Friday, February 21, 2020

A post about my dad

My Father is a man who needs a project in his life, for preference one that involves him making something* and with a minimum of paperwork (not his thing). His current project unfortunately looks likely to involve a lot of paperwork, not much building, and needs some good ideas.


(I hope I’ve got the genetic inheritance to look this good when I’m 75)


He has adopted a phone box which is desperately in need of rescue. Because it was on his land he could buy it for a pound, but fixing it up will cost thousands. It can’t be used as a phone box again, and isn’t near much**, but it’s a well loved local landmark. 

When it was working and I was much younger I made desperate phone calls looking for a lift to avoid the 2 mile mostly uphill walk back to the village from it, or just sheltered from the rain in it. When my youngest sister was much younger a book selling neighbour left a clue in it for a midnight Harry Potter treasure hunt one launch day***. It must have overlooked the time my dad rescued a whale that was caught in some mooring ropes. For a few years there were some knitted mushrooms by it (a bit of yarn bombing from a visiting knitting group) which were brilliant. And those are just my memories.



Unfortunately it needs more loose change than any of us have, and without a clear idea of what the box could or should be used for it’s hard to know how to go about raising the money (If anybody has any really good ideas about what the box could be used from we’d love to hear them) but my dad has always been the sort of person who believes something will turn up.

And because he’s my dad, the sort of man that this stuff happens to, something did turn up. He found a message in a bottle. It had been at sea for around a year and longish story short the man who had released it promised a thousand dollars to the charity of dad’s choice and to send him another thousand dollars. The cheque has arrived (we weren’t convinced this would happen) and when it clears will cover a good portion of the cost of a new door for the phone box. 

If ever there was a message (in a bottle or otherwise) from the universe that a project was meant to happen, this must be it.


*He made me my glove boards, and for my 40th birthday gave me a silver teapot in a box purpose made to store it. When my next sister hit her 40th she got a silver teapot in a box shaped like a treasure chest with a false bottom in it. Our youngest sister, not yet anywhere near 40, has a fabulous toilet roll holder made out of a broken 19th century Japanese walking stick. He is always building things. 

**The box is near the head of Lera Voe in Shetland, the road goes to Burrastow where there’s a small hotel, and a handful of houses around but not a lot of passing traffic. It’s a place you most likely have to go out of your way to get to. 

***Which takes bookselling, neighbourliness, and friendship above and beyond.

11 comments:

  1. Your dad looks fabulous! (I'm nearly his age, and can appreciate how special that is!) But the message in a bottle - what? Was it actually addressed to him, or to just anyone with a charity in mind? Who was the man, why would he do that? This is a NOVEL!

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    1. This isn't even dad's best story! I wish he would write his memoirs but he refuses too. He narrowly escaped being drafted to go to Vietnam when he was working in America, managing to skip the country for New Zealand after his numbers came up, travelled the world, inherited an island in Shetland, saved a whale, and I wish I knew what else.

      I need to write down all the message in a bottle details but as far as I know from phone conversations it was dropped off the QE2 about a year ago, and washed up in Shetland where dad found it doing a bit of a beach clean. It had contact details which he followed. The man who launched the bottle promised money to a charity (I don't know if this was in the message or not) and the finder. Dad did an interview for a local American radio station too, and it's all quite exciting, but I'm only getting details in passing from him.

      Come to shetland and meet him!

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    2. Wouldn't I love to! Those stories should be written down before they're lost, you need to follow him around with a tape recorder! What is the best month to go have a glimpse of Shetland at a time when you and your dad are there?

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    3. If I knew you were coming I'd make sure to be there! May, June, July are good for long daylight, seabirds and other wildlife.

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    4. That's a lot of leeway, good to know! :-) Long daylight, seabirds and wildlife...and stories!

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  2. Could it be a little free library? Also, I love all the stories about your dad! I lost mine just over a year ago, so treasure him while he’s here. (I’m Carolyn from Canada btw, and follow your blog by email. I think this is the first time I’m commenting.)

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    1. I love that idea, and do treasure him. I really want him to write some of his stories down too - his father did, and it's a lovely thing to be able to read through them when I'm missing him.

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  3. I love everything about this post. Your dad sounds like an amazing man. Just this post could be turned into an entire book. In one of your comments you said he inherited an island? Oh my. I want to inherit an island!

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    1. So do I! It’s a really good island (sea caves, big old house, interesting history, and some weird legends) which now belongs to an amazing polish woman who has added to its story. It was a brilliant place to be a child. It’s also a great way to become a story magnet - which is my father, who is also a total sweetheart. Another dad story is that he’s a twin, and once when his brother was visiting him they went to a local woollen mill where my uncle bought some tweed to get made into a suit. The next summer my partner coincidentally bought the same tweed also for a suit. At which point, possibly feeling left out dad bought some too, and also got a suit made (a long held ambition). He used the left overs to get 2 teddy bears (from a Shetland company called Burra bears) made for me and my sister which is just the loveliest thing to have.

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  4. What a wonderful man to have as your Father, I think he must be very charismatic. I hope things go very well for the regeneration of the Phone Box. They used to be so enigmatic but almost all have abandoned their original purpose. Please update us, as and when?

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    1. He's very charming, an unrepentant flirt, and tells terrible jokes. Is a decent cook has never learnt how to use a washing machine, and is both very practical and given to romantic gestures. I wish I lived rather closer because he's always fun to hang out with.

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