Some of you may know I’m currently pursuing options for a start up publishing business.
I’ve been approached by some contacts at the Isle of Man business development a while back wanting to discuss setting up there instead of in the States.
Lady Chance is at least interested (her father was an Irish immigrant and her mother Dutch…she’s willing to go back to Europe) and it might be good for the kids for a few years.
So tell me about the Isle of Man, it’s wonders and joys, please.
Lobsang is the doper to ask, given that he lives there - although I’m not sure he’s actually Manx.
(Nothing to contribute myself, though - the closest I’ve come is seeing the island in the distance, from a ferry to Dublin.)
And would the Euro-Dopers welcome a yank?
Enquiring minds want to know!
As long as you don’t mind not being able to safely show support for the US president in public until 2008, then you’ll be fine 
Seriously, we’re an accommodating bunch. Just make sure you stand to the right on the escalator…
On the right?
Dude, that’s twisted.
B-b-b-but how else do you expect people to be able to walk up the left?!?!
EVERYone from Washington DC knows that standees stay on the LEFT!!!
It’s even printed in the Washington Post as a reference guide for tourists.
And in London, “stand on the right” is printed on signs alongside the escalators. Beat that!
(and there’s an offical Tube etiquette page. I especially like “When sitting, please don’t spread your legs - let your neighbour enjoy their space, too”)
Mind you, we’re straying desperately off track… hopefully Lobsang will come along and explain the intricacies of Douglas escalator behaviour.
I’ll use my magic and summon him…
…Someone summoned?
Oh, It was you. 
Gorillaman is correct, I am not manx. I’m a woolyback (scouse dopers will know what that means)
I was born in Blackburn, raised in Accrington. Moved here roughly 4 years ago.
Wonders
It’s hard to know where to start in describing the Isle of Man. The landscape is amazing. Steep green rolling hills. Mysterious winding glens (you’d swear there are elves creeping about watching you). Beautiful bays. Spectacular sea (when it’s rough) Even the sky here is often more Amazing than I ever remember it being in England.
http://homepages.manx.net/lobley/DSCF0038_web.jpg
http://homepages.manx.net/lobley/ramsey_web.jpg
http://homepages.manx.net/lobley/DSCF0024_web.jpg
http://homepages.manx.net/lobley/DSCF0050_web.jpg
http://homepages.manx.net/lobley/2002_0512_123801AA_web.JPG
Joys
There’s no speed limit on the rural roads.
And there’s the TT, if you like watching insane people tear around the island at 200MPH.
Talking of publishing… the publishers of the Discworld books are based here.
Anyway I was about to go to bed when I was magically summoned here, so I cobbled this together. I will have a go at being more specific when I do my most important chore at work tomorrow (browsing the SMDB of course!)
P.S. The bike picture above is not the TT, that’s mad sunday, where they open the roads one-way only for even more insane people to tear about on. Anything goes!
P.P.S Manx Escelators must be exited and entered whilst walking backwards. And don’t forget to wear your suffelp (issued on performing of the secret handshake at the airport or sea-terminal).
Isn’t the Isle of Man a tax haven?
From here
I don’t know what the tax regime is where you live, Jonathon Chance, but it certainly sounds good to me; living a few miles west of the Isle of Man, where taxes are considerably more!
My info is that it’s the most trad, reactionary place in Britain. For example, they may still have corporal punishment in schools. But I haven’t said that’s a bad thing.
I’d say the Western Isles take the prize there - the first-ever Sunday flights to Lewis were met with huge protests a couple of years ago.
I have an American friend who lives there. She married an Englishman who turned out to have a drug problem, and thus divorced him. As an American, she couldn’t get a job in the UK, so she and her daughter moved to the Isle of Man, where it was much easier to do so. She is a fisher(wo)man. She has always been the outdoorsy type and she loves it there. She really considers her true home now.
What will you do with your doggies if you leave the States though? While there is a new system for allowing pet animals into the UK without the old 6-month quarantine, I’m not sure how that would relate to Man. They might have to travel to Britain or Ireland first (under the old system, pets had to be quarantined in one of those two countries before they were allowed into Man).
Yep, dogs from the states qualify for the Pet Travel Scheme, which includes the Isle of Man.
I admit that I hadn’t thought of that. But I feel confident that, if the government program that I would be dealing with wants me in, they’ll find a way to make it happen.
Ahh, the TT. The greatest motorcycle race in the world. Screw AMA Superbike, World Superbike, MotoGP, whatever. The TT is it.
My dream vacation – and I will do it within the next six years – is to go to the Isle of Man for the TT, with a motorcyle. Don’t know if I’ll ship mine over, or beg, borrow or rent one somewhere in the UK, but I will do it.