Seil Chat

Och weel Abe yee'll ken this then: " BAA"

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
"Mobile phone is nowadays a vital element of emergency response, of delivery of individual and community safety plans and of sea and mountain rescue strategies."
Get real Spidee! Do you really believe the MCA, RNLI, mariners, fisherman and yachties are going to give up on VHFs and the Digital selective calling technology recently introduced in favour of mobile phones

Picture the scenario (obviously you being a superhero would preclude you from this situation) - A yachty has bounced his keel of a local rock with some unpronounceable gaelic name, The boat's holed and taking in water.
You are in "grave and imminent danger"
What do you do?
a) Press the "distress" button on your VHF for five seconds, which immediately logs your position with the MCA and transmit the nature of your distress....
b) Fanny about in the fast flooding boat looking for your stylish wee mobile hoping its saltwaterproof and you've programmed the number of the coastguard in it.

Or mountain rescue strategies?........Do you really think the state of the art military comms system fitted to your average Sea King is going to be binned in favour of a irritating ring from the crazy frog?

How's about we let Charles Darwin explain it...
Hillwalkers. Yachties and Scoobies relying on mobile phone technology (however good the signal is) as a means of rescue is simply evolution in action..........or put another way........God's way of weeding out the stupid

Aye................and something else.........Why do you wear a gimp mask

Wee harbie, I like you but you really need to snap out of your normal teuchter-like dinosaur mode - read the newspapers, watch TV, listen to the radio news - it has happened already - people are rescued regularly from land and sea because of mobile phone calls.

Also UK government national emergency response centres on mobile phone communication.

Don't you think that a slight flaw in your technical arguments is that the average punter doesn't have a VHF or miltary comms system in his/her pocket?!

For someone who is clearly an internet blog geek, how come you're so slow to accept a similar type, indeed an extension, of the same modern communication technology?! Think of the extra fun you could have texting and e-mailing even more frequently from your mobile! Evolve, wee harbie, evolve. Be consistent - and please - don't be afraid...........the future won't hurt you...

Have to say that I wouldn't like a mobile phone mast on Seil. People come to places like these to get away from all that new fangled technology and to be at piece with nature.

We can't have mobiles going off willy nilly in places like the Tigh An Truish where there's not even a flashing gambling to distract tourists from the intriguing conversation with sober locals.

A recent scientific study, which I was part of, suggested that 83% of mobile phone calls consisted of conversations that were of 14% importance. Now I'm no rocket scientist but you do the math, say NO to the mast!!

We for example have a profoundly deaf son who lives in Edinburgh. He can't use ordinary phones so texting is his main method of communication. Our no.2 son lives in Aberdeen and has no landline, so he can only use a mobile.

For lots of families the mobile phone is the main method of keeping in touch.

No one would deny that the majority of mobile conversations / texts are somewhere on a scale from asinine to moronic, but not all of them are.

I agree 100% that we do not want people wittering nonsense into mobiles in the T&T, but it could be made clear to them that they are to go outside if they want to use their phones - and somewhere where they do not annoy the poor smokers as well!

- Nick

gambling...(machine)...

I sympathise with your situation NickB, under your circumstanes I too might call for a mobile mast. Mobiles do work in places on the island though e.g. at the top of Cuan hill, a lot of the west side of the island etc etc.

With respect, I do hope you don't take umbrage with me but I really feel quite passionately about there being no mast on Seil.

I rarely take umbrage, CanU - it doesn't agree with me . . .

One of the problems with Seil is that everyone who moves in as a lifestyle choice seems to want to freeze the island at the moment in time that they arrived. I don't mind a mobile phone mast, as I think this is a relatively unobtrusive change which could help a lot of people. However, I HATE the idea of trafic lights on the bridge or street lamps in Balvicar and would campaign passionately against the latter, so I guess we all have our preferences.

You can be sure of one thing - if a mobile phone mast appears on Seil it will have nothing to do with the opinions of you or me - it will be based purely on whether or not it turns a profit for the phone companies.

Nick

I think you have to live with the fact that soon no one will have a land line. Generally the young have seen the light and given the choice the mobile is a much more versatile tool they can't be without. What's the point in paying for a lanline too?. In todays life the mobile phone is becoming far more than just a talking machine. You can now watch TV on them, store and listen to music, use them for emails. And soon, believe it or not you are likely to find that cash, debit and credit cards disappear as the 'mobile phone' becomes a payment machine too.

I hate the thought of more sticky up things whether they be road signs, advertising, street lights and TV and phone masts Why has no attempt been made to make these things look like trees. It would be a small cost to make them more socially acceptable.

Whilst I enjoy having the convenience of the old moby I must say that I also enjoy not being contactable by it sometimes.. I do sympathise with Nick and his deaf son however, that must be annoying at times and I dont mind a sticky up pole thingy BUT is there not a health risk with microwaves or something with these things - that would be my concern more than anything oh! and should I switch off my wireless thing cos I saw a programme a while ago that said they emit dangerous high levels of something or another thats bad for you. All this technology frightens me a bit actually. BTW I checked my e mail's today (not checked for about 5 days) and I had 439 junk mails - didn't open any of them as most seem decidedly dodgy but it is very time consuming.
I worry about big brother and all that.