A beautiful day but -------------------- and we get all high tech.

Monday 5th December 2011
Today was a really lovely day. A bit cool with the temperatures only just creeping above freezing by a few degrees. No wind though so it felt quite warm, especially as I was all rugged up in coats, hats and gloves. Well there is no point in pushing your luck here if you are going out.

We had the first snow yesterday but only a skittering and that seemed to be mainly hail rather than proper snow. Just to make up for it though, we are supposed to be having a real good blizzard tonight and they have said that it may bring power lines down. The wind is already picking up a bit.

A couple of friends from the south of England moved up here a couple of days ago so they have had a bit of a baptism of fire. They were not sure if they would get here on time as a lot of the ferries were being cancelled because of the gales. They finally got here and then had to wait and see if their belongings would get here the following day. In the end their stuff was a bit late but all OK.
We went to The Commodore with them, David, Clare and another couple to welcome them. I wondered if we would get back over the barriers as it was near high tide but apart from a bit of splashing there were no problems.

Pam has been busy making christmas cakes for all and sundry and we went to a craft fair in "The Hope" over the weekend and managed to get some of the last christmas presents so we are feeling very self-satisfied and christmassy now.

We have been meaning to get Skype on the computer since we moved up here and we finally got round to it yesterday. Gareth has got a new computer that he can get skype on so we thought that we should get ours sorted out. It was lovely to be able to see him when we are talking and we thought that it would be nice to speak to the grandchildren aswell so we arranged to call Gareth last night when the girls would still be up. Ella was very chatty until she saw that there was a picture of her in the bottom of the screen. Maddy was not in a good mood and just wanted to see the dog and for me to make her bark or "talk".

It still seems great to me that I can see people when I am talking to them but then I am old and easily confused.

Anyway I am off now to staple all the chickens feet down before the gales start.

It's A bit Windy

Sunday 27th November 2011

 Well, winter has arrived with a vengence. This video was taken last Wednesday of The Varagen, one of the ferries that go to the outer north isles. She is a reasonably large boat about 160 feet long and weights 321 tons although the video makes her look small.


After that the weather started to get worse and we have had gales and hailstones which tend to sting a bit when they hit you. This morning it excelled itself and the wind was classed as class 1 hurricane.
It was about 100 mph with us at about 7 this morning although in other parts of Orkney it got up to 133 mph so I suppose we are lucky.
Everything up here is built to survive the wind and we had no damage, even the chicken sheds were still standing where I left them.

I did notice this morning though that on the road to the village some big round straw bales have been blown out of the fields and across the road. It looked quite puzzling at first as the bales must have run over the fences out of the field and broken the fence posts but the fence had then sprung back and I couldn't see how the bales had got out.

I had to go to "The Balfour" last week to see the anaesthtist before they have a go at straightening my finger.
Once again I was impressed by the efficiency of the health service up here. If you have an appointment to see a doctor at 09:30 then you see the doctor at 09:30, something that seems to be unheard of down south. I was in, checked and booked in for the operation within 15 minutes. They would have booked me in for the operation in December but I said that I was going south for christmas so it had to be delayed until January. None of the 18 month waiting lists being the baseline.

All this was in spite of me offering my urine sample to a consultant surgeon thinking that she was a nursing assistant.

I have just seen a graph from EMEC at Billia Croo that shows wave height this morning. It is running along nicely at about 12 metres then it registers one huge wave at about 42 metres. I have heard of rogue waves big enough to sink tankers but this seems a bit extreme. Perhaps the wave recorder made a mistake. No doubt we shall hear in time.

Successful chicken show but no prizes

Thursday 17th November 2011

 We got the chickens into the show last week OK but we were forced to rebel a little. Apparently the rules say that you can not leave food or water containers in the cages from thursday evening until after judging on Friday afternoon. This is supposed to avoid the risk of the judges recognising individual food containers and this affecting their decisions.
This may or may not be OK for the cage birds but to my mind it is not OK for poultry, so we left food and water in the cages with our birds as did several of the other poultry exhibitors.
 We didn't win anything although the dorking pullet got a fourth but as our chickens were all only part grown, we did not even expect that.

 After we were all let back into the show room, we collared the judge who was very obliging and was spending time with all the exhibitors who wanted to see him.
  He was very obliging and went over each of our birds with us saying what was right and what was wrong about each one of them. Basically he thought that all our birds were very good but to young for tis year. He would have liked a bit more silver on the hackles of the dorking and a few of the feathers on the neck of the andalusian had slight smudges in the pencilling but that was all the faults that he could find so we were very pleased.
Yesterday I went on a Birdie walk from the airport to Scapa pier and then back round to Kirkwall for butties at David and Liz's.
A very pleasant morning. Plenty of birds about and Liz even briefly spotted a water rail before it dived off and hid from the rest of us.
There was however a little auk just off Scapa pier, quite close in to the pier along with several long tailed ducks, guillemots and assorted other birds along with a seal feeding on shoals of baby herring in the bay.

I missed the sunshine.

Thursday 10th November 2011

 We have had  lovely weather for the past week but I have been sweating over a hot computer trying to get Gareth's figures and plans all calculated and typed up. Now that I have finished (I think), the sun has run off somewhere else and it is breezy and overcast.
Not only have I not been able to get out for the past week but I even had to miss my keyboard lesson yesterday (and believe me, I need the lessons). Ah such is the dedication that we parents lavish on our children. Gareth must owe me several pints when we get down at Christmas.


We did manage to get one afternoon out. It was a nice, if somewhat windy day so we decided to take the opportunity and get off tto South Ronaldsay to bother some seals. The grey seals are pupping at the moment. They seem to be a bit later this year and there were not so many about although some of the pups were quite well grown and were big enough to venture into the sea for a try at swimming.

Maybe a lot of them have just moved round to other bays a bit further orund the coast.
 It was a nice break to get out and see them, they always bring a smile to my face.


To complete the day there was a lovely sunset in the evening and a clear sky right over to Scotland.


It is the cagebird show on Friday and Saturday and we have to get the birds in tonight before 8PM. It's a bit unusual. Normally the shows are only for one day and we take the birds in early on the morning of the show. For some reason though the cagebird society want the birds in tonight and as it is a two day show, the birds will be away for 2 full days and no chance to give them a quick brush up before the judging as we are not allowed in before the judging is finished at about 2PM.

It's the man with the trophies.

Tuesday 1st November 2011
  It's been a beautiful, sunny, calm day today but since Sunday, when the clocks went back, we are on our way to winter with darker nights or even dark late afternoons up here.

 We had to catch some chickens and fetch them in today to get them ready for showing.
  I had thought that the only shows for poultry, or anything else come to that, were during the one "show week" in August. Last friday however we went to the "Harvest Home" in "The Hope" where the trophies were presented for the show last August.
Now we have a handsome shield, a cup and a little trophy to put in the display cabinet.

I also got to have a few beers, so it was a good night.
 You may notice that my hair and beard are much shorter and tidier than normal and that I am all dressed up. This is due to a massive deception played on me by Pam and her friend Helen. (Helen's son is the chairman of the agricultural society). They told me that I had to get all tidied and dressed up as everyone else there would be made presentable for the photos in the paper and that it would be frowned on if I let the side down. When I got there half the people were in jeans and pullovers but at least it gave Pam and Helen a good laugh.



