Bad weather, what bad weather?

Tuesday 22nd February 2011
At last, after about 5 days of high winds and rain, I awoke to a gentle breeze and sunshine. A beautiful day with the sun making the sea look like the clear blue that you see in photos of the carribean, but somewhat cooler.
I noticed some snowdrops flowering by the garden wall. They have probably been flowering for a few days but the last few days have been more of a "head down and keep going" sort of weather than a "look round and daydream". The daffodils are also coming up all over the place so perhaps spring is nearly here.



I was thinking that there is a lot of text in the last bit of the blog so here is a picture. I think you'll agree that it helps break the text up a bit. That's probably why the fellow painted it.







It was Molly's dog training tonight. She did OK but was not perfect and she has her next test in 2 weeks so we have a bit of concentrated obedience to learn before then. She is probably good enough to pass but if she wants to beat Diesel the Great Dane that she lusts after then she will have to improve. (Maybe she doesn't care how she does and it's just me.)

Molly is the best in her class at most things but when she has to sit and stay, she gets bored and gets up to have a sniff round after about 1/2 minute. She is clever enough to know what she should do but is also clever enough to decide that it is boring. Perhaps we should have got a stupid dog

Just a bit windy again

Saturday 19th February 2011
The bad weather continued but the wind got worse. The barriers were close all afternoon after a car got hit by a large wave on No2 barrier. The windscreen was shatttered and all the front passenger side of the car was crushed in. (Water is heavy stuff and a few tons dropping on a car from a great height is not good for it.) Fortunately there was nobody in the passenger seat and the driver just got a few cuts and bruises from the windscreen coming in.
Rumour has it that the unfortunate driver of the car was a council employee who is responsible for deciding when the barriers are to be closed and re-opened. This may however be wishful thinking on the part of the rumour mill as most people are against the council having any say on when it is safe to cross, believing that it is up to the individual to decide if they can make it. I personally think that if it was left to the individual then there would be many more accidents. There are always people who think that they are immortal but I suppose that if they are allowed to decide for themselves then at least they can not blame anybody else.

The trouble is that as soon as somebody is killed or has their car swept off the barrier into the sea, everybody would be blaming the council for not closing the barriers. They just can't win.

The weather was slightly better on Sunday and Monday and during dry bits I took down the stone wall by the garage and shifted a load of soil banking to make room for a wagon to deliver the new (new to me) shed.
Hopefully the shed should be arriving on 5th March. All that i have left to do before it comes is to take up the poly-tunnel frame. this should be an easy job but I bet that when I start, I find that it is concreted in. I can of course, always angle grind it out but then I will have to figure out a way of putting it back up again afterwards. We will have to wait and see how it goes. Fingers crossed that it will just be hammered into the soil but would you rely on it staying up in an Orkney gale without concrete.

Last week at the U3A meeting, Pam asked the speaker from the Scapa Flow Partnership about some archeology courses that they are involved in. We got an e-mail from the course organisers today with some attachments . The courses are designed to teach people to assist the proffesional archeologists doing surveys, excavating and cleaning and sorting finds. I think that we will both enrol on the courses. It will be interesting to go out and work on some of the digs. I wonder if they do "Sunny day digs" just for fine weather helpers.

Another day, another gale.

Friday 18th February 2011
Just for a change it was wet and windy again so not much done. I don't mind the wind (within reason) but I am to old, knackered and retired, so I do not have to go out in the rain.

During a lull in the rain we nipped down to South Ronaldsayto pick up some light sussex chickens that Pam had arranged to buy. A young couple had advertised some hens and ducks on the Orkney forum and we could do with some egg layers (especially with the number of cakes that Pam intends to bake by way of practice) When we left it was a bit windy round home but it was a lot more windy when we arrived to collect the hens.

Lee and Sue (for that was their names) bought their house a couple of years ago but are living in a caravan while they do it up. It's a good job that they are young. They have a lot of work to do on the house to make it habitable and I would not like to live in a caravan there for very long. It is however, the daft sort of thing that I may have done at their age and they have no kids so I hope they manage OK.

Orkney seems to be a magnet for people who are mildly eccentric. (Most of the the locals seem eminently sensible) As one of the few really sane and well balanced incomers, I am part of a small minority.

Gainful employment for Pam.

Thursday 17th February 2011
Today was Pam's crafty day and as she wanted me to take her down there, I had a second day in Finstown.
I was going to go round the woods again but lethargy got the better of me, so I just drove round a few places having a look what birds were about. Oddly a cormorant was crossing the grass by the car park and waddled past within 15 feet of me. I assume that it must have been injured or it would have flown off but I could see nothing obvious.

I went to see if the Bearded seal was still at the old slip but though there were several grey seals, the Bearded seal had absented itself.






On the way back from Finstown I mentioned to Pam that the Fossil centre cafe in Burray was advertising for staff in the Orcadian. To my surprise she said that she may apply for a job there. The jobs are all part-time and she thought that it would be a good way of getting to know some more folk locally.
It is Mrs Featherstone, Molly's friend, that owns the cafe so I told Pam that if she wanted a job there she would have to get Molly to write her a reference. (Mrs Featherstone knows every dog in Burray by name).

