The PS Waverley is the last sea going Paddle Steamer in the world still in service. It is a piece of history virtually on my doorstep. The thing is I have been on it many times but never appreciated it. My grandparents took me to Rothesay numerous times when I was young, I went there with a friend's family, I went there with the school and about 10 years ago I went on my mate's work day out there. Its is a trip I think the girl's would love. Also it is something that I would really enjoy now slowly passing over the Clyde.
I didn't appreciate the history on my previous jaunts. Countless times I was invited to look in the engine room and declined as it held no interest for me. Little did I know that my grandfather was a Greaser in an engine room during the second world war, that his grandfather was a stoker aboard a steam ship on the Mersey and that his grandfather was a chief engineer with a pioneering company aboard a paddle steamer on the Clyde- in fact that is how and where he met his end. I'd love to see that engine room now. Also I would love to just appreciate the short journey down the river.
Rothesay is on the Isle of Bute. It was always a favoured destination with my grandparents. I always wondered why that was. Maybe it was because it was close by or maybe it was just because my granda loved the sea so much. I don't know. And I now wonder if they knew that we had ancestors who lived there. Not in Rothesay but in other parts of the island like Kingarth and Port Bannatyne. Being the happy soul that I am I wouldn't mind strolling through some churchyards looking at old headstones for clues to the past.
Now it all fits together for me but alas it will have to wait.