Partly as I haven't had a photo of Pam up on the blog for a long time but mainly because she really, really hates having her photo taken, never mind published, I thought that I would add a photo of her also at the harvest home supper.
So here she is in all her dressed up glory.

When we were there we were told that we "must" enter some poultry in the Orkney cage bird society show later this month.
I was not even aware of the existence of the Orkney cage bird society, let alone their show, and anyway I would not expect poultry to be in a cage bird show.

Just to keep everybody happy, and because, as good incomers, we support local events, we decided to enter some chickens.

 Almost all our chickens are moulting so that all we can muster that are even half decent to send to the show are youngsters, some of them very young. The Dorking hen is quite well grown but everything else is very much on the small side. Still it shows willing.

  On Monday Gareth rang to ask if I could help him with his application for the tenancy of a county council farm. Having his own farm has always been his dream so how could I refuse. Surely giving a little help with a bit of paperwork can not be that difficult or time consuming can it?

It's a bit draughty again.

Tuesday 25th October 2011

 It's been a bit breezy all of the last week, so being very nesh I have not done much outside.
The wind is south easterly so it is not cold but there is a lot of it and it is not very comfortable. Nice to look at the sea out of the window but having said that with several days of southerly, salt laden winds and no rain, the windows are all isted over with salt crystals and I can't see out properly.
It is the first good blow of the autumn and it is not really supposed to calm down for a few days yet but at least it is all dramatic and impressive.
There is nothing more guaranteed to put you in your place and feel very small and puny than watching the sea in a good storm. It's surprising that these islands have not been blasted away long ago.

The barriers were shut for the first time last night and again around high tide this morning sa as we had to go to the shop in "The Hope" we took a couple of detours to do our touristy bit and watch the sea.



 First at Honeys Geo just over No4 barrier on South Ronaldsay. This is normally a nice sheltered little beach with loads of birds and a stream entering the sea. All nice an picturesque but for some reason today there were no little wading birds on the beach.

 I was a bit surprised to see so many gulls flying about but they often seem to like it when we get really high winds. I am sure that they can not be hunting for food in these conditions. They must just be enjoying the experience.

Then we went over to No 2 barrier where the police had parked across the road to stop anybody attempting to cross. Only a suicidal idiot would have attempted to cross anyway but I suppose that the police even have to protect idiots from themselves.
On the way back I noticed that the pontoon that is used for mooring visiting yatchs by No3 barrier was cst right up on the shore. I am not sure if it had broken its moorings and washed up there or if it had been towed there deliberately to save it from the waether. (I think that it would sustain less damage in the bay than being smashed against the shore). It did not look as though it was in a very good state of repair and there was a coastguard van nearby so maybe they were checking to make sure that it was secure and not going to be washed into the nearby boats or out to sea where it would be a danger to shipping.

Earlier in the week, on wednesday I went on one of the U3A birdie walksround Ayre Loch and the nearby coast. This walk had been posponed from 2 or 3 weeks ago because of inclement weather. In fact the day that it was postponed from turned out to be sunny and calm and Wednesday was very windy but Hey-Ho at least the rain held off until just as we got back to our cars.  There must have been shoals of small h in the bay as there were loads of gannets diving dramatically as only gannets can. We all just stood around ignoring the wind and watching them for about 15 minutes just like little children, pointing out to each other as another gannet dived and trying to see what they were catching.  That's what retirement is for. To be able to stop and watch things for no other reason than that it makes you feel good.

 
There were quite a lot of grey seals about including these two who conveniently posed on a pipe close into the shore. This pipe seems to be a favourite place for the seals. Maybe it is smoother and comfier than the rocks.
It is getting close to the seals pupping season and maybe that is why there are so many about  but having said that, they do not pup near St Mary's even though there are quite a few nice small sheltered little coves near there.
 They have started pupping down on South Ronaldsay so wh the weather improves I will go down and get some photos but I am not clambering around at the top of the cliffs in gale force winds at my age.

  I had another of my keyboard lessons on Wednesday evening at The Reel. I think that I said before that the lessons were very informal which suited me fine. Well this lesson was more informal than most . I learnt about Ivan Drever going drinking instead of queuing up at the american embassy for his visa then going home, getting a phone call from an irate promoter in the USA (who fancied him) asking where the hell he was, making up an excuse about his accompianist being inured in an accident and finally having to go over to the states by himself.
Also several other stories about people mainly from Kirkwall or Stronsay, most of whom I do not know. We also managed about 20 minutes keyboard practice.
Altogether a much more relaxing music lesson than the traditional sort. I may never learn to play a keyboard but I will enjoy myself.

Thursday was the best day of the week, although a bit cool but the air was beautifully clear and I could see the snow on the top of Ben Griam Mor near Altnaharra about 55 miles away on the scottish mainland.
There was a U3A meeting on Thursday in Kirkwall and I had to leave early to make sure that we got there as they were putting more blocks on the barrier presumably to replace the ones washes away last winter. After seeing the waves hitting the barriers later in the week I think that they may have known something.

An unkindness of ravens but still no whales.

Monday 17th October 2011
 Another fairly quiet week but there was one piece of excitement for the general population of orkney.

 A sperm whale was found swimming on the surface close in to the pier in Kirkwall harbour. These are deep water whales and it was assumed that it was very sick and in imminent danger of death.
Of course we did not get to hear about it until to late but we have come to expect that.

At least we were not as bad as Helen and Jimmy who were parked up by the bay having a burger from the burger van. Helen commented to Jimmy that there were a lot of people and cars about and wondered why they were all there but did not bother to get out of the car to see.
 What was drawing the crowds was in fact the whale on the surface about 50 yards from their car.
 There have been some NATO excercises round here and it has been suggested that the whale may have been disorientated by noise from submarines or surface ships.

 There seems to have been a good outcome in the end though as a boat managed to shepherd the whale to deeper water where it suddenly dived and did not reappear. It has not been seen since so is presumably alive and well.
I think the council were relieved as they are responsible for disposing of whale carcasses and this one was about 50 feet long so would have taken some disposing of.

 The skies this week have been full of activity. As well as aircraft taking part in the NATO excecises, there have been geese coming over in huge numbers. They look and sound very impressive with skeins of 100 geese or more passing over honking as they go only to be followed by more a few minutes later.
I don't suppose the local farmers are to happy about the geese though. Apparently four geese eat the same as one sheep and in winter there are about 85,000 geese here.

Now to the reason for toda's title.
I found where the duck had been laying her eggs and there was a nest with about 20 eggs in it. As I didn't know how old they were, I just slung them away into the field (except 2 marked ones) .Very quickly hooded crows and ravens found them.
 I have always known that the collective noun for ravens is "an unkindness" but It is not something that I have ever been able to use in a meaningful sentence before and it is one of those simple things that please me to be able to use it.
As we had four ravens and a load of hooded crows coming down to get the eggs (The collective noun for crows is "a murder") I can now take great delight in saying that we had an unkindness of ravens and a murder of crows in the bottom field at the same time.


 Oh I do feel good now.

A kestrel also came over the field while the ravens were there and one of them chased it off so perhaps unkindness is a warranted name. I do not think that the kestrel was interested in the eggs but was just an innocent passer-by. The raven did not have much chance of catching the kestrel anyway but it was just making it's feelings understood.

