Dusty Shelves

Staggering out of a big name supermarket on the less well heeled side of Glasgow today, I had a rummage around a big carousel they have positioned at the exit, and which is loaded with leaflets for dozens of attractions and locations around Scotland. It’s quite handy if I happen to be passing, as it saves trundling into tourist centres and museum to gather these up.

I’d assumed it would just have been loaded with the newest goodies, in readiness for the Easter rush, but was disappointed when I finally got home and unpacked the goodies to see what I had collected. I knew it had the Bute – Scotland’s Unexplored Isle booklet from Visit Scotland in it, but I hadn’t expected to open it and be faced with Bute: official visitor guide 2007 inside.

I don’t know how often they update or produce these guides, but after having a flick through to remind myself of the content, reckon there probably will/should be a new one for each season, as there’s no doubt that the content is, at least ina part, out of date.

Not really something that anyone is to blame for (everything doesn’t have to be reduced to that sort of level), but it is an example of how something simple can torpedo a good idea if a watchful eye is not kept on it.

Update!

Maybe I should take that last forgiving remark back.

I just had a look at the current Visit Bute web site, which is billed as The Official Site of Isle of Bute Marketing and Tourism and when I clicked on the Brochure Request link, was offered the option to Order the new 2005 brochure now and receive free updates.

That’s not really good enough from the official site, and definitely not the sort of thing the Scottish Government’s Tourism Minister would want to see, given his order for Scotland to increase its tourism by 50% over the next few years.

Is it really good?

One of the things that has saddened me over the years, particularly the more recent ones, has been the invention or creation of the ‘Clone Location’.

What are Clone Locations? They’re simply the sanitised locations that local worthies and activists campaign for in the name of having a clean and tidy environment, and a desire not to be seen as the ‘poor relation’ in comparison to their neighbours. I’d imagine there’s also a silver-tongued salesman working his magic somewhere in the background too, keen to see the place spruced up so it will attract developers. The trouble is, when a place is cleaned up and the developers move in, they all seem to carry the same box of parts, and when they’re finished their handiwork looks the same whether it’s on Bute, the north east coast, the Clyde coast, or a small town or village anywhere aroud the land. If you landed by parachute, and had been wearing a blindfold, when you took it off, you wouldn’t really have much of a clue where you were as you looked around at the bog standard swathes of block paving, standard nasty white double glazing units, and neutral shades of cream paint plastered over everything.

To avoid any misunderstanding, or misquoting, I’m certainly not referring to cleaning up anything dangerous or hazardous, but the threshold as to what falls into that category seems to be getting lower and lower all the time, as the lawyers become more and more desperate to find clients someone to sue in our blossoming Compensation Culture. Only a decade or so ago, I had a relative hospitalised for three nights after taking a tumble thanks to the state of the nearby pavement – no one was interested. Today, we could probably have made a small fortune, and at no risk, thanks to a ‘No Win, No Fee’ firm of ambulance chasing lawyers.

Nowadays, it seems that if anything is different or interesting, it has to be erased because it’s and eyesore.

The Co-worker was a feature at Ettrick Bay, I doubt the same was really true of the Cat at Port Bannatyne, or of some of the less photogenic bits and pieces abandoned around the land, and here I’m thinking of old buildings and the liken. If they’re truly dangerous, they have to go of course, but it would be as well to keep one on on what is left, and keep in mind that the attraction of any ‘interesting’ place is not down to any one factor, but a combination. If we continually chase the clean and neat and tidy icon, then there’s always the risk of becoming a Clone Location, looking like every other little clean and neat and tidy location around the land, at which point the visitors will vote with their feet, and walk to the one at the end of their street, instead of making the effort to go somewhere that’s a little bit different, and a little bit more interesting.

I for one like to be parachuted into places that tell me where I am the minute I set eyes on them, rather than have me think “Now, which one is this?”

CalMac 2007/8 fare rises as normal

CalMac have announced their planned fare increases to come into effect from April 2007 for the 2007/8 season.

At 2.2%, the rise seems to be less than might have been expected by many, given the recent increases in fuel prices that everyone has suffered, and the fuel surcharges that were applied to tickets for cruises on the PS Waverly in the past year, when the operators indicated that the rise in operating costs threatened her future on the Clyde.

Perhaps the forthcoming tendering process for the Clyde and Hebridean Ferry Services had an influence, as an unwelcome steeper increase may have affected prospective passenger numbers and revenue at a sensitive time.