Eriska, Scottish Island

weather w/c 30th August

Its hard to believe we are almost into September until you look around and see three fires bazing on the ground floor and doom and gloom outside by half past eight. Anyway the good news is that givne the high rainfall over the last 2 weeks ther cannot be much more rain up there to come down- or so we think- well whats ahead for next week.

Today: Much of the day will be bright with sunny intervals and scattered showers. Becoming cloudy later with outbreaks of rain, these becoming heavy overnight.

Monday: Affter a clear night and dry start it will begin clouding over with extensive hill fog and rain in the afternoon with gales over ridges and summits.

Tuesday: Rain at times often heavy and lasting into the night.

Wednesday: Sunshine and showers will start the day but after lunch it will turn wet and windy.

Thursday: Rain clears during the morning to be replaced by a mix of showers, some of which will be heavy and sunny intervals.

Friday: At last the wind should blow away some of the clouds and although there may be showers they will be short and light.

Saturday: It will be breezy again, with winds strongest in the north and west with further showers expected, these heaviest in the north while parts of south may remain largely dry. 

Equinox Gales

I was commenting last night, when asked how bsuiness is by a guest- a common question at the moment-, that whilst the year is flying by it is also making me feel like I have done 10 months work already this year aand we are only in August, this could of course be the combination of age and memory rather than the current economic situation but for now I will  tie it to the current state of finances!

Anyway this was also tied into a conversation I had with a friend about going sailing or hillwalking at the end of September when he warned me off the water due to the Equinox Gales. I had to agree that given the last three years of wind and storms coinciding with the equinox and my advice to guests to avoid that particular weekend in September if they expect fair weather, but this has been no ordinary year with a decidely poor May for weather and then stunning June and July but we have now paid for that in bucket loads with a terrible August and certainly winds and rain equivalent to the gales normally associated with the end of September at the end of August.

Maybe Global warming is more like global calander shifting with months swapping over? If so we must be in for a great Indian Summer in September so i must restock the sun tan lotion in the Spa!!

Argyllshire Gathering

i should have known as soon as I opened my curtains this morning that today was the Argyllshire Gathering as the clouds circled and the rain started! In truth whilst I remember every summer as a boy being nothing but sunshine i also cannot remmebr a dry games although i am certain there must have been one! Indeed it wouldnot seem quite so sporting having good conditions under foot for the family tug of war or the hill race but maybe heath and safety would get involved if the Country dancing was on a wet stage given the crossed swords underfoot!

In historical times the games were a chance for all the local estates to gather and a chance for pipers from each area to meet and show off their skills. Indeed the gentleman who used to pipe at Eriska and endeavoured unsuccessfully to teach me, so I am told by all who have heard my attempts, learnt by sound at home in Duror and only when he came to oban for the games did he have the opportunity to hear others outside his family pay and here he learnt more in a day than he did in a year. Anyway it is all a bit more civilized now and despite the conditions a good family day is had by all.

then tonight the attention focuses on the Argllshire Gathering Halls which were initially built to house the Oban Ball. This is a real climax to the social calendar in oban with dancing in White Tie from 8.00 in the evening till 6.00 in the morning.  And then again tomorrow night they all meet again and there is a junior ball which finishes just after midnight. having been fortunate enough to attend once its a great occasion with all dressed to impress and dancing to the highest standard. We will have to see how those going tonight for the first time survive through the nigh!

Craving for Travel

At one of my first appointments in America last week l was greeted by being presented with a book called Craving for travel, whilst initially i thought this a kind gesture, clearly my reaction was not sufficient so the book was taken from me and then anxiously opened at a specific page. Having initially , clearly camouflaged my surprise with lack of reaction I now realizedmy fault and reacted with far more delight as it was now presented to me with an image of Eriska on the centerfold. After a few words of thanks, the book ws retrieved by the agent and I was forced to move on. At this point I should explain that the conference I was attending is called Travelmart and is a bit like speed dating- it was explained to me as i have not yet partaken in such a ritual-- with each appointment lasting 4 minutes allowing you enough time to make your pitch to encourage the agent to promote your property in the future, or thank the agent for helping over the last 12 months. Anyway without much more ado I was onto my next 4 minute pitch and the first shock of the day was behind me.