Duncan was up at Steve's across the road the other day and fetched Jock with him. As Steve's dog, Swona was playing with Jock and as Molly had been good earlier in the day and had walked nicely off the lead. I decided to let her go for a play and surprise, surprise she came back when she was called. Maybe we are getting somewhere with the traing after all.
I have however decided to stop going to the dog training classes until I have got Molly coming back every time when she is outside. There seems to be little point in her learning all sorts of fancy tricks if I can not let her off the lead safely.


The links at the back of Burray village seem to be becoming an industrial site for the building of salmon cages for the fish industry in Scapa Flow. There have been quite a few built there recently and there were another couple of almost completed ones and one under construction the other day when I was walking Molly past the beach.
Presumably we will see them being towed out into the flow in a few days.
Plans for a new salmon farm just off the island of Cava have just been passed and so I assume that these cages will be destined for there.


 Saturday and Sunday Pam was away in Kirkwall on a course on Japanese quilting which may or may not be different from English quilting but who am I to comment. I was therefore left to my own devices. The weather on Saturday was a bit indecentso I got nothing done but on SundayI finally got round to fibre glassing the holes in the shed roof. This needed to be done before I can put the roof on the lean-to.

 This morning I had some parcels to post so I went to the post office in "The Hope". A note on the post office said"closed for holiday". This seemed slightly odd as it was not a bank holiday but I thought that it must just be that the post mistress was having a day off so I went to the post office in St Mary's.
The St Mary's post office had a notice on the door saying "closed for Post Office holiday". I have never heard of post offices having special separate holidays before and I think that it may be something that the Orkney post offices have made up themselves. Another of Orkney's special rules for themsels.

A staying inside sort of week

Sunday 9th October 2011

 Well, what happened this week?
   Mainly nothing due to most of the week being rain and high winds. Somebody from down home was complaining on Facebook that it was terribly windy at about 30mph. Oh for that sort of gentle wafting breeze.
It's surprising how you get used to the wind here. There are not many flat calm days and I suppose that force 4 (about 20mph) is more or less normal. You therefore do not really notice anything less than that and it is only when it gets up to 30-40 mph that you begin to think that it is getting a bit breezy.
This last week however has managed to stay above "a bit breezy" for most of the time and when this is accompanied by rain it becomes a bit unpleasant and not just "bracing".

 One of the nice things about being retired is that if I do not like the weather then I do not have to go out into it (except for a quick dash round to feed the poultry) so it has been largely a week of watching the weather from indoors.

I have decided to let the medics have another go at fixing the bent little finger on my left hand. After all, now that I have started having keyboard lessons I will need all the fingers that I can get and judging from the first couple of lessons, a few additional fingers would be welcome.

Anyway I went to the see the GP to find out what could be done.
  As always I was surprised at how different the health service up here is compared to down south. Our old GP surgery had a 5 minute slot for each patient and signs in the waiting room saying "Only one issue per consultation". The GP here has 15 minute slots and if you want longer you just ask.

At first the doctor thought that I had come to get feedback from the stay in hospital that I had for the bit of kidney infection the other month and so he went through all the results. I eventually managed to tell him that I was there about my finger and he is going to get that sorted at "The Balfour". In conversation I mentioned that I sometimes woke up in the night with a tingling in my legs so he checked the blood flow in my legs and then checked my back and decided that it was a trapped nerve for which he offered a physio appointment.
As I am nearly 65 he decided that I may as well have a flue jab and so gave me one and then took a blood sample to check for prostate cancer.
A full MOT without being asked. Much more of a health service than down south which just seems to be an accident repair shop.

On a slightly less efficient side, Pam was flown down to Aberdeen for a check up that could have been done here at "The Balfour" but then I suppose it was just so that the surgeon who did her operation could check things personally.

We have had happy events and sad events with the chickens.
  I let one of Pam's cochin chicks out the other day after it had spent several days in a little run inside the pen for the youngsters and this morning I found 4 hooded crows (our equivalent of carrion crows) perched on posts around the pen and a half eaten young cochin on the floor. I assume that the hoodies had killed it although it is possible that it had just died and they were tidying up. We do not have any land predators here but the airborne ones make up for it  and we have a wide variety of them.

On a brighter note I have had 2 Andalusian chicks hatch and maybe another one to hatch yet and the two that have hatched look as though they are going to be blue which is what I want as I have some white splash ones.

Now that the ducks are penned up we are getting an egg every day from the adult so she must have been laying somewhere all the time but we just never found the eggs. The trouble is that ducks are very messy birds and the pen that they are in is getting rapidly turned to mud so I will have to let them out later today and just hope that she decides to come back to the duck house to lay her eggs.

We do not keep the poultry to get a supply of cheap eggs and if we worked out the cost of poultry feed then the eggs would probably work out to be about 5 times the price of supermarket eggs but I had not thought that showing the chickens should be expensive.
When the cockerel won the prizes at The Hope show I did not expect any prize money and was surprised when I was told that I had to go down and collect the princely sum of about £4.40. You would at first think that this is at least a small profit. I later found however that we have to go to the "Harvest Home" supper at a cost of £14 per ticket so that we can be presented with the medal, cup and shield that we won. Still we only entered the show for fun and it should be a good night out.
On the plus side we got a cheque for £16 from the county show for our chicken winnings and we do not have to go to an expensive "do" to collect that as we only got the reserve champion.

September

September 2011
 As I have got somewhat behind with the blog, I will now do a quick catch up.
Not much happened in September.
I got another second hand shed for free except for the transport costs.
The science festival was on and we went to a few of the talks ranging from stem cell research, archeology and renewables. I also went on a trip round the Orkney brewery, all in the interest of science of course.

As a treat to myself after being a bit ill recently I have booked myself in for keyboard lessons at The Reel.

Molly re-started her dog training classes and had an outdoor dog fun day and did very well on all the agility equipment.
Pam has started going swimming with a crowd of ladies from the village.

We couldn't find where the ducks were laying so I built a duck house and pen and we trapped them in so now we can find the eggs and when we let them out hopefully they will continue to lay in the same place.

Another sad day

Tuesday 30th August 2011
 It was Gareth and Maddy's last day here today. Unfortunately I had to ferry a load of the U3A people about to various historic monuments.
I managed to get them all dropped off in time to go for dinner with Gareth and Mads before they went and to see them off from the airport.
This is the last time that I shall see any of my children or grandchildren before christmas and so was very emotional.
This is the best place in the world to live but at times like this it sometimes seems that there may be something to be said foor living in a little semi some suberb in the midlands where I could at least see the kids more often.
I shall no doubt live however and Christmas is not to far away but a sad day even so.

Gales at sea. Scotland isolated.

Sunday 28th August 2011
 It was a really windy and rainy day all day today.
Most of the U3A guests from Edinburgh were supposed to be coming over on the little John-o-Groats ferry but rather unsurprisingly it did not sail so they went to Thurso to catch The Hamnavoe but that did not sail all day and niether did The Pentalina so they were stuck in scenic Thurso for the night.
  Ann, our guest was OK as she had come over here a few days ago and had been staying in Kirkwall so we went down and picked her up from the cathedral after the morning service.
 Maddy was not at first very impressed that she would have to give her bedroom up and share with her dad but Ann was very nice to her and in the end she was forgiven.

