Stobo 17. StoboEveryone in Aberfintry knew that the cable car station was the sole preserve of Stobo. The place was his, and his alone. With the cable car having been built to serve Hotel Grimm, their reputations went hand in hand. As such, children were warned to keep away from the wee man who had taken over as mechanic since the death of his father who had overseen the building and installation of the machinery.One of the challenges at school was to see how close anyone dared to go to the cable car station, and as a further test of bravado to see how far they would go in provoking Stobo. Standard practice involved throwing stones on to the roof of the station. Being metal, the sharp bangs of the stones that landed on it sounded like bullets and for Stobo inside, it must have been like being under attack from the guns of a diving fighter plane. The stone throwing also extended to trying to pelt the cable car itself as it made occasional journeys up and down Scrab Hill. The competition wasn’t just to try to hit the moving target, but to see who could still get a direct hit when the car was getting higher and higher and further and further out of range.
