Just got back after watching the Senior TT race from Cronk y Voddy. Such a close race until the last lap when Cameron Donald on the Relentless Suzuki had a problem and it opened the race up for John McGuinness to equal Mike Hailwoods 14 TT wins. Well done John.
Such a fantastic week of high speed racing on the Isle of Man, loved every minute of it and the weather and atmosphere has been fantastic.
Oh well back to work and the quiet life now, bring on May/June 2009! Sad its over for another year!
I have been watching the TT for over 25 years now and I have covered a good many vantage points around the course. I always had a few favourite spots like bottom of Bray Hill, Sulby Straight and Gorse Lea. This year I have been watching at the jump out of Crosby before the Wagon & Horses and the Highlander which is awesome and also just further down the road pas the Wagon & Horses on the inside left hand sweeping corner down the hill.
Its full on high speed, hairs stand up on the back of your neck stuff and its just what I love about the TT. You can’t beat the crushed grass effect on the hedges and the high speed action and danger that makes the TT such a special event.
Caught a bit on camera and thanks to Steve Plater in the earlier practices there are a few extra skid marks – and not on the road!
I have been counting the days down from last years superb centenary event and now its here. I couldn’t make the first practice session on Saturday but I will be heading out this evening to sample a few laps.
You cant’ beat it, the atmosphere, the fans and the best racing in what is one of the greatest challenges to mankind!
Sod the killjoys who want it banned, why not wrap us all up in cotton wool from the day we are born! Don’t even get me started on all the statistics!
Its probably the same loons that want to put Fluoride in our water!
I have lived on the Isle of Man for over 30 years now and I love it here, there is no better place (well when the sun is shining anyway!) Now we are in spring I really start to look forward to the summer and the outdoors.
Here are my 10 reasons why I love it. In no particular order!
1. The coastline – its amazing, brilliant beaches, stunning cliffs
2. The countryside – the gorse, the heather the mixture of hills and valleys and the flat – fantastic
3. The hills – the views are spectacular and from Snaefell (the islands highest peak) you can see The Seven Kingdoms of Man on a clear day. England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, The Isle of Man, The Earth and Heaven. Cool eh?
4. Low Tax! – Brilliant. No capital gains tax, wealth tax, stamp duty and a top rate income tax of 18%ish (I think.)
5. The TT races – its one of the worlds ultimate challenges and has to be seen to be be believed. High speed motorbike racing over 37 and 3/4 miles of the islands public roads. Long may it last forever and sod all the kill joys who want to ban it! I hope they choke on their cornflakes or fall down the stairs! Yeah try and ban cornflakes and stairs you boring lot!
6. The local produce – the meat, vegetables and especially the seafood are second to none. I love the Isle of Man Queen Scallops or Manx Queenies as they are called locally. I am partial to the Manx Loaghton Lamb sausages on occasions, oh and the cheese as well! Yum.
7. The footpaths – there are loads of great walks ranging from coastal cliffs to inland valleys over a wide range of terrain.
8. The people – yes like everywhere you go there are a few tossers that on occasions let the side down, but overall the local residents are a very friendly and hospitable bunch.
9. The sea – speaking from the heart now, I dont think I could ever live far away from the sea. There is just something so great about being surrounded by it. I love the calm summer days when its like a mill pond but I also love it when its rough and the waves are breaking and crashing over the coastal rocks!
10. The general way and quality of life. We have a good schools, hospitals, sports facilities for the local people, low pollution and traffic conjestion. There is also a different pace of life with the local saying going ‘Traa Dy Liooar’ yessir, basically meaning there is ‘time enough’ fella.
There are many more as well, but thats my top ten for now, might share some others with you soon. Can’t wait to get the bbq fired up!
I was sad to recently hear that the Manx Electric Railway will be closed between Laxey to Ramsey after a report to the Minister for Tourism and Leisure highlighted some disrepair to the line and the track. To which the minister took the decision to stop the service based on safety grounds. I later read in a local paper a letter from the ex manager of the steam railway who pointed out a number of recommendations that would allow the service to continue such as a reduced speed limit. In his view the condition of the track has never been so good! Why is the decision then taken by the Minister for Tourism and not someone more qualified to make the decision? And why does the minister seem hell bent on closing things down and ruining any form of tourism on the island?
