puffinbillyunst

I spent about a year on North Ronaldsay from spring 1987 to spring 1988. For those who don't know, North Ronaldsay is the northernmost of the Orkney islands, just 40 km from Fair Isle in Shetland, but it is very flat and Orcadian in character.

With no ro-ro (still) and transport links all via Kirkwall North Ron can claim to be Orkney's remotest inhabited island. This was presumably behind the decision by the Royal Army Dental Corps to come and set up a Field Dental Unit on the island in 1987, offering free dental services to the islanders. The RADC complained that although they set up their field surgery every time the army went on manouevres, no-one ever got toothache (how inconsiderate!) so they never got the chance to prove their worth.

To save costs they hitched a lift with a Fisheries Protection Vessel, although given the rivalry between Army and Navy this wasn't necessarily a good idea. Problem is the Navy couldn't find the pier!! They sailed right round the island and were beginning their second circuit while everyone stood on the pier waving. In the end, some of the islanders got in a small boat with an outboard and started chasing after the Navy, one guy steering, the other frantically waving his arms to try and attract their attention. Eventually, someone noticed and the ship turned round and headed to the pier.

To get ashore required flit boats as there is not enough clearance for the ship to get in by the pier. The first flit boat came in, carrying the Army officers, with a couple of naval bodies escorting them across.

"Just wait until I'm ashore. You army boys won't be able to do this properly," shouted the sailor at the front with the rope. He promptly made a leap for the steps, missed and disappeared up to his neck in the sea.

The rest of the disembarking was completed in near silence and as quickly as possible, while the army smirked openly and the sailors glared at their shoes in embarrassment.