Is that hot enough for you now?

About this recording

This is the second instalment of a two-part interview with Jackie Strachan, who was born in August 1944 just a week before his father was killed in a plane crash near Keiss.

In part one, Jackie talked about that tragic wartime accident before going on to tell of his early experiences as a butcher’s message boy in Wick and as a member of Wick Players, and how he later joined the Army and served in Germany.

In part two, Jackie tells how he and his wife Marlene began working for a catering company at Nigg Bay in Easter Ross, where there was a camp for 500 oil rig construction workers. Jackie was also at the Sullom Voe oil terminal in Shetland for a time before working in TV rentals in Alness. He co-founded an electrics firm in Alness and also opened a dance hall and bar on the edge of the town.

He and Marlene then decided to move to the United States. Initially they went for a holiday there and Jackie remembers how, on their arrival at Miami, the airport air-conditioning system gave a false sense of the Florida climate. Marlene was surprised at how cool it felt. After a transfer to Orlando, emerging at last from air-conditioned airport surroundings, the couple were immediately hit by the sweltering heat. Jackie remembers asking Marlene, tongue-in-cheek: “Is that hot enough for you now?”

In America, Jackie worked in car sales and in a camera shop and photo lab business. Marlene trained as a nurse and worked in that profession until retiring at 74.

The couple lived in Florida for about 36 years before returning to their home town of Wick in 2022.

The above photo shows Jackie and Marlene attending the New Year open day at Wick Heritage Museum in January 2024. Part one of Jackie’s interview is entitled “Everybody was laughing because the camel was drunk!”