Island Transport.

For years we had just the one car & if we needed it on the mainland we loaded it onto the vehicular barge & paid a small fortune for the privilege. Naturally we didn't take the car to the mainland very often.

These days I have a little red Hyundai on the island. Theo parks his work vehicle at the marina on the mainland & collects fines because parking is at a premium, there isn't enough of it & no~one wants to deal with the problem despite the fact nearly all these people work on the mainland & need independent transport as the public system they promised us would connect beautifully with the boats doesn't! Now Liddy also has a mainland car (which I use because she still can't drive) & we have to park it a longish walk away to escape the fines. I could bus us to her usual park. lol.

We aren't stupid. We knew there was no bridge arriving any time soon when we moved here & accepted that there were certain limitations that went with our lifestyle choices. The barge & boat can be a pleasant trip, winding as they do around the islands but it does not pay to be in a hurry ~ ever!

Things are more regulated these days (aren't they everywhere?) but we have lived here long enough to have seen the barge so loaded there were vehicles half hanging over the ramps, (glad it wasn't me), the day one sank (yep, & she was empty; makes you wonder) & who could forget the joyful day the cement truck came screaming down the hill, horn blaring madly, shot straight down the barge ramp, onto the barge & almost off the other end, his brakes having failed on the downhill run! No wonder so many islanders end up a little quirky!