Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Jul 27, 2007

Attention All Shipping by Charlie Connelly

Filed in Reviews

Attention All Shipping

by Charlie Connelly

Beyond a doubt, this was the most enjoyable book I have read in a very long time.

Dad sent it home with me last year, and it sat on a shelf, awaiting reading. I admit to having been a bit dubious, because being the busy lady that I am I didn’t really pay attention to what it was about. I just thought “Hm, shipping forecast, not so interesting.” Boy was I wrong!

The shipping news has been a staple of British life for many years. Four times a day, it is broadcast: a seemingly incomprehensible code that pertains to the weather and places we’ll never visit in a month of Sundays. Soothing like a cup of tea, these forecasts are listened to by generations of people who consider this ritual an integral part of the day. (It reminds the author of Findus Crispy Pancakes, which I’d somehow managed to banish from my memory until now.)

Each time, a long litany of locations through which anyone traveling by sea must pass is recited, locations which stretch from Finland to Portugal, far out to the Faeroes and even to the end of the world. One day, as you do, the author decided that he was going to visit all the areas, and find out about them. In a year. And he did.

It could have been a simple, boring travelog. It was not. Fortunately for us, Charlie Connelly is a seasoned journalist and a superb writer. He also has a wonderful sense of humor that had me laughing out loud. He said from the start that some areas he couldn’t visit because there was no land in them, but he still managed to find something fascinating to say about each. You have to love a person who can turn a blank stretch of ocean or even a tiny rock into fascinating history and who carries a photograph of his grandfather for company.

One of the themes of this book is emigration and immigration–how our shores are forever intertwined with the stories of people who arrived and left. Particularly poignant for me is the account of the Cleopatra leaving Cromarty Harbor with its shipload of visitors–Cromarty is a favorite stomping ground for me and I’ve seen the monument, with its inscription written by Hugh Miller. While the emigrés traveled in hope, many of them never really did have a better life, and emigration always comes tinged with human pain. Almost always, someone is left behind.

We learn about lighthouses, and of Sealand, a two-generation principality perched on former defensive platforms that look a little like oil rigs (they suffered a devastating fire not too long ago). We hear a lot about rain: squelching, drenching, rain; and more about monuments, and invasions. The author goes to places so remote that the shop is only open a few hours a week (you can almost feel the panic as he contemplates life without food or, worse, crisps, for two days). He goes to islands where one can leave the door unlocked…for years.

But for me, what makes this book so remarkable is the way the author never shirks from expressing his emotions–both good and bad. It’s not self-indulgent; it’s not overwhelming–but you do know you’re dealing with an actual real person, the kind of person with whom you might have a beer. (He does like beer.) It’s impossible not to empathize as Mr. Connelly sits there on his last day, depressed, feeling that dark cloud that always hangs over the end of an adventure or vacation.

Charlie Connelly’s writing reminds me of Bill Bryson’s, but without the snarkiness: very refreshing in a culture where sarcasm is considered trendy. He has a genuine love and fascination for what he’s seen and, best of all, knows how to tell a great yarn. And his hero is a lightboatsman.