We hadn't worried too much about clocks on Islay – we woke when we woke, and we slept when we were tired, which was most of our first 48 hours there. There wasn't much to do that required clock-watching – the 50,000 geese, who had been spending the winter at the RSPB reserve just round the corner, were there whenever we rolled up to look at them. And while the staff at the excellent Ardbeg cafe may have given us a strange look when we wandered in for a 4pm lunch, they were still delighted to serve us.
It took us a couple of days to realise that, yes; everyone on the island does wave when they pass in their cars. But even now that we're home, the Islay hospitality continues, in a way that has softened the blow of the return to work. Yesterday, a parcel arrived – a bottle of malt.
For those of you who have been to Islay the phrase 'Islay Time' probably makes sense, if not, I'm afraid you have missed out on one of the key elements the island has to offer. It's what Arra Fletcher told me when I arrived on Islay last year and sent him a text message from the ferry, 'You can throw away your watch now, you're on Islay'. What better welcome can you get, and you immediately adapt to the relaxed pace of life the Ileach, at least most of them, and its visitors enjoy so much. It comes as no suprise that others too write about this phenomenon. Today the Inverness Courier published an article in which the author experienced the same relaxed pace and hospitality that other Islay visitors have. Time for a quote from the article called Islay hospitality still softens return to reality: