Argocat to the rescue!
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This is a column by north coast postie, Mark Gilbert
I’m not going to mention coronavirus once! Although I can think of some words to use when I think of some of the things people have been doing and saying just lately.
It seems that being cooped up for your own safety doesn’t go well for a lot of people and they have started to rise against the lockdown, especially after Boris Johnson’s mixed message of his important “Sunday Night Announcement” last week. It was billed as a plan to move to the next stage and left everyone totally confused. A lot of people seem to now be observing a “mockdown” instead of “lockdown”.
Lockdown has a different meaning for many people and is a lot easier for some than it is for others. Living in a city must be a nightmare at this time because there are just so many people in one place.
Living in the vast rural expanse of the Highlands has made lockdown a lot easier – we self-isolate and social distance naturally. The Post Office and General Store in Bettyhill has been a Godsend in distributing prescriptions either over the counter or via the local posties, Paul, Pete, James, Aurore and myself.
We have supplied “emergency goods” to many of the isolated residents and also moved treats and other items between families who cannot meet up.
We have been delivering an increasing number of parcels as people source harder to get items online, sometimes at greatly inflated prices.
There have been local initiatives to help the older and more vulnerable residents and hopefully this goodwill will continue whenever life gets back to “normal”.
People have also set up cooperatives in order to get supplies into the area and distributed locally. The Store Café in Bettyhill has been very much involved in organising this activity.
I told one of my customers that I had delivered a pouch of hand rolling tobacco to someone and she gave me a story of a weather-related lockdown around 40 years ago which lasted for about four weeks.
In the 1980s, snow blocked the 12 mile long private road to the Lodge and workers houses at Loch Choire and the residents tried over the time to get out, but without success.
They were visited a number of times by military helicopters flying low to see if everyone was OK, mainly after the telephone lines went down.
Everything was fine for most of the time, because of the remote location, supplies were usually quite high and were being eked out accordingly because there was no way of getting out. This all changed when dog food and cigarette stocks started getting seriously short!
Eventually, and down to the last packet of cigarettes, a mission was arranged to get to the shop in Kinbrace in an Argocat, which had no fancy heating or seating arrangements to make a comfortable warm journey.
It was a trial just to keep it on the road, but there was a crust of ice on top of the snow and they eventually got to Badanloch and got a lift to the shop in Kinbrace from head stalker Richard MacNicol in his Land Rover.
The return journey was as eventful as the outward journey and many hours later, with the emergency supplies safely tied up in the Argocat, they arrived back and sought warmth in front of blazing fires.
And the smokers enjoyed a relaxing cigarette!
Apparently, the day after this, the weather warmed up considerably and they could have got out in the old Land Rover.
n Mark Gilbert is a postie in Bettyhill.
