm in northern Denmark. I’ve spent every summer since then there (we used to go for 6 weeks as a kid. Now it’s two sadly!). You can rock hop round the island in about 30-45 mins and there are no cars on it at all (walking from one end to the other takes 15 mins!). No pub, shop, etc. It’s utter bliss.
Front bottom said:
XJSJohn said:
Have lived in Singapore for nearly 20 years now, does that count ???
can cross the island by car in about 25 minutes (early on a Sunday morning)
Takes about 18 hours to sail from the Causeway eastern side to Causeway western side (which is a circumnavigation of the island) last time i did the race.
Love it here !!!
It is a bit different to Alderney or Tresco though i will give you that !!!
Over egging the question/exclamation marks = early signs of cabin fever?can cross the island by car in about 25 minutes (early on a Sunday morning)
Takes about 18 hours to sail from the Causeway eastern side to Causeway western side (which is a circumnavigation of the island) last time i did the race.
Love it here !!!
It is a bit different to Alderney or Tresco though i will give you that !!!
.
Actually yes though, even on a place like Singapore, get cabin fever very quickly, fortunately easy to bugger off to other islands for a different variety of cabin fever !!!!
Usually start to get itchy feet for a weekend away after 3 or 4 weeks ....
I lived in shetland for a little over two years. The fact it was an island didn't bother me really, ther were a few annoyances like none of the big chain shops within reach (£300 ferry, and at least two nights and a day off work to go to screwfix for example).
I liked the fact everyone knew everyone. I liked the lack of choice. Every night out was the sae two pubs and the single 'club'. I had to buy a suit once, so I went to the suit shop. They had two suits in my size, blue or grey, I chose blue. I was home in just over ten minutes.
My partner was not as keen on the fact everyone knew everyone.
It was great for a couple of years, but perhas not for ever. We would go back perhaps though for some time.
The problem with Shetland was the weather was a bit grim, other islands don't have that problem. Hot summer day in July / August is 15 degrees max.
I liked the fact everyone knew everyone. I liked the lack of choice. Every night out was the sae two pubs and the single 'club'. I had to buy a suit once, so I went to the suit shop. They had two suits in my size, blue or grey, I chose blue. I was home in just over ten minutes.
My partner was not as keen on the fact everyone knew everyone.
It was great for a couple of years, but perhas not for ever. We would go back perhaps though for some time.
The problem with Shetland was the weather was a bit grim, other islands don't have that problem. Hot summer day in July / August is 15 degrees max.
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