Jul 2, 2007
From our own correspondent
One of the essentials of any trip up to Argyll to visit my mum on the Isle of Mull is reading the various local papers - The Oban Times, Round and About Mull and Am Muileach - to find out what people are talking about.
Checking in with local news organs in any area gives you a good sense of what’s important, and what’s preoccupying the locals, plus it can provide handy background/context for conversations, so when people refer to “the new road” or “the knife incident” you know what they’re referring to.
And one of the highlights of reading The Oban Times, at any rate, is the weekly local dispatches from outlying areas, in which special resident correspondents submit regular news and updates on life in their bit of the Western edge of Scotland.
My favourite is D Morrison, who writes from Scalpay (a small island off the Isle of Skye) and often uses a rather cryptic prose for his dispatches, covering some surprising topics. One recent favourite is this:
Which is interesting and almost manages to be informative. Another, from this week’s paper:
The man’s a local legend and clearly popular with OT readers who look forward to seeing what snippet of Scalpay life he uncovers each week - a quick search reveals he has fans across the area - and beyond, I’d warrant.
If I could see his stuff online, I’d subscribe to that feed, for sure, but unfortunately The Oban Times only seems to offer a tantalising glimpse of his headlines. I’ll have to get my mum to start cutting them out of the paper…
Not much makes me really LOL, but the porpoises did.
But… you have his phone number… you can call him for a scintillating update or ever perhaps a chat on the phone. I’m sure he’d be willing to while the hours away.