 We went for a coffee at the Fossil Centre in Burray and a look round the museum. It is a really good collection of fossils that must have taken years to gather and cost a fortune. Of course Maddy was not particularly impressed by the fossils but was really taken with a dark room that they have filled with all sorts and colours of flourescent rocks.

The wind dropped on Monday and the remaining visitors managed to get across from Scrabster to Stromness on the first ferry of the morning so they were in time for a U3A meeting at the St Magnus Centre.

In the evening we had the U3A barbeque in a barn belonging to one of the members. I had been a bit worried as I had booked the band "Broken Strings" without asking the permission of the committe. I think they are superb and a brilliant advert for Orkney to show the visitors but I was just hoping that everyone else would like them.

 I need not have worried everyone loved them and after an initial bit of reticence most of the people were up dancing. Maddy especially enjoyed it as she was the only youngster there and so of course got spoiled by everybody and spent half her time dancing with different people.

Another bits and bobs day.

Friday 26th August 2011
 Pam and Maddy went into Kirkwall shopping so Gareth and I were left to our own devices for a bit. Very pleasant it was to.
Gareth gave me a hand to get the frame up for the roof of the lean-to shed. It went much easier than I thought it would but then things are always easier with 2 instead of 1.

After Pam and Maddy got back we took Maddy down to Hamish and Hilda's to play with their grandaughter Ellen who is just about a year older than Maddy. Gareth and i stopped for a bit just to make sure that they were OK together and then borrowed a transformer from Hamish and went to put up some lights in the shed that is being used for the U3A barbeque on and to meet the band to check if there is anything extra that they need.
There were just a few alterations but nothing major so all is set for Monday which should be a good evening.

We then returned to pick Maddy up, hoping that she had enjoyed herself and had behaved. We need not have worried. Ellen and Maddy are now the best friends in the world and when Maddy comes up next year they are going to have a sleepover. The chances are that she will have forgotten all about it in 2 weeks. Little girls are fickle things. They say that they are going to be pen pals but we will wait and see.

Fantastic Boat Trip and an otter as a bonus.

Thursday 25th August 2011
 We were all up early and both big and little people were excited. Well Me and Maddy were at least.
We got down to Burray pier, were helped aboard the boat by John and Magnus and off down Water sound into Scapa flow at very high speed.
I was looking at Maddy to see if she was getting upset at the bouncing around going over and through the waves.I need not have bothered, she was grinning all over her face and was really enjoying the trip.

Magnus takes people out on trips regularly and so knows where to go to keep people interested. He showed us some of the wrecks on the sonar or fish finder or whatever it was.Whatever it was, it is a brilliant tool. You can see the outline of anything on the seabed and at one point a sunken submarine appeared on the screen outlined so well that even I could recognise it.

 
We then went off to one of the scallop beds that they dive and John dived down to gather scallops, taking an extra bag down with him in case he found anything interesting for Maddy. (He was brilliant with maddy throughout the trip and she loved all the attention.)

We left John to swim round on the bottom of The Flow gathering scallops and went off for a tour round the world war one and two defences around Flotta for 40 minutes before we came back to pick him up.




When we go back,  John came up with a huge bag of scallops and another bag for Maddy.
He had fetched up 3 starfish. One was a spiny starfish, one  a sun starfish and I can not remember what type the other was. There was also a sea urchin and some purple stones


  Maddy was fascinated by them all and it must be good for kids to see things being fetched up from the sea so that they  know where things are from.

We then went off towards Lyness, passing loads of grey and common seals. At Lyness John and Magnus dropped us off to have  lunch at the museum while they went off and dived for some more scallops. They left us a radio so that we could call them back when we were ready.It felt quite decadent being able to call a boat to come and collect you when you were ready to leave.

  (They told us when they got back later that they had seen 8 porpoises right by the boat as they left Lyness. We always seem to just be in the wrong place for seeing whales and dolphins.) 

It is the first time that I have been to Lyness. It was the main navy base in the two world wars and it has a large museum mainly about the naval bases. This is great for kids as most of the exhibits are very big and very durable so there is no problem about childrn climbing all over them.


We had lunch in the cafe there and wandered round the museum. They had a "dressing up box" which Maddy loved and she was impressed by the big guns and torpedoes.

They even had some railway engines from the naval railway, one of the very few bits of railway that Orkney has seen.
 We then radiod up for the boat which came to pick us up loaded with even more scallops, a big lobster and some more starfish.


John and Magnus gave Maddy some scallops  but we could not persuade them to give her the lobster.

After that it was off back to Burray. As we got back out into the Flow, we saw The Pentalina coming in from Gills bay.Magnus put his foot down (or whatever the equivalent is in a boat)  and we shot off over The Flow towards it as fast as he could go.
I wondered at first if he was just trying to get into Water Sound before The Pentalina for some reason but I soon realised that he was just out for a bit of fun.
 There is a big set of bow waves that comes off The Pentalina and with a look back to make sure that we were all safe and happy Magnus took the boat striaght into them.  The boat was leaving the water altogether as we crossed some of the waves and the passengers on the ferry were laughing and waving. Maddy though it was great and was waving back while still making sure she held on tight with the other hand.
Altogether it had been a brilliant trip and I need not have worried about Maddy. She had been thoroughly spoilt by John and had enjoyed the exciting bits. (I think that she inherits some of her fathers adrenaline junky traits.)
 After getting back we went to The Hope for some groceries and just to round off the day nicely, as we drove back Pam saw an otter on the edge of Water Sound. Of course we were in the one place where I could not stop suddenly and safely so I did not have chance to stop and see it.


                                                         

The quiet then the whirlwind.

Sunday 21st August 2011
 After Dave and Ann left we had a couple of days of tranquility to build up our strength before Gareth and Maddy arrived and I have no doubt that we will need the rest.
They arrived on Monday at ten to five in the afternoon on a flight from Aberdeen. After travelling all day you would expect them to be a bit knackered and indeed Gareth was a bit shattered. Maddy however arrived at full throttle even though she had been awake and chattering all the way up. She started off by jumping around all over the airport and was obviously very pleased to see us which was really nice. When we got back I left Pam and Gareth to get sorted out and relax and went out with Maddy to check the chickens, collect the eggs, take the dog a walk and go to the beach where we built a stone house.

On Tuesday we went up to the Ness of Brodgar dig. I think that recently I am spending more time there than some of the archaeologists but it is an interesting site and every time we go there is something new.
 Niel Oliver was at the Ness with a film crew making a program about the dig which is due to be shown on TV around Christmas.
  Maddy was not impressed by either the dig or by the people off the TV but then I don't suppose it is very exciting for a 6 year old. She was much happeir later when we went to Birsay to do some rockpooling.
 As with Harry the other week, we didn't find much except hermit crabs and limpets but all kids just love fiddling round and getting their feet wet.
Thenit was back home via Burray pier to pick up some scallops. While we were down the village we nipped into Duncan's to pick up some lights we are borrowing for the brbeque on Saturday. Maddy met Jock, molly's friend and was invited round to Hilda's on friday when her grandchildren are staying with her.

