Attention All Shipping - Charlie Connelly
The Shipping Forecast is an odd thing. For many people (particularly Radio 4 addicts), lying in bed around 1 am listening to the gentle poetry of the Shipping Forecast is one of life’s secret but treasured pleasures. Curled up under the duvet, you can let the litany of “Dogger, Fisher, German Bight…”, “south-westerly five or six, rain then showers, moderate becoming good…” wash over you. You may live in Solihull, miles from the nearest coast, but for once you can be glad that you’re not in North Utsire enduring the gales.
‘Attention All Shipping’ is a great idea (one that probably causes other travel writers to kick themselves that they didn’t think of it first); Charlie Connelly travels to every shipping area in the forecast, along the way giving a bit of the history of the shipping areas, meteorology, lighthouses, the RNLI and the lives of the coastal and island communities around Britain and our nearest neighbours. Connelly has an enjoyable style, and this is a perfect book for reading on the train, or indeed in bed, just before you listen to the Shipping Forecast.
He has a great story about his great-grandfather who ended up swimming to the Falklands after he accidentally ended up on a Royal Navy ship during World War I, got very badly scalded by a huge pan of soup during a battle, then jumped ship when the ship’s surgeon said he’d lose his legs. With that kind of family history, you can understand why Connelly is so fascinated by the sea and shipping.
I love the sea and islands myself, and after reading this book, there are a few more islands I’d love to visit one day.
1
"Around 1am"??? True addicts time their bed-time routine to be tucking up at around 12:42am, depending on how the schedule has gone, to pray for a full 6 minutes of Sailing By before 12:48am and the Shipping Forecast.----- Nothing like it!
by jim w @ 03/03/2006 1:04 am • Permalink •
2
I listen to norwegian radio from time to time in an attempt to learn the language. The shipping forecast takes about half an hour in the most dreary voice imaginable. Yet once I figured out what it was about I learned to enjoy it. I don´t like listening to any kind of forecast in dutch, only foreign ones spark my imagination.
by Mishimi @ 03/03/2006 11:03 am • Permalink •
3
Twinned with ?
by Mr.D. @ 03/03/2006 12:04 pm • Permalink •
4
Yup, finished reading this last week, blogged about it and Mr. Connelly linked to my site in his weekly mailing list! Scary stuff indeed.
www.charlieconnelly.com - he has a blog too.
by Gordon @ 03/03/2006 1:04 pm • Permalink •
5
The weather forcast has been interupting the closing over for years....
But do you know all the areas and their places on the map; whic is all they were till I started sailing with an old school friend last summer; but,when bouncing around on the North Sea wondering whether the force 5 is going to change to "Gale warning" some of the romanticism disappears.
I've just got back from the Apple Store where I ordered a Mac Mini "With Intel inside" - I'm now trying to figure out how to tell the wife!
by Jonathan Briggs @ 03/03/2006 6:03 pm • Permalink •
6
James: I know, I was being appallingly vague.
Mishimi: Sounds good!
Mr. D.: Indeed. Great book, not so good film from what I hear (I've read the book, but not seen the film).
Gordon: I hadn't seen that---nice review!
Jonathan Briggs: I knew where most of them where (roughly) before reading the book, and had a special interest in Malin and Hebrides because of the time I spent helping out with whale watching tours there. Congratulations on the Mac Mini! See, I knew we'd turn you eventually.
Mark: Heh, I just plucked Solihull out of the air as a random place miles from the sea.
by bsag @ 04/03/2006 7:04 pm • Permalink •
7
There are a very good series of photographs taken by Mark Power on the same theme, which are well worth seeing if you get the chance. You can see some annoyingly small versions of these lovely pics on his rather irritating Flash web site http://www.markpower.co.uk/
by ThoughtBadger @ 06/03/2006 12:03 am • Permalink •
8
All those years ago, when I was attempting to stay up as late as possible (even though I had school the next day), I'd flick over from Bob Harris on Radio 1 at 12.30am, as it was back then, to hear the three minutes of Sailing By, before the forecast at 12.33am.
I'm not sure why, but the mention of "thick fog" used to scare me!
by Skytower @ 08/03/2006 7:04 pm • Permalink •
9
Hey I was just surfing around and decided to post a short comment here. I run a movie review message board and am looking for people to write reviews and contribute at my forum. You can even post a link to your blog on your signature file at my forum. It's all good! Take care.
by Thriller Movies @ 31/03/2006 4:04 am • Permalink •
10
A great idea indeed, but Charlie Connelly was not the first to publish an account of travels round the shipping Forecast.My book Rain Later, Good came out in 1998, and I not only wrote about my travels, I am primarily a landscape painter and I painted every sea area and coastal station and used these to illustrate the book, which is still going strong after 9 years with a third edition coming out in 2008.
by Peter Collyer @ 22/03/2007 9:47 am • Permalink •
11
I was sent this book by a friend in England. I remember listing to the shipping forecast as a child and like many others could receit it at the drop of a hat. I found the book interesting and informative, not so sure it is one I would have picked myself, but it grew on me, so to speak!. Love the dry, wry sense of humor.
by Kate. B.C. Canada. @ 25/04/2008 5:52 am • Permalink •
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