Good website by the way Mr minister! visitisleofman.com. The first impression you get of the Isle of Man is fantastic….not!
All this raises the question as to how qualified an ex banker is to make decisions on the future of our tourism or lack of it for that matter!
But don’t worry everyone because the Radisson his here to bail us all out and as the minister said and I quote ‘ for them to be based in the Isle of Man will be a real feather in our cap and something we can be rightly proud of.’
Don’t get me wrong I am all for developing the quayside of Douglas (they should have gone further and banned the car, but hey that was an earlier post I wrote!). It will be nice to open the curtains and stare across at the building suppliers opposite and the lovely bus station on the other side.
Last Friday the new plans to redevelop Douglas promenade were unveiled to a select few (well the manx media), the proposed cost being estimated at more than £10 million pounds!
Apparently what I can gather so far is that this will basically entail resurfacing of the roadway from the Sea Terminal to the old Summerland site as well as the creation of a reservation with palm trees from the Villa Marina to the sunken gardens alongside the pavement. And wow heres the really clever big idea, one of the sunken gardens could be fitted with a roof to create a winter garden. Oh my god thats so groundbreaking and money well spent in my book!
Er hello………
Any one out there…?
I know we live on the Isle of Man, a small island with such a great heritage, but we do also have a great history of wasting a hell of a lot of tax payers money!
We have some great people on the island, how about talking to them, getting them involved?
Its the 21st century, lets be creative, ground breaking, bold even. Lets do something for the people of Douglas, the Isle of Man, lets bring life back to the promenade, make it somewhere for all ages, all backgrounds to mix and mingle.
It could be skateboarding or drawing, rock bands to brass bands, five aside to bowling, curries or queenies? Who cares!
I do. Thats the problem!
But not palm trees and winter gardens (well this could be incorporated if the people wanted it! )
Do you think people would care about the road surface if all this was going on down on the prom? Would they care about the disruption for a few years if the end product was worth it? I guess not. So come on locals, lets not settle for boring and wasted money lets strive for better, we deserve it!
I was reading a recent newspaper article about the Isle of Man Steam and Electric Railways, and was pleasantly suprised to hear that the passenger figures were up by 7.1 percent on last year for the steam railway and 9.9 percent up for the electric railway. I must say that I think this increase in attributed to a number of reasons, firstly the hard work that the Department of Tourism and Leisure (DTL) and I would assume Manx National Heritage has put in on bringing the ‘nostalga’ back to the railways with some good events and promotion, secondly the fact that the island had a significant number of extra visitors during the TT 2007 centenery, and thirdly due to the events such as the Thomas The Tank Engine and Santa train days that are held down at the Douglas train station. Both of these events are very well supported by the local families and is certainly a big highlight for many local children.
Despite the great efforts by the DTL I would however like to point out that Mr Earnshaws TT commuter service shouldn’t take any of the credit for this in my mind, it could have been an amazing service, and really should have been funded by the government but once again it fell drastically short of being a good idea for many reasons. All of the credit and success of the manx railways is down to the hard work and dedication of all those who work hard to maintain the wonderful feature of the Isle of Man in the Manx Steam and Electric Railways.
Well done everyone you should all be proud of yourselves.
I was helping a friend out at the BBC Good Food Show a the Birmingham NEC. We were part of the Isle of Man Pure Produce stand which was situated on area T130. Thing was it was the best stand in the show and I am not being biased! Reason being was two things. Read the rest of this entry ?
Anyone see the Saturday Kitchen recently with the Hairy Bikers as guests of James Martin? Si and Dave (The Hairy Bikers) were an absolute pair of stars. Firstly they didn’t stop plugging the great seafood from Tim and Paddy Croft down at Island Seafare, Port St Mary and secondly they couldn’t stop taliking about the fantastic Manx produce that the Isle of Man has to offer including great organic vegatables, local lamb, beef and pork it was great to see the pair of them so enthusiatic about the Isle of Man produce and also the Manx TT.
I think Dave even droppped it in on the show saying ” I hope the Isle of Man Tourist Board are watching?’.
I dont know if watching would be good enough – taking action would be better!
Any way it was just great to see the Hairy Biker lads bigging up the great produce of the Isle of Man and all it has to offer! Well done boys! It was great.
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