Just a normal day on Islay
Yellow submarines, talking horses – par for the course really
It had, apparently, broken loose from a naval vessel and was drifting aimlessly in the sea off the Mull of Oa. It was easily enough spotted though, the fishermen said, being bright yellow and all that. Theyâd hauled it back to Port Ellen alerting their friends by singing a highly appropriate Beatles song.
âTheyâre on the bottle againâ was the immediate reaction.
Now, if a yellow submarine was landed close to your town Iâm sure the reaction would be close to hysterical. On Islay it was seen as being fairly normal. For Islay that is. So, like the good citizens they are, the Ministry of Defence was phoned.
âItâs not one of ours,â said the man on the other end.
âWe think it is. Itâs got MOD stamped on it!â came the reply.
What was it looking for? Apparently these remote controlled mini subs are used to search for mines âin hostile watersâ. That would be Lochindaal then. Or maybe the Kildalton coastline.
The MOD might have caught sight of the paramilitary nature of Ardbegâs Feis celebrations and wanted a closer look.
After all, did this not confirm what the Americans had been telling them for years, that the island is a dangerous hotbed of radicalism? Witness the incident when US spooks decreed that Bruichladdich was a secret laboratory for the production of WMDs.
Like that, the yellow submarine was accepted with a laugh.
After all, on the west coast the surreal is the norm.
Where else in Scotland would you be walking in romantic frame of mind.....
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By Dave Broom
Section : A dram with Dave Broom
Page number : 12
