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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think this was the most outrageous breach of ferry etiquette? I am outraged!

66 replies

northernlurker · 18/08/2013 19:34

Yesterday we caught the ferry home from our Scottish Island holiday (sob). The ferrys aren't that big and there's not much space between cars. If a car door is open you can't get past. Therefore you need to move quickly but you also need to be patient. The loading is done quickly and the ferry guys shout quite a bit whilst trying to direct umpteen clueless tourists to park as effectively as possible. Therefore you don't try and get out of your car and walk across the deck till all the cars near you are parked up.
Yesterday the car in front of us was occupied by Howard and Hilda from Ever Decreasing circles. They got straight out and walked right in front of the cal mac guy directing the car in the lane next door - which caused some fruity language and a shake of the head from him. That was nothing to what she did when getting back in. Having three dcs to load we are always at the front of the queue to get back down. Dcs were in and I was climbing in to my seat when I felt my car door hit my thigh and bottom. Yes Hilda was on the way back to her car and had simply slammed my door shut so she could get passed - even though my body was not fully in the car. I was LIVID. So rude. She then stood for some minutes unzipping Howard's anorak for him Hmm and generally pratting about. AIBU to consider her a rude person? There was loads of time btw. The ferry didn't dock for several minutes and then the other side of cars got off first so it wasn't as if she was under pressure of time.

OP posts:
EndoplasmicReticulum · 18/08/2013 20:52

Ah, ferry etiquette. You need to do what the loading man says. There is a reason why you don't get out until the mezzanine has got into position.

Turn your alarm off because otherwise it will go off. And put the bloody handbrake on (someone forgot once, it wasn't pretty).

And when you are waiting to get on the ferry, don't wander off. Because you can guarantee that when you are dithering about in the coffee shop that will be when the loading man wants to move the line forward and you will hold up everybody behind.

Also there is no need to panic and rush for the car like a complete grockle when they announce the thing is coming into the harbour. There will be plenty of time, honestly.

(have been on the IOW ferry more times than is necessary).

northernlurker · 18/08/2013 21:04

Oh the alarms - always when you get down to the deck somebody's BMW is having spasms. Never been held up by absent drivers getting on the ferry but oh yes getting off there's always one who waits to the last moment - and is at the front of the queue.

OP posts:
Ilovegeorgeclooney · 18/08/2013 21:14

Ahh Shitelink, they always make the journey so enjoyable!

valiumredhead · 18/08/2013 21:16

What's the opposite of a grockle? I was trying to remember, it's been years since I lived on the iow.

slenderman · 18/08/2013 21:19

wasn't ever decreasing circles the worst 80s sitcom ever!

i've always quite like the iow ferry experience, except when they put you at the front and tell you to make sure your handbrake is on as your car tips forward Grin

valiumredhead · 18/08/2013 21:20

Yesterday as I was coming down the ferry stairs a dear little old lady said to me 'are these the cars that are leaving??' Not sure she'd quite grasped the concept of ferriesGrin

Ilovegeorgeclooney · 18/08/2013 21:28

Overner - a mainland person who lives on the island
Caulkhead - a person born on the island.

valiumredhead · 18/08/2013 21:30

Caulk head! That's what I was trying to remember, thanksGrin

MiddleAgeMiddleEngland · 18/08/2013 21:33

We once had to reverse onto a CalMac ferry, that was "interesting". Something to do with the pier at one of the destinations being damaged.

I hate it when they start chaining the lorries down, you know you're in for a rough crossing.

Lonecatwithkitten · 18/08/2013 21:36

A seasoned ferry traveller I catch both the Wightlink and the Northlink on fairly regular basis.
Wightlink you get on, switch off alarm and out of car as soon as instructed and if like me you are often at the very front or very back it is sharpish and away from the car deck.
Northlink must remember that you a merely something to slot in between the salmon and mussel containers. You will be left till the last minute and then you must load fast and exactly as you are directed.

fallon8 · 18/08/2013 21:39

My son works for Calmac and does that route,but he is off this week..
It is the time for the travelling fair to visit th islands..everything on the ship has to be nailed down...just as they were getting ready to leave Oban,the lift alarm went off on the bridge...off he went to investigate..the lift was empty,the escape hatch had been removed,at the bottom of the lift shaft were two wee boys,wearing only their underpants.

slenderman · 18/08/2013 21:47

Grin what were they going to do down there i wonder!

H2Ointolerant · 18/08/2013 21:54

Oh jesus, DH and I would be lynched on that route.

We mislaid our car once on the way back from Dublin. Eventually stumbled upon it at the front of a lone queue with 20 angry motorists waiting behind us. The horror.

I'll never forget running up and down stairwells with two small children and coming out to identical-looking floors of cars. It was like being stuck in a nightmare.

fallon8 · 18/08/2013 21:55

Slender an...exactly..and how did they get there? Imagine if the lift had gone down...

slenderman · 18/08/2013 22:05

would the lift go all the way down? i always thought there was a bit at the bottom where it stopped. that's actually quite scary! what happened to them?

Viviennemary · 18/08/2013 22:08

Ferries are on my list of things I do not touch with a bargepole.

JenaiMorris · 18/08/2013 22:22

H2O that really is going to give me nightmares tonight.

And yes I want to know what the little boys were up to!

I've been on millions of ferries to France - they seem dull in comparison (other than the hellish scenario H2O described).

JenaiMorris · 18/08/2013 22:25

God I've just realised that out of about 35+ trips, I have NEVER actually driven onto or off of the ferry myself Blush

EndoplasmicReticulum · 18/08/2013 23:00

Not sure what they'd call me, I'm a caulkhead who escaped (at the first available opportunity).

valiumredhead · 18/08/2013 23:01

SensibleWink

EndoplasmicReticulum · 18/08/2013 23:09

Oh I'm very sensible. I'm unusual though, most people Never Leave.

MidniteScribbler · 18/08/2013 23:28

Argh ferry noobs, the bane of my life. Last time on a trip I had a car full of dogs (all safely confined in crates in the car), and I opened the back window to let them have somefresh air for the trip, and the pork chop that got directed to park behind me started freaking out and saying that she would get dog hair all through her mercedes. Well keep your windows shut then dork face. She wanted them to unload and reload so she could be parked elsewhere. Yeah, nah. I almost killed myself laughing when I got back to the car and a bird had left her a lovely big present right in the middle of her windscreen.

valiumredhead · 19/08/2013 00:19

Endo-really? Everyone I knew on the island left as soon as they could I only know one person who stayed and that's because they had a family business and she worked there. I went through middle and high school and know no one there now.

Very interesting thread on here recently, did you see it? All about the 'dark side' of the island wrt to drug use etc.

JerseySpud · 19/08/2013 00:27

Condor ferries to Jersey. Jam packed with clueless tourists who faff about getting in and out of cars even as the ferry docks, don't listen to the men with bright orange coats. In April when DH and i visited the mainland without the kids itwasglorious some silly stupidtwats people weren't paying attention and nearly drove off the side of the ramp...

trinity0097 · 19/08/2013 06:56

My best ferry experience was when my driving instructor realised that she could claim back the cost of the ferry ticket from the tax man as a work expense, so I did my first ferry crossing with my driving instructor on the Studland chain ferry, far better doing it with an instructor. That was nervewracking but must have been even worse for the cars around seeing this barely 17yr old with L plates everywhere getting up close and personal to their cars!!! At least on that one you stay in your car! Made me much more confident using it when I had passed my test, but I never did trust my handbrake so if on the slopey bit I also sat the entire crossing with my foot wedged on the brake!