  Wednesday was just a puddle around sort of day. Pam had to run Dave Wakefield into hospital first thing so Gareth and I just went down to Kirkwall. He did a bit of shopping while Maddy and I went to The reel for a coffee. At least I had a coffee, Maddy had a hot chocolate with cream, choc chips and god knows what else sprinkled all over it. She has now decided that this is her favourite drink.
At home Pam and Maddy did some baking and we got a phone call from Magnus (The scallop man) to say that the boat trip was on for tomorrow.
This boat trip is one that we won in the Radio Orkney Children in need auction about 9 or 10 months ago but we have only just got round to using it. We are going round Scapa Flow then over to Lyness on Hoy for dinner before returning to Burray. I just hope that Maddy does not decide that she doesn't like it after about 10 minutes on the boat.

Does anybody understand the FlyBe website?

Friday 19th August 2011
 The FlyBe website seems designed to confuse people. Surely this can not be done deliberately to ensure that they misunderstand their baggage allowances and end up paying for excess. Because of this we thought that it would be a good idea to go down to the airport and check with the FlyBe staff what the actual baggage allowance for David and Ann would be for their return home.
  When we got to the airport even the FlyBe staff were unsure and one of them agreed that the website probably was designed to deliberately mislead. Finally though we got it all sorted out so at least Dave and Ann know what they can carry back tomorrow.

On instructions from Gareth we then went into town to buy a copy of Farmers Weekly which contains a large photo of him. Pam was mortified that he had not shaved and his arms were covered in cowshit. At least he looked the part of a working dairy herdsman.

   After we got back home Dave and Ann went off fishing again down to Burray pier where Ann bought 10 scallops for 60 pence each, including a lesson on how to clean them. A real bargain.
They fetched the scallops home and Pam and I then got a cleaning lesson. Pam got one open but it started to close again so she thought that it was trying to bite her. Eventually we won though. We ate all the scallops and they ate none of us.

Saturday was dave and Ann last day but before they left we went to the church in The Hope where Pam's friend Helen had a display of needlework and painting.
I am not normally a great fan of needlework but some of the stuff that Helen had made was so intricate that even I thought that it was amazing. In addition we got a lovely old fashioned cream tea all beautifully laid out with three tier cake stands and proper spotless table-cloths.

Then it was off to the airport for Dave and Ann to catch their plane. When they got there they found that the baggage allowance that they were told yesterday was incorrect. Fortunately they did not have too much baggage and just had to leave a bottle of whisky with us which was kindly accepted, just to help out of course.
 Just before they were due to go through to the departure lounge all the passangers were called to the check in desk. The satff explained that the aircraft was going to be overweight and they needed two people to volounteer to go on a later flight. Of course nobody volounteered so they did a recalculation and suddenly found that it was all OK really and nobody needed to be left behind.
  It did not do Ann's nerves any good but eventually the aircraft took off without plummeting earthwards under the weight, so all was well.
I then dropped Pam back home and went off to the sand of Wright to see the boys ploughing match.

Dave catches his first fish.

Thursday 18th August 2011
 Pam had a U3A meeting this morning so we dropped her off at the St Magnus Centre and had a wander round town. Ann wanted to do some shopping so Dave and I went round the cathedral.  We then met up with Ann who wanted to see the cathedral so I went round the cathedral again with Ann while dave did some shopping. We were going to go round the museum but no sooner had we got in than Pam phoned up to say the meeting had finished so we abandoned the museum until another day and met up at The Reel for a coffee before going back to Burray.
I bought a copy of the paper and found that there was a large photo of me with the cockerel from the Hope show. Fame at last.

Back at Burray Dave and Ann went down to the pier to try some fishing again. This time a triumph. Dave hooked 4 fish, 3 dropped off but he landed one.

Apparently this was the first fish that he had ever caught in his life. (He must have had a terribly mis-spent youth, playing chess and all that when he should have beenout fishing with a stick and a bent pin.)
 I think that the pleasure he got from catching that fish made the cost of the tackle seem trivial.  The lads who are always fishing on the pier seemed almost as pleased as David that he had caught one. We bought another 3 fish from the lads and had mackerel again with our tea.

And another nice day.

Tuesday 16th August 2011
 Now that the weather has returned to normal it was no surprise that we had another fine day.


David has decided that after seeing the lads fishing so sucessfully at the pier, he wants to give it a go himself so we were going to Shearers in Kirkwall to see what they had in the way of reasonably priced tackle. On the way we stopped at The Italian Chapel and the adjacent wine shop.



At Shearer's, when we said what we wanted they went and got one of their staff who does a lot of fishing to help us out. He soon had us sorted out with a rod, hooks, lures etc but although he went through all their stock he could not find a decent quality reel at a reasonable price. Apparently they were due to get some in stock in a few days but as we needed a reel quickly that was no good. He therefor decided that he had a reel that we could have for £15 and shot off to get it, returning in a couple of minutes. David and Ann now had all that they needed (except perhaps a certain level of skill or experience) to enable them to catch their own fish.

 That will have to wait until tomorrowthough as we still had some compulsory sightseeing to do. So it was off to Maeshowe then to the Ring of Brodgar
On Wednesday there was one of the U3A birdie walks on at Marwick head. I had checked and it was OK to take Dave and Ann along. (They sometimes get worried about the insurance if a non-member falls off the edge of a cliff.)  I drove up to the car park for the Kitchener Memorial at Marwick Head. We were 2 or 3 minutes late but there were no other cars there. I assumed that I had got the details wrong, maybe the wrong time, so we decided that we would have a stroll round anyway so made our way up to the memorial. From there you can see the other car park, that I did not know existed, down by Marwick Bay. Surprise Surprise! the other car park contained several cars. We started off down towards the bay and met the others coming up.
After a few personal insults from the rest of the group, we turned round and all went together back up to the top of the cliffs.
there were quite a few gannets around. there seem to be getting to be more gannets around mainland Orkney but I am not sure if this is a good sign or if it just means that they can not find fish in their usual haunts. there was also a very obliging kestrel who kept coming and hovering not to far away and some ravens. The best bitmewhat "red in tooth and claw" was a bonxie that had just caught a fulmar and was kindly tearing it to pieces on the sea for the benefit of those with zoom lenses on their cameras.

On the way back I though that it would be a good idea to go and have a look round Stromness while Pam was not with us. Stromness is not Pam's favourite place but I like it so we had a stroll round the harbour and down the town. I took Dave and Ann to have a look at Tim Wooton's gallery as I love his paintings but just as we went in, Tim went rushing out shouting "You're minding the shop". I tried to negotiate a commission but Tim was to fast and had gone before agreeing to terms.

 On our return home Dave and Ann wanted to try out their new fishing tackle. Bev from over the road had said that she would help us get it all set up but she was not about. I therefore had to reach back into my youth and remember how to tie knots in fishing line. We went to the pier at LambHolm and gave it about 15 minutes but caught nothing which was not totally surprising, so we went back to Burray pier. The lads were there again and they said that the fish had gone and it would be better at high tide tomorrow. Bowing to their superior knowledge we decided to come back tomorrow.

A change in the weather.

Sunday 14th August 2011
 Dave and Ann's first day up here today. After a few days bad weather while Babs and Harry were up here. The weather improved as soon as they left. Sod's law. We will try and do better next year Babs.

Pam was happy at the turn in the weather. She had been worried that Dave and Ann would not understand why we moved here. I think that Pam was convinced that Ann thoughtat orkney was just a collection of cold, barren, windswept rocks in a stormy sea. She need not have worried.

