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People need to be respectful on both sides of fence


By Staff Reporter

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We’re all Jock Tamson’s bairns but tourists come in all shapes and sizes and so do the vehicles they travel in.

Over the years I have managed to record an eclectic collection of vehicles travelling around the north of Scotland. From the standard bicycle through tandems and recumbent bikes (the ones where you ride almost lying down) to high performance sports cars and clapped out old bangers, fellow postie Mark and I may have seen them all and let’s not forget the intrepid souls who take the route on by shank’s pony.

The cyclists always seem to me to be verging on the unhappy. Those who are near the end are tired and saddle sore while those who are only starting seem to have just realized how far it is to the end when the majority of the route is uphill and let’s face it in Scotland everywhere seems to be up hill. If the weather is good cyclists seem hot and if the weather is poor, they seem cold and miserable. I have never seen a unicyclist doing Land’s End to John O’Groats but I have seen cyclists pulling a small covered trailer in which can be seen a child a dog or even once a cat.

The oddest vehicles I have seen range from converted military vehicles and a camper van that used to be an ambulance to one determined young lady pushing a double bed from John O’Groats to Lands’ End for charity and a young man skateboarding the NC500. The one thing missing this year has been coach trips.

So, I was a bit surprised a few days ago when I spotted a bus (pictured) stopped at the shelter by the local public toilet. A service bus in Bettyhill is pretty unusual but one at six in the evening is rare. It was a 1971 single decker Bristol rear engine diesel bus in the green and cream livery of the Hants and Dorset bus company. I took a quick peek through the window expecting it to have been converted into a swish motor home but it was still fitted out as a service bus with all the original seating and internal signage complete. I checked the destination board at the front which was showing “Scotland” so it had arrived! There was no one to ask about the bus and although I wasn’t able to get aboard it did, without moving an inch, transport me to the mid-seventies when growing up in Dundee. The Corporation busses were green and the Number 9 service was a single decker which I often used. It also brought to mind an occasion when travelling by bus in Tel Aviv I noticed a small plaque on the bus door which some Jewish passengers touched as they entered and left the vehicle. I also noticed these in my hotel where one was fixed to door posts in the room. I later found out it was a Mezuzah which is regarded as an important symbol for the creation of a Jewish household.

Another time a group of young men came in to the Bettyhill Post Office and I noticed that when they got back to their car they took off their shoes and set out some prayer mats before kneeling to make a religious devotion. I have visited many sites intended for prayer from French and English cathedrals through Aztec temples and pyramids to ancient Roman temples but I don’t think I have ever made a religious devotion in public. It was an intriguing glimpse into something I know very little about but it must take a great deal of self-confidence and a strong belief in the tolerance of others to make such a public ritual display. Tourists come in all shapes and sizes and it’s refreshing to see visitors are comfortable enough to do these things when they visit.

In my last article I said that we needed visitors to be considerate and respectful of us and our area. The reverse side of that is the respect we show them and their customs and beliefs.


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