In truth whilst i was delighted to see the book and encouraged that Eriska had been included I was not given sufficient time to investigate the publication further and in reality thought that perhaps the majority of my fellow hoteliers had also ben included. However on returning to Eriska I was greeted by a package marked with a US postal stamp and on opening I was truly embarrassed. Not only was the contents of the parcel a personally pre publication signed copy of the book "Craving for Travel" The book is a selection of properties around of the world made by the renowned Traveller Jim Strong which he believes are worthy of celebrating life's moments at.

Not only are we thrilled to be the only British property listed within the book we are also delighted to have been selected among only 50 properties in all and indeed have been listed under the title of  "A Guaranteed Yes" as a perfect location for a faultless setting to make a marriage proposal! whilst the book is obviously a personal selection it was made without our knowledge and was a truly huge surprise and honour to us to be included. Anyway now with my own copy and time I have had the opportunity to study the book and feel, as do all the team here, that a huge reward for our continued endeavor has been placed upon us and next time I am offered a gift I will react with far more delight- initially- than this time!

weather w/c 23rd August

Normally when I am away from Eriska the clouds part and they have great weather but I suppose I had to break that duck and boy did it happen last week as when i phoned home each day i heard of yet another day of rain and wind and although i had predicted such i had hoped that i would be wrong for the sake of all those staying with us. Anyway on a positive note as i left the US delayed by heavy rain and wind Iwas delighted to arrive back in Glasgow to be greeted by sunshine and cl;ear blue skies but is it set to continue or will the weather in the west follow me?

Today: A cloudy day with spells of rain, often heavy especially just inland, where localized flooding may develop. Some drier interludes will push in later in the day

Monday: After a wet start with some heavy rain it should die down then turning clearer  with only a scattering of showers over the Isles and west coast. 

Tuesday: It will be a much brighter day, with some sunny spells and a scattering of showers. Moderate to fresh southerly winds.

Wednesday: It looks bright with sunshine and scattered heavy showers along with fresh southerly breezes.

Thursday: Cloudy in the morning with some rain, brighter later.

Friday: After starting bright it looks like it will rain later.

Saturday: As a bank Holiday weekend we would normally expect the worst but hope for the best and indeed that will be the best course of acton as although it will be prone to showers it will also be dry at times

Wonders of travel

I have just been in the states at a travel conference and on the way home- due to delays- I had a chance to visit a display on te  history of air travel. Its really amazing to see how our attitude to travel seems to have changed over the years and especially our view of air travel. It was initially not only a huge privilege but a real thrill to travel by air with every trip being a huge adventure. Nowadays we almost take it for granted and simply moan about delays and changes to itineraries when in the past they would have seen every change as an opportunity for exploration.

Nowadays everyone arrives at airports with the least time possible, despises the security and cannot wait to exit when years ago it was completely different with everybody dressing smartly, arriving at airports with time to enjoy the experience and even dine before boarding and then having to wait until the luggage was disembarked and then setting off on the next leg of the journey.

I am certain however that ths attitude to globaltravel has come hand in hand with the constant access to news and information as this too seems on one hand to be a real help, in that although I was 8 time zones away I could stay in touch with Eriska by email and phone but it also meant that the developments with the release of the Lockerbie bomber was broadcast constantly throughout the conference on surrounding monitors- not the ideal climate in which to sell both travel and in particular travel from the US to Britain with the supposed special relationship! Anyway the positive view is I suppose that what is breaking news today will probably be old hat and maybe forgotten by tomorrow- or so we must hope!

Planning ahead

Having struggled with our last phase of refurbishment I have set in place plans to insure that we do not leave ourselves so open to disaster next time and therefore we have commissioned the plans for the next three rooms to be drawn up allowing us to develop the proposals and hopefully then get the furniture ordered and delivered before the deadline. There has certainly been a slight change in ordering patterns with companies who were able to turn orders round immediatley now having a waiting list- a combination of unexpeced orders and lack of stock -I would imagine!

