This is a delightful, short, easy to read book.
Charlie Connelly is not the first to scribble a book based on the Shipping Forecast, he is not the first to travel to all the areas mentioned either. His version is however, worth a look.
The Late night Shipping Forecast, broadcast by the BBC since the 1920s, however, it began way back in the 1860s. Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy began broadcasting known weather patterns via Telegraph in an effort to save lives and avoid the many shipwrecks around the coast. Island life cannot avoid the combination of bad weather and outcrops of rock! His basic service saved many lives. The service developed through the use of radio after the Great War, the areas becoming well known to seamen. The areas themselves developed as time passed, and the forecast service also continued being broadcast four times a day, these days on Radio 4.
The author begins with a chapter on himself and his limited nautical family history, then a chapter on the Forecast itself and how it originated. He is allowed to sit by as a BBC reader gives the lunchtime forecast, and is impressed by the timing and skill on show, no wonder.
From there he attempts to visit all the sea areas mentioned during the forecast, of course having to fly or take a ferry across one or two unreachable otherwise, such as Dogger. He gets drunk at a party in Utsire, having enjoyed a rough ferry crossing, tastes Arbroath 'smokies,' and in Cromer (Humber region) learned the remarkable story of Lifeboat man Henry Blogg who's crews, in over 55 years service, saved some 873 persons from the waters around him. Remember, when Henry began in the lifeboat it was all manhandled, no engines, just strong, determined men rowing into a gale. The attitude he displayed has not changed, if you want real heroes read about Henry Blogg and the men of the RNLI.
Visiting the Isle of Wight, (sea area Wight) Charlie finds the people of the island like to make money out of one and all. In his desire to see the far distant Tennyson Monument he gets caught in a heavy rainstorm, not for the last time. So he continues his way around, from Portland to the Basque country, Ireland to Iceland, the Faroes to Shetland. Each time he finds stories, often concerning his failure, seasickness, small aircraft or accommodation as well as the people living around him, almost all of whom carry on as if people like him were common visitors. The tales are easy to read, the humour help to carry the tale, and the book very readable indeed. I often could imagine myself in the places mentioned, the circumstances retold, and often the suffering involved. It was interesting how open people were, especially on the islands. The difference between his London home and a small cottage on a sun filled or storm tossed island was interesting.
The book is not new, published in 2004, and reprinted several times until 2009. Some items are therefor dated somewhat, the easy travel across the EU for one, but this does not detract from the tale.
I recommend this book.
