Too old for late nights....

Suffering a bit this morning as had a  late night last night after trekking all the way over to the far flung reaches of the East Mainland to attend a gig in aid of a local charity. OK I know 32 miles each way isn't that far but in Orkney terms for folk from Birsay to head over to an event in Deerness is pretty much unheard of. The town (i.e. Kirkwall, although never call it that in front of Stromness residents, who like to point out that there is more than one town in Orkney) neatly divides the East & West Mainland  from each other, and it's pretty rare for anyone from the East to head out West and vice versa, unless there's a really important event to attend like a wedding or a funeral.

I admit we wouldn't normally go that far but my friend Pat is from Deerness & on the hall committee so got us tickets - it was a lady from Deerness' retirement do, & she'd decided to have a concert, supper & dance in aid of charity instead of a private party. Lots of local businesses had donated food, most of the parish seemed to have spent about a week baking, & various local bands, including The Chair, Broken Strings, the KGS Big band etc were performing for free, and there was the inevitable raffle - (no event in Orkney is complete without a raffle - I won a pineapple at the Archaeology Society last week ) - raised over £1300 which is not bad at all. Concert supper & raffle was followed by a dance to the All Star Ceilidh Band - i.e. all the musicians on stage together

We left before the end on account of the aforementioned long trek home but even so didn't get to bed until the early hours - then woken by the dogs at 6.30 am as usual - you can turn an alarm clock off but dogs don't come with a snooze button. I wouldn't mind but as I write this bleary eyed they've had their morning walk, breakfast & are now fast asleep & snoring!

Feel a bit sorry for Pat as she's off out on tour with a Japanese couple today - it should have been me as they came through my website first but I fielded them to Pat as I only picked my brand new van (sorry - Ford Transit Tourneo executive touring vehicle) up last Thursday (the 1st March - first day for the new '12' registration) & didn't want to do a tour before I'd got used to the new vehicle.

The new van is pretty much the same as the other but they've moved the gear lever to the dashboard & added bluetooth & voice activation technology - not much use to me as I never switch my mobile phone on & don't give out the number, & I'm not sure why you should want to speak to your CD player or radio. It also has automatic rain sensing & automatic headlights - it switches your windscreen wipers on when it starts to rain, & your headlights on when it goes dark - presumably in case you're too stupid to notice the fact that you can't see where you're going. Plus lots of other features that I'll never use but seem to get added automatically - I suspect they add them because it's based on the Ford transit which in its various incarnations is the most popular van in the UK & driven largely by men 'The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys...'

I must be a big disappointment to car salesmen - poor Warren down at Tullock's Ford in Kirkwall gave up on me completely when I ordered it - he kept telling me about all the features & I kept asking him if he could have them taken off (you can't - all this stuff is standard). He did get me a nice discount though!

Plus it's technically illegal to do single day tours without having your private hire plates from the council - it's a bit of an odd situation as although I'm not a minicab driver (i.e. you don't phone me up for a ride home from the supermarket) legally I am (under the terms of the Civic Government Scotland Act 1982 if you're interested!). There's no exemption for tour guides, so you have to apply for private hire plates & have a personal taxi licence & a private hire vehicle operators licence & hire & reward insurance - altogether that comes to about £1600 a year before you start (& that's with full private hire no claims bonus on your insurance - setting up for the first time the insurance alone comes to nearer £2500!!)

There is a weird exemption (only applicable in Scotland - it was abolished in England & Wales although I suspect it will go here too soon) where you don't need private hire plates for 'an exclusive contract of over 24 hours' - much debate centres around what an 'exclusive contract' means - some local authorities take the view that this means if you do only one tour in a day then you don't need private hire plates but when it was tested in the English courts they decided that it had to be a properly drawn up legal written contract with the registration number of the vehicle. Our Council takes the view that for single day tours you need private hire plates, but for two day tours you don't.

My head's spinning with all the paperwork I've had to complete recently - I had to send that much documentation to my insurance company to prove we were who we said we were & had all the  licences that we said we had, then all the documents to the council to prove we had all the insurance & owned the vehicle that we said we did, then extra paperwork to Paypal because there's some new European law just come into force  & we had had to prove we were running a respectable business & not an international money laundering scheme & prove our identities yet again, then finally we had to prove to our existing bank with whom we've had an account for years that we were who we said we were because we opened a savings account - I'm beginning to doubt I exist myself!!


I suppose I'd better try & wake up & do something constructive - another cup of strong black coffee seems a good place to start - the dogs are still fast asleep & snoring ....

http://www.orkneyarchaeologytours.co.uk/

The Ness Effect

It's been a bit hectic here of late - ever since the TV programme on the excavations at the Ness of Brodgar (aka 'Orkney's Neolithic Cathedral/stone age temple')  went out on New Year's Day we've been snowed under with enquiries and bookings. VisitOrkney has reported a doubling of hits to their website, and for the first week or so after the programme we had a fivefold increase on our own website - and a lot of these hits have turned into bookings which is very fine.


The programme itself was pretty good - quite a few of the dig team (names withheld to protect the guilty!)  gathered to watch it together,   and decided (since it was New Year's Day) to turn it into a drinking game - every time  Neil Oliver mentioned the phrase 'stone age temple' would be the cue for a drink - this plan had to be abandoned quite quickly in the interests of staying sober enough to watch the whole thing through!


The reconstructions were quite fun - if you missed the show they're worth looking at - see  Will MacNeil design


The excavation at the Ness of Brodgar this year is running from 16th July until the 24th August - I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of visitors.


Our new tour vehicle (top of the range Ford Tourneo, air con, alloys etc etc) has also come home - earlier than expected but better that than too late - and is now sitting in the showroom window in the Ford dealership in town - I don't want to register it until the 1st March when the new registration date starts so I can get a 12 plate on it.  The dealership is happy since it makes a nice striking display and they're getting a lot of interest in it.

I've also got home some rubber matting which I'm going to get fitted over the existing carpets - Ford class the Tourneo as an 'executive vehicle' which means you get carpets whether you want them or not. They do look very nice at first, but that only lasts until the first tour - after that the muddy/sandy boot prints rather spoil the effect.


Orkney Archaeology Tours - for your perfect Orkney holiday