Anyway having just completed a week of sales calls in the States and having recieved rave reviews for the new rooms and slight development in style of the restaurant I am certainly encouraged to continue the schedule but as always we knew we would be caught between the two styles and the sooner all the rooms and areas move into the new design the better as we will not have to promote both options and try to balance peoples choice for them befoire they arrive. Anyway the drawings are now backa nd we have to check the dimensions before ordering the furniture, with delivery and getting the furbniture to the rooms- some in tight spots- being high on the agenda.

Anyway it will be back to real work, proper job,  at the weekend with budgets and costings on my desk to consider and then we can start ordering!

Badger Bedlam!!

Today we luanched our new website- well kind of new as the first company who we contracted with managed to take our deposit but then went into administration and dissappeared with the payment so we used some of their suggestions and created a new look website for Eriska. ther are many new features some older than others but hopefully it now reflects all that we do at Eriska.

Well that is not completely true as one of the features is our new game- Badger Bedlam where visitors try to help Cahy on the golf course encouraging badgers from digging up the greens, extra points for gbadgers and penalties for making Chay even more sleepy! If you have a few moments then you may want to drop by and give it a go! I am however told it can be quite adictive and looking at some of the scores I canot believe some of them were achieved in the first attempt!

ther is also a video of the island whihc typically was shot on the only two dull days in June- so we will hopefully update that later this month when the videographer returns but we will obviuosly be keeping the date quiet to try and catch the sun out!

Weather wc 16th August

foolishly, it turned out, I decided to put out some of my herbs at home to help them grow. I had forgotten to water them thepreviousday so thought some fresh air and a little rain would have been the perfect remedy- wrong- the cress was in an old ice cream container and by this morning it was two inches deep in water- no need for quick remarks about water cress we already have plenty of that on the golf course! anyway i have emptied out the excess and hopefully the sunshine today will get it all back growing again!

really the kind of rain we experienced on Friday and saturday is not normal for august and certainly caught us on the hop busy unblocking rone pipes and keeping drains running in the heaviest down pours- if we managed the average rainfall for te month in 24 hours then does it mean we will have no more rain this month- perhaps wishful thinking but lets hope!!

Today: Sunny spells and some showers continuing, especially across the hills but certainly drier with more sunshine than the last few days

Monday: a fresh west or northwesterly wind will help dry out the grounds with sunny intervals and a few showers.

Tuesday:Dry with sunny spells but closing in later in the day

Wednesday: A slight change in the weather with less windovernight heralding in wetter and windier weather wth gales on West Coast.

Thursday:Rain is expected to affect most areas at the start of the day and this gradually spreads southeast it should be followed by drier conditions

Friday: Drier with temperatures well above average, possibly becoming hot at times and certainly an improvement

Saturday: After a dry start the weather becomeschangeable throughout the rest of the weekend with showers or longer periods of rain expected but also some drier and sunnier conditions promised on sunday

Local logistics not always simple!!

earlier this month we realised that we needed to get some printing carried out, firstly some flyers about the island and then a newly updated brochure. Both, I am told by our photographer, are not before time, easy for him to say as he has been updating his library continuously but harder for us as we see all the evolution at Eriska as slow changes and nothing drastic but when we looked at the brochure- shot 7 years ago only 10% of the images could be reused as the images have all been altered, I hope for the better now!

Anyway as we were looking at all our printing we thought it would be good to out it out to tender and waited for the result. The Eriska flyer was being printed in Edinburgh and whilst it was much less expensive on the last round it was a bit of a hassle as we hd to collect it and always seemed to be in Edinburgh a week too early to collect it. So when the new prices came in an the local Oban printer managed to match the price it was an easy choice to have it printed closer to home! Well that was before the palaver of collecting it which involved it being passed between people who all carried it a couple of miles, like a really and eventually it made it to the local shop where it was collected with the news papers. i suppose in reality had it been travel ling from Edinburgh by the same method the pictures may have been out of date even before it reached us!

As it is it has come out well and we are delighted with both the result and the fact that we have been able to support a local business