There was a big vintage rally at the mart in Kirkwall today so we went down there, mainly because I wanted to go anyway. We were only going to be there for a short time but we all enjoyed it so we stayed around for some time. (Pam stayed in the car because she is a party pooper and doesn't like vintage engines.)

After the vintage rally it was off to Finstown where we had a picnic overlooking the bay. (I told you the weather had got better.)Then to Kirbuster farm museum, the stones of Stennes and Barnhouse neolithic village before returning to Burray and The Sands for a well deserved beer.

While we were sitting outside The Sands having a drink there were three young lads fishing for mackerel from the pier. We went over to see how the fishing was going and were told that they had caught 61 fish. Ann bought 4 mackerel for us to take home for tea.

I think that the lads were a bit surprised that people would actually eat mackerel which they thought were only fit for use baiting lobster pots. There is no accounting for what the mad english will eat but if they want to pay good money for mackerel then the lads were only to happy to oblige.

It was really nice to see the lads enjoying themselves as little lads should. A little bit cheeky but in an amusing and not annoying way. After that, back home with mackerel for tea. They were very nice to (too two) (for my pedantic daughter) even if the lads can't understand why we should want to eat them.

On Monday morning I went out early to check the poultry. One of the geese was lying in a corner doing a great impression of a dead goose. On closer inspection, it had managed to get some wire round its neck and the other end was fastened to a post so it had been attempting a particularly slow method of committing suicide.
It took me quite a while to get the wire from around the goose's neck but fortunately it had not cut into the skin. Within minutes of being released, the goose was waddling round with the others as if nothing has happened.

It was another nice day so we went up to the Brough of Birsay and walked round to the whalebone at Skipi Geo.


On the way back we stopped off at The Loons bird hide. There have been reports of a water rail with young ones there and I have never seen a water rail.
Along with Dave and Ann I spent about 45 minutes there. We heard the water rail but it was obviously skulking in the reed beds and we did not even get a glimpse of it. At least I have now heard one now though.

County Show Day

Saturday 13th August 2011
 The biggest day in the Orkney calander. The county show is upon us.
Extra boats and flights are lad on from the outer isles and half the population of Orkney will descend on a few fields on the outskirts of Kirkwall.

 The weather is not bad which must be a relief for the organisers. A few showers are predicted but nothing bad and most of the day is supposed to be dry.

Bright and early in the morning we took the Orpington cockerel and the Dorking hen down and put them into their pens at the showground. After giving them a last brush down and picking bits of shavings off them there was nothing else we could do.
Eddie Cragie, who had judged at the Hope show came over to have a look at our cockerel and was really singing his praises, saying that he would love to take him home so that was encouraging.

 We then went for a look round the showground before it got to crowded while we were waiting for the results from the poultry judging. This time the judge was from down south so we did not know anything about him.
Unlike the Hope show, we could not see anything of what was going on in the marquee as they had all the sides down and the doors closed while the judging was in progress. Eventually though they were finished and we were allowed in to see how we had done.


 I went straight to the cockerel's cage to see how he had done and was really pleased to see that he had won his class (Large fowl cockerel). I knew that he looked good but it is more than I had expected and I would have been very pleased with any rosette.

I then went to see how the Dorking hen had done and was stunned to see that she had won her class and was also reserve champion. Several people came over to congratulate us and I was over the moon.









On our return from the show we got a phone call from Claire. Davis had a bad infection in his leg and was in terrible pain, so it was pack the hens away quickly and get round to take Dave to hospital.
Dave is not one to over react to pain but even he was obviously suffing a good deal. We got Dave to hospital and waited with Claire for an hour or so until they decided to keep Dave in hospital. we then ran Claire back, went home and had a quick bite to eat before going back to Kirkwall to pick David and Ann up from the Aberdeen ferry. Then back home, chatting until late and then to bed way past my bedtime.

A really good day though. (Apart from Dave's leg).













Dad's 90th birthday

 Friday 12th August 2011
Today is my dad's 90th birthday. Since coming out of hospital he has been in The Hawthorns and has decided that he is going to stay there. This is a bit of a relief, presumably even more so for Hazel and Sue but it is also a bit sad. He has always been so independent (cussedly so at times) for so long. It must have been hard for him to admit that he now needs more help from other people.
He has not yet got a land line phone in his room so I phoned on Babs's mobile when she was there to wish him a happy birthday.
Being the little star that she is Babs had gone to see my dad, had taken him a present and  cake that she had made for him and had helped him unwrap his other presents. Thanks for that daughter dearest.

If you read this dad, I hope you had a happy birthday and that The Hawthorns is better than sitting at home.

Some bad bits but some good bits.

Wednesday 10th August 2011
 Babs and Harry left on the Pentalina this morning. It has not been the best of holidays for her. The weather has been what is referred to in Orkney as "changeable" which anywhere else would mean "bad". At least I think that it gave her a much needed chance to unwind a bit once she had finished her OU work.
 It is always sad when the kids go back home as we know that we will not see them for so long. We speak to Babs most days on the phone but I always have trouble with phones. Pam can gossip for hours about nothing but I can use a phone to pass information and then I am stumped. maybe it is a man thing but maybe it makes it more difficult to actually say goodbye.

 We did not have much time for tears after Babs and Harry left because it was the South Ron and Burray show in the Hope so we had to shoot back home, collect the two chickens that we had entered and get them down to the showground.

 We had entered our Orpington cock and one of his hens. The cockerel looks good to me but I do not know anything about showing poultry as this is the first time we have ever shown any poultry. Our best looking hens are moulting at the moment so I did not hold out much hope for the hen that we took in. Anyway, once they were in their pens and smoothed down, all we could do was wait.
 The judging seemed to take forever and of course we were not allowed near but we could see all the cages. Finally they came round fastening the rosettes onto the cages and we were very pleased to see a red 1st rosette on the cockerel and a 3rd on the hen. I thought that as that was the end of it, I would take a photo of the birds with the rosettes on their cages but I had just got the photos when the steward came round and stuck another prize card on the cockerel's cage and then another and another and finally the champion rosette.
I was over the moon. Not bad for a first try at showing but we will see haow we do on Saturday at the county show when there will be the best poultry in Orkney. I was encouraged by talking to the judge (Eddie Cragie)  later though. He is a well known breeder of black orpingtons and he reckoned that our cockerel was superb and had no real faults. He was very pleased to see some other good quality orpingtons. We will be competing against him on saturday though.
 I was then interviewed and photographed for the local paper and had another interview by Radio Orkney. (Fame at last.)

 It is a shame that babs and Harry could not have been there to share my excitement.

As a bonus, one of the photos that I had entered in the photographic section of the show got a third prize. If anything, this was more surprising than the prizes for the chickens. I had only really entered 3 photos to help make a good show.

As i was now getting allig headed about the poultry showing, I decided that the hen who had come 3rd was not good enough for the county show on saturday so I gave one of my dorkings a quick rinse and brush up. We shall see if she can do any better than the orpington.

It doesn't get any better.

Monday 8th August 2011
 Another what can only be described as " not the best of days", so it was to the Picky centre soft play area again for Harry. (Babs is not having the best time for her holiday, me sick, her OU, and bad weather.)

