Page 124 - Microsoft Word - Guiding light final version 0955 1006.doc

‘I asked the ferry man to hold on a sec while I ran back up to check the loo, found the missing passenger as we hurried down to the ferry...there it was sailing off with all my Kincaids shouting to everyone’s amusement “you’ve missed the boat Jean!”
‘On another occasion I worked with a Canadian TV film crew who were filming a Christmas special with a Scots born singer called Johnny Reid who is well known in Canada and Nashville. Johnny was born in Overton, Lanarkshire and emigrated with his family when he was a young lad. We visited many places associated with Johnny’s family, in and around Glasgow and I have a vivid memory of helping to carry the filming equipment up the 246 steps to the top of the Wallace Monument!
‘Another Visit Scotland programme I was involved with involved three university students who had asked for help to make a small film for a competition. Their idea was that the male Panda from Edinburgh zoo had escaped, he wanted to visit some of the main attractions around Scotland and he’d send postcards to the female Panda! We borrowed the Panda costume from Edinburgh Zoo on one condition. The person wearing the costume would always be in full costume and keep the head on when in public! This head was very wide and the costume was very hot to wear! We filmed at a Ceilidh, at The Forth Bridge, Stirling Castle, and the Panda played golf at Gleneagles! It was one of the funniest tours I have been involved with!!
‘Lastly I was asked by one of the hotels in Edinburgh to take an American couple on a day tour. I didn’t know till I returned these lovely guests back to the hotel, that the lady was Nancy Pelosi, the American politician!’
Guiding vignettes
By Norma Allan
‘Two Blue Badge guides and two coaches were visiting Loch Lomond Shores for shopping and a lunch break. At the appointed time for departure, the clients returned to the coaches and we were soon ready to depart. There was no sign of the driver.
In our absence the drivers were changing over and the original driver went off with the keys still in his pocket, leaving the new substitute driver without keys! I was speechless. There followed frantic phone calls before he sped off in the other coach to retrieve the missing keys. I had to bite the bullet and explain this unlikely story to the waiting passengers. They ‘werenae’ pleased, to put it mildly.
After what seemed like eternity, he returned, looking somewhat flustered. I was furious - a difficult day.’
Nearly left back in Shetland
‘After a most enjoyable CPD in Shetland, we boarded the ferry at Lerwick, bound for Aberdeen. Just as the ferry was loosening its mooring ropes and bringing up the gangway, we noticed that we were one missing – one of our trainers!
We alerted the crew and some of us ran up the jetty to find the culprit. We found him quietly buying last-minute postcards in a shop at the head of the pier. We seized him brutally and frog-marched him back to the ship. Phew. A near miss!’
Nearly missing the boat
‘Years ago I worked as a Tour Guide on board the small cruise ship, Lord of the Glens, on the
Caledonian Canal. One evening we were moored at Inverness. The ship was full and I was ‘boarded out’ in a B&B nearby. I would rejoin the ship next morning ready for departure.
124