The island off the Scottish Coast is unique, you could say a one-of-a-kind place. There’s one grocery store. One pub. There’s one taxi, that drives down a tiny one lane road. And there’s one doctor, but he’s only there one day a week. Welcome to the Isle of Eigg. Steve Kroft reports from the tiny island in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides on the next edition of 60 Minutes, Sunday, Nov. 26, at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7:00 p.m. PT.
“You basically have to be sick on a Tuesday,” says Charlie Galli, Eigg resident and the driver of its lone public conveyance — his aging Volvo. “The doctor comes from Syke on a Tuesday and spends the day here. And that’s sometimes, weather permitting. It’s really rough in the wintertime.”
It’s only 10 miles from the Scottish coast, but a light year away from the hustle and bustle of modern life. The islanders, who number about a hundred, are different says Galli. “The people on Eigg, I’d have to say, are more evolved,” he tells Kroft. “[Mainlanders] are all doing their hamster wheel thing. You get a mortgage, you get a car, you get a job…this, the next thing and they all get so involved, they forget to look about them and see what’s actually going on in life you know?”
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So what goes on on Eigg? Sheep graze. Sheep dogs work. Cows do what they want. “The cows like to go down and lie on the beach…all trail down the road,” Galli says. “You cannot argue with a cow you know. It wants to do what it wants to do.”
Since Johnny Jobson first saw Eigg, as a young scallop diver, the island has gotten electricity. So living there became an option for a wife and family and a chance for Jobson to live a dream. “You’ll look at the scenery or you’ll see a pod of dolphins come through and you just remind yourself how lucky you are,” says Jobson.
Eigg’s natural beauty is characterized by windswept grass, imposing cliffs and sea vistas. It’s a magical place for Sarah Boden. She grew up on the island and left, only to return with her partner to run her father’s sheep farm. “It’s one of those places that really gets into your soul, I think. It’s quite enchanting.”
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