Praying for Icebergs

I could not neglect to notice that my apparent distain for an elderly woman is evident in my previous posts.  Let me explain.  I suppose it all comes down to the fact that my neighbour known as interfering Elsie pushed me to the verge of suicide about two years ago. “How is this possible?” I hear you ask.  Well, let us proceed.

It all began on a Wednesday evening in October 2012; I made the mistake of accepting an invitation to enter her lair on the premise that I would drink one of her cups of scalding hot tea before making my excuses and returning to my flat.  As usual, she trapped me.  I was sitting in her flat, surrounded by the creepiest selection of hand sewn toys and mountains of complaint letters, unable to escape.  I’d been in there for over two hours and had been subjected to her lengthy stories about her complaint letters and forced to read the hand written duplicate copies she keeps for her own records.  I think it was at the point when I was mid-way through one of her pet-sitting diaries, detailing her cleaning animal excrement that she abruptly asked:

“Have you ever been on the Waverly Paddle Steamer?”

In my innocence, I replied that I hadn’t.  As she launched into a half hour tale of the wonders of the boat and its sail up the River Clyde, the only polite response was to agree “that sounds wonderful”. 

“Would you like to come on a sail?”

“Of course – it sounds amazing!” I said mistakenly.

Upon reflection, I believe the fault lies with me, in that I am pre-disposed to treat the elderly as if they were my own grandparents.  The assumption being that the elderly should be treated in a polite and respectful manner reflecting how they were brought up to treat their elders and along with that, there is usually a reciprocal caring and generosity which perhaps comes with age.  Let me be clear – I failed to understand that old people can be a complete pain in the arse.

Two days later, on the Friday evening, I was relaxing after a busy week at University.  The letterbox clattered and hesitantly I opened the door.  Elsie was standing in the landing.

“We leave at 7am tomorrow. Wrap up warm the two of you!”

No questions, no planning, no warning.  My Saturday was now assigned, against my will, to a trip on the Waverly.  God forbid I actually had some form of social life or plans for my day off. 

“I’m so sorry, I’m working tomorrow Elsie – I won’t be able to come!” Manu added.

Let me tell you, if ever there is a time when you seriously consider ending a long term relationship, the moment when your partner abandons ship (quite literally) and leaves you resigned to an outing with your pain in the arse neighbour – this scenario fits the bill.  Smiling at Elsie yet projecting an evil death stare at Manu, I closed the door and couldn’t stop myself from saying:

“I can’t wait!” – A sense of underlying dread surfacing.

The next thing I knew, it was 7am and the letterbox was rattling again. 

“The taxi is downstairs” Elsie grinned.

So slowly we descended her with her luminous-green-4-wheeled-shopping-trolley in tow, downstairs to the taxi. In no time we were at the Glasgow Science Centre and seeing as she had paid for my ticket, I handed over a crisp £20 note to the taxi driver.  Boarding the Waverly took a long time. As an able bodied youngster I was cautious, so I feel that trying to describe an elderly woman with a trolley and plastic leg splints could not do the reality of the situation any justice.  “To me”, “To you” by the Chuckle Brothers is about as close as I can get as she was passed between the Ship’s Crew down the gangplank.

If I’m absolutely honest, as we found seats on the deck, I felt a sort of nervous anticipation or in retrospect a horrendous premonition of what was to come.  As we set sail, the atmosphere was excited and the crisp October air ensured that everybody on board was wide awake and ready for the trip ahead.  As with any boat journey, I found myself unable to resist humming the Titanic theme tune as the fated ship left the dock, but sadly my sister wasn’t with me to share the joke.  However, I suppose it was within the first 5 minutes of our voyage that it dawned on me what a terrible mistake I had made.

“Lovely day for a sail” Elsie said to a man with a very impressive moustache sitting beside us.

“Yes, it is” he replied politely

“Where are you coming from?”

“Hamilton” he said, smiling awkwardly.

I have never seen anybody look so relieved as one of his party appeared with a roll and sausage, giving him the excuse to distance himself from Elsie and her awkward questions.  Presuming she was just being friendly, I mistakenly thought nothing of her striking up a conversation with a stranger.  How wrong I was.

“Should we go downstairs and get a spot of breakfast?” she asked me.

I agreed and so the first of many trips around the ship began.  We descended the stairs to the cafeteria at a painfully slow pace, causing a huge human traffic jam of passengers.  Again, thinking nothing of it, I paid for our breakfast seeing as I hadn’t quite reimbursed the cost of my ticket with the taxi fare. 

