Simon Campbell

Posted at 1629 hours on 25/01/09 | Posted in Life, Business

Bad curry, sea survival and kippers

This article tells of tales of horrific curry’s, a ‘Sea Survival’ course, the lack of essential items in the Isle of Man, kayaking, wallswaps, kippers, football, walnuts & farting…

Sea Survival

The last bit of my Coastal Skipper qualification required a Sea Survival certificate. Following the excellent course run by Henry Hillier and his team at MarineMatters I decided to travel all the way down to Southampton again to undertake this course. I was enthused by the choice of instructor, Keith Spiller who has over 30 years experience in running this type of course for the Royal Navy; good enough for me!

The RYA Basic Sea Survival Course is designed to teach liferaft drills, lifejacket donning and provide a good knowledge of survival techniques utilising the safety equipment carried on small boats. It was great fun and I learnt an awful lot. Mainly, you don’t, under any circumstances want to have to use a liferaft!!!

Curry cockup

I arrived at Swanwick Marina (where I was staying for the above course) on the Friday evening and was determined to go for a curry. I eat a lot of curry and I am a bit of an expert! I know purist curry eaters may disapprove, but I am a great fan of the super hot stuff. Phal (yes, it was invented over here) being a particular favourite when the mood takes me.

In anticipation I called Henry to find a suitable establishment and he recommended the Park Gate Tandoori, which bizarrely is located at Swanwick Railway Station. Anyway, I piled down there only to find they were totally booked up. He was even more booked up when I told him I was a ‘lone diner’ :-) In the queue talked to two ladies who pointed me down the road to the Chon Chola in Warsash.

Without further adoo, I drove down there and following a little consternation from the proprietor (about me being a ‘lone dine’ on a Friday night) he sat me down. It was a busy old place. People arriving for takeouts, crowds of diners bustling trough, I was clearly in for a treat. I ordered a Chicken Tika Jalfrezi (extra hot of course), vegetable rice, two chapati’s, a Tarka Dhal a raft of Papadum’s, with pickle and a ubiquitous pint of draft Kingfisher.

I was peckish after the five hour drive from the North West and was looking forward to the excellent food that was to come.

It arrives (very, very quickly): Papadum’s, fine. Standard pickle, fine. Chicken Tika Jalfrezi appalling, the sauce was like water and the chicken virtually incinerated. The Tarka Dhal was OK and the chapati’s manageable (albeit a bit rubbery). I was heartbroken, but so hungry I consumed the lot without complaint. How bloody British…

Supplies

I have never permanently lived abroad. You hear tales of mad cravings for Holland’s Pies & Steak Puddings, Vimto, Daddy’s sauce etc. I though it was all bollocks until I move abroad, and yes, the Isle of Man is a different country. We have trouble with: Stroh Rum, Good Choritzo, good quality spirits of all kinds, basic furniture, fresh coffee beans, Steak Puddings, mirrors, Sofnalime and clothes.

This is totally put in the shade by the amazing lifestyle, beauty and local food available. So its just a matter of thinking ahead to stock up…

Kippers

The Isle of Man is famous for its kippers and four minutes walk from our house is ‘Paddy’s Market’.

It is the best fish shop on the Island. They have fresh lobster, scallops and queenies every day along with a selection of local specialities. Callick (the Manx name from Pollock) is superb, as fresh as a daisy!

They also sell North Sea catches and Salmon from Scotland that is so fresh it tastes amazing. How they keep it so good with the travelling I will never know. As a result I eat Fish and seafood three to four time a week, losing weight, healthy, excellent work…

I have however taken a particular penchant to Paddy’s Kippers. They are inexpensive and totally superb. Unfortunately, the Herring comes from the North Sea, but its all in the marinade and smoking!

Angela now calls me Kipper face; it can only be the fact I eat so many, right?

Kayaking

Two of our Erskine Design guys came over to visit for a few days. Joe, my youngest, was also at home so we thought it would be great to do something different whilst they were all here. Angela looked around and booked a mornings sea kayaking through Adventurous Experiences.

We all drove down to Fenella Beach in Peel, meeting up with the amazingly enthusiastic Keirron Tastagh, the owner and Chief Instructor. He took us through a swift safety briefing (I liked that) and before we knew it, we were walking down to the beach, Kayaks in hand.

I was expecting to have to work really hard, but once you had the technique its a piece of cake. So following the initial instability and fear of rolling, we were away. Through sea caves, manoeuvring around rocks, dodging the fool ‘Wood’ (that’s the world famous but spatially challenged web designer at Erskine), who kept cutting me up. Amazingly, Swinfield became quite adept by the end of the session!

The sea was calm and although overcast it was a fantastic experience. Of course as an experienced canoeist, Joe couldn’t resist soaking me on the way back… Most firms would call this ‘team building’, that’s crap, it was just a bunch of blokes playing nicely on the sea. Highly recommended.

Wallswaps

This is a little website from Simon Collison”:http://colly.com and Greg Wood at Erskine Design. Basically, you send stuff to us, we put it on a virtual cork-board wall and we send you some Erskine badges. Sounds simple, and it is…

Take a look at the variety of stuff we have received to date. There are some veeeery strange people out there…

Farting

When you stop laughing at a fart, you are getting old. There I am watching the rugby, eating walnuts, drinking beer and farting. How can Angela object to that?

2 comments

1. Jason on 10/04/10 at 0100 hours

   Damn, Simon.

   You lead a very interesting life my friend. I hope to be go on many adventures like this during my life.

   Thanks!

2. Simonski on 10/04/10 at 0950 hours

   The thing is not to talk about it. Do it, regardless of the people who say no (and there will be lots of them)...

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