Empower the UK Government or Parliament to regulate ferry prices. – Petitions

Click to buy Bembridge Lifeboat Station framed print (Fine Art America) © Sarah Vernon

This not my usual type of post to be sure but it’s something I find exceedingly worrying. If we don’t do something about the Isle of Wight ferry companies and the truly extortionate prices they charge  — Wightlink and Red Funnel — the Island where I now live will go down the drain. No political party in government over the last few decades has ever seemingly given the Island the money it needs just to maintain the status quo, let alone improve and repair the infrastructure and services.

One of the reasons ferry prices are sounding the death knell is that tourists can’t afford to come over and we can’t afford to get off, whether it’s to visit friends, see our families on the mainland or go to a better equipped and staffed hospital. During the heat wave, Cornwall’s beaches were packed; on the whole, those on the IOW were not.

I could say more about the way the Island has been poorly served over the decades but I won’t. To find out more about the knock-on effect of the ferry prices at The IOW Fixed Link Tunnel Campaign on Facebook and The PRO-LINK Campaign for an Isle of Wight Fixed Link.

As I’ve said before, I have known the Island since I was a child in the ’60s and it is very dear to me. I will not let it go down the plug ‘ole. With that in mind, I beg you if you are a British resident to sign the petition and then re-blog, post on Facebook, tweet, or any other kind of sharing so that the word gets out. A fixed link is the only answer that makes real sense but that’s a long way off. Cheaper ferry prices have to be sought for the interim. It may not happen but the campaign getting headlines could make the right person or persons think again about what can be done.

Petition
Empower the UK Government or Parliament to regulate ferry prices.
With current ferry prices being unregulated, companies are permitted to charge whatever they wish for crossings. UK residents living in such places as the Isle of Wight are charged excessive amounts for commuting or travel to see family and friends. Likewise for tourists going the other way.

via Empower the UK Government or Parliament to regulate ferry prices. – Petitions

Links

The IOW Fixed Link Tunnel Campaign on Facebook

The PRO-LINK Campaign for an Isle of Wight Fixed Link

Take care and keep laughing!

‘I’ve Got a Ticket to Ryde’…and remembering a much simpler time. | My Life as an Artist (2)

Janet is joining me on the Island next week.

On my Lambretta scooter in 1965 (the same year that the Beatles wrote the song – ‘I’ve got a ticket to Ride’)   My friend Maureen is on the back.   She and I went to art col…

Source: ‘I’ve Got a Ticket to Ryde’…and remembering a much simpler time. | My Life as an Artist (2)

First Night Design | Bembridge Lifeboat Station #Art #New

Click to buy Bembridge Lifeboat Station framed print (Fine Art America) © Sarah Vernon

As some of you know, our summer holidays as children were spent in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight where I now live. The other week I trundled round on my mobility scooter visiting my favourite haunts. This shot of Bembridge Lifeboat Station through the trees is just where the steps lead down to the beach and to the exact spot we invariably used for swimming.

It is true the original photograph is rather appealing and some of you on Facebook have already seen it as my header but true to form, I had to play.

I used two textures from Design Cuts — a yellow-based and a green-based one. I ran the photograph through Topaz Impression three or four times to produce different effects. I chose to layer ‘Cezanne 1’ and ’Cavedweller’ (as you do) and blended them with the textures to produce a digital painting. I hope it pleases you as much as it did me in its creation.

Click to buy Bembridge Lifeboat Station tote bag (Fine Art America) © Sarah Vernon

Part of a paper read to the Ladies of Shanklin Evening Institute, October 1951.

“It is quite possible that some among you are quite ignorant of everything connected with Lifeboat work […] I have no intention of going back into remote history, or to the founding of the Institution in 1824.  Moreover, I expect you will think that I have gone back quite far enough if I commence with the time of your grandfathers, and I select that particular time because it was then that the proud reputation of the Lifeboat Institution was built up, on the great hearts and stout muscles of the grand old men who served as crews for the small pulling and sailing lifeboats stationed round our coasts.  But to really understand the heroism of these grand old fellows, and to give them full credit for their marvellous rescues, and for their self-sacrificing efforts, one must be possessed of…” Bembridge Lifeboat

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfillment centers in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!

Heavens to Betsy But Moving is Exhausting!

Snapshot of front door and boxes © Sarah Vernon

Heavens to Betsy but moving is exhausting, as if we didn’t all know! It’s going to be at least another week or two before I’m back to normal or as normal as my life ever is. My landline and internet are not going to be up and running until 1st August so I’m still having to pop into the Pilot Boat Inn next door.

There are great advantages to having them as neighbours and I’m thankful that it’s not a rowdy establishment. I stayed there for three days before I could actually move into the cottage and the rooms are excellent. Included in their restaurant menu are mussels accompanied by a cream sauce with white wine and Vermouth, which is to die for. In fact, I’m so besotted I’ve yet to try anything else on the menu.

As for the process of moving, when your mobility and dexterity are limited, it takes a great deal more time and effort to do what you can and organise help for what you can’t.  My niece and sister-in-law are doing as much as they are able but the stumbling block, which will come as no surprise to my friends, are the boxes of books. ‘I’m so sorry,’ I said to the delivery guys. ‘I promise to stop reading!’

The locals are charming and helpful while the supermarket provided me with the biggest laugh:

Notice in supermarket © Sarah Vernon

I look forward to ‘rest bite’ care as and when.

In the meantime…

Take care and keep laughing!