Tuesday was better which is lucky as it is Bab's last  full day. We decided to take advantage of the slightly better weather and went up to Birsay for some rock pooling. There were loads of hermit crabs, a few anemones but not much else. Harry was happy enough though. I think that all kids, including the older ones enjoy messing about in rock pools to see what is there.

 It is South Ronaldsay and Burray show tomorrow so in the afternoon Pam had to take her cakes over. Watch this space for the results.

Beaches and singing seals.

Sunday 7th August 2011
 A bit overcast and cool today so of course we went to the beach at No4 barrier.
Weather doesn't seem to matter to children if they have sand to play with. The rain kept off all morning though and in the afternoon Babs, Harry and I went down to Bu Sands on the other side of Burray. There were a few light showers but not enough to stop such intrepid souls as ourselves.




 There were plenty of rock pools along the side of the beach towards Burray Ness but either there wnothing in any of them or we were to slow to catch or notice whatever was in them. Harry however seemed to be happy with a net full of seaweed.


While there may have been nothing in the rock pools, there were loads of seals out on some of the rocks in the sea. Some of them were singing and it is easy to understand how people used to think that somehow seals could change into people and back again. It is especially spooky if you hear them singing when it is foggy and you can just hear their voices drifting in from the sea. Of such are legends of mermaids and selkies made.

East Mainland Show

Saturday 6th August 2011
 The show season has started. I think that the Shapinsay show was the first the other day and it all builds up to the County Show next saturday.
Today it was the turn of the East Mainland Show.
We had nothing entered in the show as it is for east Mainland rsidents only but we toddled over to have a look round especially at the poultry to see what competition we may be up against at the county show.

Somebody who shall not be named (but who is my daughter), rather foolishly bought Harry a bubble gun so that everyone within range got covered in bubbles.



Fortunately after a while it ran out of bubbles before Harry found the tractor display. He was very taken with the tractors because the children were allowed to climb into the cabs and mess around.
He was however very disparaging about a little grey Fergy that had done a charity run from Lands End to John o Groats for a local charity. The boy has no taste.
Why is it with kids that bigger is always better.




We were a bit encouraged that our chickens would compare well with those at the East mainland show.
We are taking an Orpington cockerel and hen to the Burray and South Ronaldsay show on Wednesday. The cockerel has already had a good bath to get him nice and clean but we have not yet done the hen as we were not sure which one to take. We have now decided, as all the others are moulting it was an easy decision and so she has had a bath today after we got home. She only had a quick rinse as I did not want to take the oil out of her feathers because she will not have time to re-oil herself before the show.

No Swona but sand castles in Burray

Thursday 4th August 2011
 Not a very good day today. Cloudy, dull and misty with a few showers.
 I got a phone call from Dave Wakefield to say that the bird ringing group were going to Swona today to ring fulmars but I thought that I had better give it a miss. I've already been to Swona twice anyway so it would not add to my island bagging total although it is a beautiful island.

Pam and I took Harry down to No4 barrier beach where we had a good time building sand castles and jumping on them. Either I built a castle and then Harry jumped on it with great mirth or Harry built the sandcastles and I jumped on them with equal glee. Why is it that children like destroying things. The more complex the castle that I built, the greater the pleasure that Harry got from destroying it.




We got a phone call later from Claire telling us that Dave had broken his leg while on Swona. last year on Swona Dave was climbing over precarious tall cliffs and came to no harm but this time he jumped over a tussock of grass and broke his leg.
 They considered calling for a lifeboat or the helicopter but fortunately they managed to get hold of Hamish, the boatman who had taken them out there and he came back. They managed between them to support Dave back to the beach where the dingy came in to take him out to the boat. getting him from the dingy into the boat with a broken leg must have been difficult but they managed and he was safely taken to The Balfour and back home later.The rest of the team managed to get all the young fulmars on the island and Dave seems to be OK.

We may have found Harry's vocation. He likes chickens, so long as they do not peck at him, so maybe he is going to be a chicken farmer although I think that Babs is thinking more along the lines of Prime Minister. I personally think that wanting to be a chicken farmer is much more laudable than wanting to be Prime Minister.

 On Friday Pam and I took Harry to the soft play area at the Picky centre while Babs finished her assignment. Now at least Babs can start to have a relax now.

In th afternoon we all went to Deerness where they have the "Deerness in 100 objects" exhibition in the community centre.I had been there the other week with john and Alex but Pam had not seen it and it is a really good exhibition so I wanted to go round it again anyway.






They have a nice little play park outside the community centre with slides, swings and such like so Harry enjoyed himself aswell.





In the evening Ivan Drever, a local lad who now lives in Norway had a concert in The Sands Hotel in the village so Pam and I went down. I like his music and it was a free concert so I  bought a CD instead and had Ivan sign it with an apology for forgetting the wedding anniversary so maybe I have earned a little forgiveness.
Ivan has a couple of friends at home in Norway who lost children in the recent massacre there and although Orkney has close links to Norway and have sent official and unofficial condolences, it somehow makes it seem closer and more real.

I am in trouble again.

Wednesday 3rd August 2011
 Today is our wedding anniversary. Pam tactfully reminded me of this in the morning and i  supposed to get a card.
We were out all day with  Harry and I forgot the card so I am in the doghouse again.
In my defence, we were busy all day and I am still not really feeling 100% but short of being actually dead, I don't think that Pam will take any excuses. (Even if I were dead, I think that I would probably be expected to have bought a card before exiting this mortal world.)

 We took Harry to Breck Childrens's farm to give Babs some time for her O.U assignment. The children's farm opened about a year ago and we had been before with Harry. Last year it was a bit basic but I thought that as they had just opened then they needed a bit of time to get things together and build up their stock, penning and buildings etc it would be much better this year.
 I was wrong. It is really just a collection of their pet animals, a play area and a cafe all in the same barn. The cafe is new  but everything else is just the same as last year. The place has a lot of potential and it is a shame that more is not being made of it. Harry enjoyed it though although he was not to sure about getting to close to the animals. The chickens were OK but I think that the larger animals were a bit to much for him. He enjoyed the play area which has a track with a load of little tractors to scoot along. If he goes into farming then maybe he has decided to go into arable rather than livestock farming.

 I would have taken some photos as I almost always take my camera with me when I go out but unfortunately due to a certain small boy thinking that the camera is a really good thing to fiddle with, I have taken to keeping it in a drawer. This means that unfortunately with my advancing years and consequent bad memory, as the camera is not in front of my face then I forget to take it with me. You dear readers will just have to put up with the lack of the usual astounding photos for this week or until I find a cure for old age. 







A bad start to Bab's holiday

Monday 1st August 2011
I have been feeling a bit rough for a few days and this morning I woke feeling terrible with a few symptoms which we will not go into at the moment in the interest of good taste.
I decided that i had better go to the doctor, so I rang the surgery and beetled off down there. (This is Orkney and we don't do making appointments for hours or days in the future)

I went in to see the GP but he just seemed horrified and sent me straight to hospital. Fortunately he sent me to The Balfour, not to Aberdeen hospital.
The hospital did loads of tests and samples and kept me in overnight (A brilliant start to Bab's holiday.)
I was X rayed, scanned, sampled and scanned again before they decided that I had a Kidney infection and possibly kidney stones.
This is the first time that I have ever stayed in hospital (I don't suppose that it w be the lastas I am getting older)

I was very impressed with the Balfour. it is only a little cottage hospital but they were extremely thorough and careful. All the staff from the tea ladies and cleaners to the doctors and consultants were bright, cheery and friendly and the wards were kept spotless. The food is cooked on the premises and is very good, so except for being bored, it was not an unpleasant introduction to hospitals.

