Had enough...

Blipper Oily Rag kindly sent me a spare model lorry kit from his collection and I decided to make it into a removal van.  This set off a chain of thinking about moving house  (which I'm not) but how sad it must be when you have to - when there's nothing left to keep you there...  Maybe it's the SAD time of the year but I was quite moved by it.  

Perhaps the crofters in this pic moved to Port Appin, or perhaps they went to the city.  Whatever, I tried to encapsulate some of the feeling of it all.  The models have been used before - all except Oily Rag’s Shore Porters' removal van.  The backdrop is of Jura (I think) from the shore at Ellenabeich, a pic I took on a disturbingly miserable day in February 2015.  The local museum there tells a harrowing story of the failure of the below sea level slate mines when a 'tsunami' flooded the quarries in 1881.  All the mining equipment was lost and the residents were left without regular work.  The population of around 500 dwindled and by the early 60's the population of the island was 4.  Anyway, that's another story but if you have a chance to visit Easdale Island and Ellenabeich (the village on the mainland) I'd recommend it.  It's just south of Oban.  Use the West Coast Motors bus services 18/418, it takes about 40 minutes.  There is a small ferry across to the island.  Foot passengers only.


So today’s Blip is a pic of a family moving out of their worked out smallholding, moving on - maybe to Port Appin?