Isle of Man way of life

The Parish Walk, and the community spirit that it brings with it, typifies what most of us like about the Isle of Man. A community will have people within it who don't conform to either the laws or the standards that others expect and this too is demonstrated by the Parish Walk. I'm talking about the walkers who drop litter; I'm talking about the support cars who show no consideration for other road users and I'm talking about the motorists who have no consideration for anyone but themselves.

But overall the community spirit is, in my opinion, first class. My little expedition this evening showed how close we really are. I took the van to the filling station and I met Bernie Shimell who is one of our principal timekeepers and was on duty at Santon and Maughold yesterday. At the same place I met Phil Colebourn who sponsored the electrical equipment at the finish yesterday.

I dropped the van off at 4Hire and jogged around to Manx Telecom to deliver the data card that had allowed me to use my laptop over the mobile phone network. I met race director Raymond Cox and Andrew and Steve from SportIdent (who provide the time equipment) - they were returning a lot of gear to Manx Telecom too. I then decided to call in to see my brother Martin who lives close by at Farmhill. Martin is on the Parish Walk organising committee but we rarely get to chat other than by phone.

Finally I jogged home. Good community but not so good for the family as I was about an hour longer than I had indicated I would be!