In the end they gave me a whole load of antibiotics and allowed me to go home on Tuesday afternoon but I have to go back in a month for them to check me over again.

All this has unfortunately meant that Babs could not get all the O.U. work done that she had hoped but we can look after Harry for the next couple of days so that she can get it finished.


While I was lazing about i the balfour Pam and Babs took Harry down to the beach by No1 barrier so at least they could have a holiday even if Babs couldn't get her O.U finished.

Babs and Harry arrive

Sunday 31st July 2011
Babs comes up today. She was to have been fetching a friend but the friend dropped out and so Babs has had to drive all the way up by herself. I was a bit concerned as it is a long way to drive with a bored child in the car with you but she managed it in very good time.
She had one minor problem. When she was almost at the ferry terminal in the north of Scotland, a lorry came round a corner on the wrong side of the road, smashed her wing mirror off and scratched the side of her car. I must be a bit scary being a few inches from being wiped out, especially when she had Harry with her.
All's well that ends well though and she arrived OK, if a bit shaken up.

We met Babs and Harry from the ferry in St Margarets Hope and managed to negotiate all the Orkney traffic to get back home with no further drama.
babs was still a bit shaken by the near miss with the lorry so I made her a cup of tea (My cure for everything) and we had a slump so that she could have a well earned rest. We then took Harry out into the field for a bit in an attempt to run off some of the pent up energy after being cooped up in the car all day.

Babs, being Babs, has fetched a load of her O.U. stuff here and has to get one of her course assignments done in the next few days but hopefully we can occupy Harry while she finishes it and then she can have a much needed and well deserved rest and relax. She may be 35 but she is still my little girl and she has been pushing herself a lot recently so i wanted to give her a chance to rest and recharge.
We will have to let her do her assignment though, as she has a deadline and will not relax until it is done anyway.

Tidy lawns make good holidays.

Saturday 30th July 2011
Babs and Harry are due up tomorrow so I was wondering what to do to make their holiday more enjoyable. Pam suggested, rather forcefully, mowing the lawns. This did not seem to me to be the most critical part of a holiday but then I am not female and so do not understand these things.
I dutifully mowed the lawns and I will now ait until Babs tells me that the neatly mowed lawns were the highlight of her holiday.

I was feeling a bit rough later on but I put this down to sitting on a lawnmower for hours bumping over our not to level lawns.

Nothing much. Just Chickens.

Wednesday 27th July 2011
It is show week in about twenty days or so. All the shows in Orkney are within a period of about 10 days. We have got a couple of chickens entered in the Burray and South Ronaldsay show and in the County show.
You are supposed to have them all nice and clean for the shows and I have never tried cleaning a chicken up. (I dont suppose that I am the only one. When did you last bath a chicken?)
Anyway I thought that before I tried washing one of the chickens that we are entering in the shows, I had better test my chicken washing technique. We therefore picked out the worst scruffiest chicken and decided to clean her up as a test.
I was even allowed to do this in the bath. (Don't worry Barbara. Mum made me clean the bath out later so there are not to many feathers in it now.)
You are supposed to use Lux flakes but I have not been able to get any so we grated up some pure soap. Robertson's store in The Hope said that they didn't normally sell Lux except at show season for washing cows and the like. I thought "well it is show season now, so where are the flakes" but I was much to polite to point this out to them.
The scruffy chicken did not seem to be delighted at having been selected for a good clean but we managed to give her a good scrubbing up and several rinses so she was at least a bit cleaner. She was then put in a cage with a heat light to dry her off for a day before being put out again. It seems to have worked OK and she does not look so bad but I think that I may just give the show birds a little rinse instead of being quite so thorough.
We also got all the chickens wormed with vastly expensive cattle wormer (At a lower dose) and the show birds are now getting eggs and cod liver oil in with their feed.
We are not getting a lot of eggs off them at the moment as many are to young so if this continues we will have no eggs left for ourselves as the chickens will have eaten them all. ( There seems to be something slightly wrong with my method of keeping chickens.)

Visitors gone. Weather turned yeukky

Sunday 24 july 2011
It has now turned overcast and a bit breezy, Monday and Tuesday were not much better so it was a "stay indoors" sort of few days. Barbara and Harry are due up next Sunday so we had a bit of tidying up to do anyway. I finally got round tomtaking a load of baby clo0thes out of the shed and took them down to Jimmy and Helens. Theirngrandchildren are haveing some of them and the rest are going for sale in The Blue Door to help raise money for the playpark in The Hope. A good use for sapre baby clothes.

I think that Jimmy and Helen were a bit surprised by the quantity. We had told them that there were a lot but there must have been 6 or 7 big bags full and 3 big plastic tubs. So they are now cluttering Jimmy's garage instead of my shed.

Wednesday turned out to be a better day and I found that had an overwhelming desire to mow all the lawns. (Well Pam said that I wanted to so she must be right) Pam topped the fields so outside is all neat and tidy. The strimmer refused to start properly so there are still a few unkempt edges but this is Orkney, not Surrey so I do not think it matters.

A day round the big city

Friday 22nd July 2011
John and Alex are going back tomorrow and they wanted to have a look round the museum so I thought that we had better get down there today. We went there the other day but no sooner had we got inside than we had to come out to go and pick Pam up from home. The museum is very good and very well laid out. Obviously there is a lot on the early prehistory of Orkney but the galleries with exhibits from later periods are equally good and perhaps all the more interesting because you do not hear about the more recent history of Orkney. Normally everything seems to end with the vikings.
We had arranged to meet Pam in the Reel after we had been round the museum but were apparently about an hour late. (You can not go round an interesting series of collections with one eye on the clock.) Anyway we finally got there and had a quick coffee before looking round St Magnus Cathedral.

Saturday was a bit overcast and windy but at least John and Alex have had a good week, not to hot but good weather.
Pam had a WI trip to the Hoxa tapestry gallery, the dolls house exhibition and a meal (Once again at The Skerries) so I had to see John and Alex off myself.
I followed them down to the ferry at The Hope and waited with them until they started loading the ferry and then returned home.
I was out in the field feeding the chickens when the ferry went out. I could not help but think that in a few hours they would be back where I was born and raised.
A poem of uncle Jack's came to mind. It is one that I have always liked because I have the same feeling for the same place. I shall therefore quote it to you.

My Birthright
This is my patch,
Here I was born.
Four lanes forming a square.
I toddled round them
Holding my mum's hand.
Boundaries of my world.

Little has changed,
I am still here.
The fabric, more mellow,
Fits like an old coat.
I hold no deeds,
I have laid my scent,
I belong.

I know that it is just nostalgia and I am more contented and happy here than I would be anywhere else but there is something about the place where you were born and raised. Many of my ancestors for hundreds of years lived within a few hundred yards of where I was born. I shall always belong there, wherever I happen to live. I have a claim on the place and the place has a claim on me.
My old friend is part of that and I shall miss him.

Still, it will soon be Christmas.