BELFAST — One of the things I like most about Bittles is that I always meet someone interesting when I go there. The streak continued Saturday as KER and I lent a chair at our table to a man who resembled actor Jamie Cromwell (the farmer in "Babe").
We began to chat, as you do, and it turned out he was visiting from the Isle of Man. He enjoys Northern Ireland for long walks so he and KER (a history of half-marathons, at least one full marathon and counting) really hit it off. They especially chatted about the Isle of Man Parish Walk, a seemingly grueling 85 miles in less than 24 hours. I think this is KER's new life goal.
We didn't spend a lot of time with this Manx gentleman but we learned a lot about the Manx culture. The Manx have a very cool three-legged symbol (armored! with spurs! the Scots are envious) and motto roughly translated: "No matter where you throw me, I shall stand." This appears on the Isle of Man's pounds and the island has its own Royal Mail, which is where our new acquaintance works. He participated in their 2011 charity calendar — think "Calendar Girls" but with postal accessories. He told us he posed au natural on the calendar cover with other employees, concealed by strategically placed mailbags. I thought this was hilarious and was spinning dozens of off-color postal jokes in my head but he beat me to the punchline:
"Yes, some people teased that a postage stamp should have been sufficient."
Georgia Confidential 