Writing this, I am finding it hard to put into word what exactly unfolded.  It was over a cup of tea at Dunoon that I discovered that our trip would last the entire day.  Yes, we would not get back to Glasgow until late that night.  As much as the conditions aboard were calm, the words “cabin fever” crept into my mind.  It turned out that the reason for Elsie’s trips on the Waverly were so that she could initiate conversations with strangers.  For hours we sailed on, every five minutes her positioning herself beside some poor stranger to say “Lovely day for a sail!”  Some folk made the same mistake that I did and actually engaged in the conversation before realising that this individual was an embittered old lady, nosey to find out your life story and anxious to acquire your address so as to correspond with you.  There was no escape.  I was being trailed around the ship, being forced to partake in her harassment of people trying to enjoy a nice day out.  I swear to god, to this day the words “Lovely day for a sail” are ringing in my ears and are capable of bringing on a panic attack.  The day was broken up by trips to the cafeteria whereby she managed to alternate our payments so that I bought every overpriced meal and she purchased the cheap cups of tea and coffee.  By the time I was about £60 down, I realised that inviting a gullible neighbour on a Waverly trip was a lucrative move. 

Late afternoon, I was relieved of my duty and informed that I was free to go for a wander around the ship.  I headed to the opposite side of the boat and discovered some men smoking which I had previously presumed wasn’t allowed on board.  I’m surprised I didn’t keel over with nicotine poisoning as I sat and chain smoked for about half an hour.  Sitting alone, the view was spectacular.  I thought to myself, as a couple this would be a very romantic trip, as a family, this would be a great day out.  Instead I was brought back to reality as I heard the words “Are you enjoying your sail?”…

Eventually we arrived at Tighnabruaich.  At this point, the passengers had the option to disembark and watch the Waverly sail off as it turns around to head back to Glasgow.  I previously described myself as able bodied which is not an accurate description, but let me tell you, every fat lump of me ran to shore leaving Elsie on board.  I started imagining my new life there.  Surely a family in Tighnabruaich would take me in when they heard my plight?  I could work in the local post office to pay my fare back to Glasgow.  It seemed like a nice place, being abandoned here wouldn’t be so bad.  If my plan failed, I could start the 17 hour walk and ferry journey back to Glasgow.  I sat on the beach as the Waverly returned.  I was suicidal.

Back on board, I started counting the stops back to Glasgow.  Elsie asked me if I wanted to get some dinner.  I paid. £80 down.  Despite there being plenty of free table she insisted upon sharing with two elderly men as she viewed it as an opportunity to strike up yet more conversations with strangers.  Over dinner she started telling me the tales of friends she had made on her trips around the UK.  At that point I fully understood that what she actually meant was people she had harassed into corresponding with her whilst she had hijacked them on their day out.  One of her most interesting tales was a business man who had given her his address and she had sent some home baking to him in a Tupperware box.  He hadn’t returned the Tupperware.  Her description of the situation was verging on a comparison to the Holocaust.  I wondered if they sold razor blades in the gift shop.

 

 

Upon my discovery that sadly razor blades weren’t available in the gift shop, I went for a wander below deck.  The engine room showing the triple expansion steam engine with all of its pistons, crankshafts and cylinders was a sight to behold.  I was hypnotised better than Paul McKenna could ever dream of by its endless rotations, but sadly thought about throwing myself on top of the machinery in the hope that I was be pulverised and eventually cremated when I made it to the boiler room.  After a half an hour trance, I took out my phone and started texting my parents and even my neighbours Johnny and Mary to let them know that it had been nice knowing them.  Sadly they were all amused at my ill-fated day out in such terrible company.

I found myself on deck later watching the sunset.

Admittedly it was spectacular.  I was surrounded by professional photographers taking advantage of the beautiful scenery.  Looking out over the water, I found myself pondering…”Are there Ice Bergs off the west coast of Scotland?  Please God – Let there be Ice Bergs!”  It was the only way I could envisage myself getting off this god forsaken ship.  Staring down at the icy cold water, I was overwhelmed with the understanding that this was one of those seminal moments in life when things fall into place.  For the first time, all of those boring University literature classes became real.  Camus was right about the intrinsic absurdity of the world and our existence, I indeed was Sisyphus and this ship was the symbolic boulder of my eternal damnation!  Elsie was Charon, ferrying me across the River Styx to the underworld!  There I was, Narcissus, consumed by my own reflection in the water!  This was the modern day Odyssey and Iliad!  Simone de Beauvoir was right! Ok, too far, she was just full of feminist pish…

“Are you enjoying your sail?” I heard.  I gripped the railing to prevent my interrupted subconscious from throwing myself overboard.  Where in the name of fuckery were Jack and Rose when you needed somebody to make false promises of “I’ll never let go” shortly before letting go? 

The honest truth is that I don’t know how I made it home.  Well, I do in so much as I remember it was once again me who forked out for the taxi.  I’m still to contact the student loans company to find out if they’ll reimburse me for being scammed out of my cash.  All I remember is that we approached Glasgow which looked more beautiful than I can ever remember seeing it as it was lit up at night.  Perhaps it was just the sheer relief of being home after a fourteen hour day with Elsie that made it look so wonderful…

As children, we are taught not to speak to strangers, yet I doubt elderly women are what our parents had in mind.  I assure you, the next time that an old woman invites you into her home for a harmless cup of tea; your best bet is to decline.  I may not have come up the Clyde in a Banana boat, but it would appear that accepting to come down it on the Waverly Paddle Steamer doesn’t make me much smarter either.

Hopefully this may explain some of the resentment Up Ma Bit.