Every year , in June , the Parish Walk takes place. This is a race walk around the Island, where the walkers have to touch the doors of the seventeen Parish Churches , a trip of over 85 miles. Of over 1000 starters this year , there was only a few finishers [ not surprised...same every year ] and the winner's time was around the 17 hour mark. The young Manx girl, pictured above, astounded everyone when she finished, by setting off on another lap by herself, probably all planned, but she did it.....a non stop walk of nearly 180 miles. and the weather was atrocious.......non stop rain the first day and high winds on the second day . OK, there was a support car which carried food and drink for her but no aid stations, as there were on the first lap for the walking wounded. I took the picture of her as she was coming into Peel I managed to walk the 50 yards from my house to take this photo. She was deservedly, the talk of the Island .
I have altered the comments options to a more general one. My friend from Ca got a comment through without trouble after I altered the settings.
So, hopefully, to leave a comment, first click comments at the bottom of the required post, then in the window that opens, select name/URL, enter your first name or nickname, enter your comment, [please be kind ] and then click publish your comment
Anyway, I will give it a few days to see what happens
PS By clicking on View my complete profile on the home page of my blogs, access to either blog can be obtained....plus a sneak preview of a new site I am designing.....News from Straid Vona 4
Manx Gorse, as described below, is not the same variety that is depicted in the above picture. This wild shrub; which can grow up to 8 ft high, grows everywhere in uncultivated parts of the lowland countryside. It has sharp, spiky leaves and is in flower for most of the year, the blossom being at its best in the early summer, when the Island turns yellow.
Most field hedges are covered in the stuff and the green fields edged with yellow can look quite attractive. The dry stems of dead wood, which can be as thick as your arm, make great logs and burn extremely well
The ground hugging Manx Gorse is found more on higher ground and often grows along side heather. [ see first picture ] Indeed, it is so much part of the Manx scene that the bright yellow colour has been included in the Manx Tartan, along with blue [ sky ]... purple [ heather ] and the white of the Manx cottages.
The Isle of Man, along with most other countries uses the metric currency system.. The currency unit , whether it is the Pound, Dollar or Euro or many others , is divided into 100 parts .....pennies, cents or whatever.....[. and the word cent, of course comes from the word centum , the Latin for a hundred ].....and is very straight forward these days, ......but it was never always that easy !
Up to 1971, the UK, including the Isle of Man used pounds , shillings and pence.. [ £ .s .d ] .a hang over from the days of Robin Hood, I think! Ha ha! It was a complete nightmare, well ....looking back it was, though at the time we seemed to manage OK. Even one penny was divided into fractions..... halves and quarters!! Briefly, there were 4 farthings in a penny...or 2 in a ha'penny.....12 pennies in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound.. Not too bad so far, but hang on. The coins were a farthing, a ha'penny, a penny , there were two three penny coins , a sixpence, a shilling , a florin , a half a crown and occasionally crowns were issued on special occasions. Then of course, the coins had nicknames. The smaller of the 'thrupenny' bits was a joey, the sixpence was a tanner, the shilling was a bob, the florin was a two bob bit [ 24 pennies ] and the half crown [30 pennies ] was known as a' half a dollar'. Ha ha! it gets worse. There was 240 pennies in a pound. [ which was known as a quid ] and if you had a pocketful of these massive copper coins you would need a wheel barrow to cart them about . Oh, and I forgot about the Guinea which was £1 and1 shilling . Even simple sums were difficult. I tried to do one recently and I got stuck.....yet when I worked part time as a barman [ a long time ago ]I used to add these up in my head. Still, thank God for the Metric system !
The Isle of Man now has its own currency, similar to the UK, but can only be used over here and not in England......but we'll take their money, never fear !
Picture is of a Manx £5 note...........approx $10
Just a few curious things about the Isle of Man.
A true Manxman [ Manninagh dooie ] will never say the R-word...that is, the name of the rodent found everywhere , you know, the one that is quite a bit bigger than a mouse and spelled with three letters. We call them long tails. As I said a true Manxman will never say that word and will cringe if it is spoken in his company.
If you ever hear anyone saying.... 'Hey yisser '...... anywhere in the world....never fear, there is a Manxman close by ..!
When the first World War ended, the Manx , who were involved, were never signatories to the Peace Treaty which every other country signed . Officially we remained in a state of war with Germany and when WW 2 started the little Isle of Man just carried on where it had left off !!
There is a law on the Manx Statute Book that says a Manxman may shoot a Scotsman on sight. This old law was never repealed though I have to admit we don't shoot many Scots these days .
In the heyday of the Manx herring fleet , it was considered very unlucky to be the third boat to leave the harbour for a night's fishing , So, the third and fourth boats left tied together .
In the hills, in the South of the Island, there is a section of road with an obvious slope. Park facing downhill, with the engine off and when you release the handbrake, your car will run backwards up the hill. Its very weird ......but true! Locally , it's known as the Magnetic Hill.
Manx fairies are not the gentle little creatures with wings, waving their wands that you see in children's books. Here, they are not quite so friendly, intent on doing you harm if you do not greet them properly when travelling over the bridge under which they live. Travel on any South bound bus and you will see passengers acknowledging the lil' people.
Mind has gone blank,.... never fear.......... I will think of some more..Ha ha ! Groans all round !
Just thought of another one: The world famous TT races are held the Isle of Man because in 1907, when a reliability trial for motor cycles was suggested, racing on public roads was not permitted in the UK. The Island, being independent from the rest of Britain, and not one to miss a chance, allowed the races to be held here. And so it has been ever since .
Captain William Bligh, of ' Mutiny on the Bounty ' fame had a Manx wife and was married on the Island , in a church in Onchan. Incidentally, this village , just outside Douglas , was where I grew up. Fletcher Christian , the leader of the mutineers, was descended from a long line of Manx gentry and spent his early years on the Isle of Man , when his widowed mother fled to the Island from England to escape debtors. Incidentally. Peter Heywood , a 15 year old midshipman aboard the Bounty, was also among the mutineers,.....and was a Manxman ! After many adventures during the next five years after the Mutiny, he was caught and returned to England where he received the death penalty for his part in the mutiny, but was pardoned and went on to achieve high naval rank.
NB....I had to research that last sentence !
I knew about this next story but I just found a reference to it in 70 year old book I have and have put a page from it onto this blog.
Women were publicly whipped in the village of Onchan [ then called Conchan] probably around 1800. It doesn't say in the picture what their offences were but from what the caption infers, maybe they weren't as faithful to their husbands or boyfriends as they should have been .......I just don't know !! As the caption also says, this stone pillar still stands in Onchan,...... still with the hole for the rope to pass through and now part of the Church wall.
Curiously enough, there is a reference to Bligh [ see above ] on the same page
There is another punishment once used on the Island and only stopped about 30 years ago. This was the birch....adminstered on the bare bottom of young offenders up to the age of 18, by a burly police sergeant . The birch was a bundle of thin birch rods bound together and it's a well known fact that none of these young law breakers ever offended again. Lots of people regret the abolition of the birch as many youngsters can be found now, roaming the streets causing trouble .
A thought has just struck me .....ouch !.......... maybe it would be of interest to some if I published a few pages from the book on this blog, from time to time. Lots of old curious facts about the island ...and of course the picture can be enlarged to be more legible . Any comments???