True to form when Pam phoned up to speak to her, as soon as she said her name Mrs F said "Oh Molly's mum". She very sensibly said that she did not think that a job as a waitress would suit Pam because they are on their feet for hours and get very busy. She did though, say that they needed a baker to make cakes, scones etc and as Pam had raised a family then she must be OK at baking. As it happens, she is correct but I can think of many people who have raised families nowadays who have no idea about baking.
The job does not start until the beginning of April and I think that between now and then I am going to be a guinea pig for all sorts of new cake recipes. Pam is really excited and it is lovely to see. Who would have thought that getting a part-time job on minimum wage would seem such a great thing at our age.

I am the perfect husbamd.

Monday 14th February 2011
Let it never be said again that I do not buy flowers for Pam.
I made a special trip down to the village shop and got her the biggest bunch that they had. Admittedly they didn't have any very big bunches but that is hardly my fault.
Pam is always saying that I have never bought her any flowers , even when she has been in hospital or when the children were born. I am sure that I must have bought flowers at some time but due to having a bad memory, I can not remember when and Pam relies on this when making her mischevious accusations.
In future, dear readers, you will be able to back me up. Over the next few years, whenever Pam says that I never buy her flowers, we will all chant together "Oh yes he does, remember valentines day 2011".
I also bought a valentines day card. The woman is spoilt beyond belief.

On a happier note, I went to look at a shed today. I had put a note up on th Orkney Forum on the internet/ web thingy, asking if anybody had any chicken houses that they no longer used. I got a response from a bloke in Kirkwall saying that his sister had 2 sheds that she wanted to get rid of in return for a donation to a local charity, so I went to have a look. The first shed is really good 12 and a half foot by eight and a half foot. The only problem is that it was built on site and is not sectional. I think that if I try to cut it to transport it then it may not go back together again so I will have to get it transported complete as it stands. I think that a flatback wagon with a HIAB will be needed. I will also to clear a space for the wagon access to the side of my shed where I want it to go. Hopefully that should not be to difficult. Otherwise it is a JCB job and I am to mean to pay if I don't have to.

On WEDNESDAY there was a U3A birdy walk. It was supposed to be round Burray which would have been nice and handy but because of the winds, they were worried about crossing the barriers to get here so they changed the venue to Binscarth woods in Finstown.
This means that the hardy souls from the South Isles had to cross the barriers but I think we are considered expendable. As it was, the barriers were OK anyway.

The walk was only a short one, about 3 miles or so, through the woods, up to The Loch of Wasdale and back down to The Ouse. This is the first time that I have been to Binscarth woods although I have always meant to go and have a wander round.

It is very different to most of Orkney and it feels odd being surrounded by large trees in a place where the few trees that do exist are wind blasted and stunted.






Masses of snowdrops were flowering and the wild garlic was shooting up all over the place. In a couple of months the place will stink of the stuff but it is very pretty.




There were plenty of birds but nothing unusual. Loads of oystercatchers, curlews and lapwings in big flocks and 30 - 40 Whooper swans on the loch.

The swans were around a crannog in the loch. This is the first crannog that I have seen (except on Time Team) and I didn't even know it was there. I shall have to go for a closer look sometime. There was also what appeared to be another crannog in some marshy ground by the loch which had probably been part of the loch at one time until is silted up.

I am not sure how old crannogs are but I think they are Pictish so they count as "a new residential development" compared to most of the ancient odds and sods in Orkney.

All in all it was a nice interesting walk and as I had started out with a bad ankle but had managed OK, I was quite pleased.

Lethargy strikes

Saturday 5th february 2011
I was going to go to a portrait drawing class in kirkwall this morning but the post-beer lethargy caused me not to bother. there is another class next month and you can't go rushing headlong into things.

Sunday was another "do nothing" day, just moving some of the rubble that builders always seem to leave even after they have cleaned up. In the evening we went to Dave and Claire's for a very pleasant meal and so to a very welcome bed.

On Monday Pam's car was booked in for an MOT so I took Molly down in the car and we walked back. On the way back Molly found a nice fresh tasty looking pile of horse muck and managed to gobble down a good bit before I could stop her. Consequently, when we got home she was violently sick about 10 times all over the house. Fortunately this was before Pam got up so she did not get upset. As it was she started retching when I told her about it. She never did have a strong stomach.

The car passed its MOT but then I think that it seems to be a foregone conclusion. The garage charges quite a lot for anMOT but it is better to pay a bit more and know that it will pass. The trouble is that I feel I should have it checked to see if I need to get anything fixed anyway.

The building inspector came round on Thursday. He had a check round and said that one of the downspouts from the gutter needs to be run into a drain or soak-away. I spent the rest of the day trying to find the drain. I could find the first 6 foot but then nothing so I had to dig a new one and then I spent the first couple of hours on Friday morning covering the drain and soak-away and filling it back in again. Oh what a fascinating life I lead.

Friday evening another gale was predicted at about 55MPH. Not really worth bothering with after last week. It is unfortunately a south easterly though so may cause some problems with the barriers in the morning.

A bit breezy last night..

Friday 4th February 2011
I got up this morning and the gale was still blowing like the clappers but much better than last night. According to Radio Orkney the wind got up to 125mph at Evie.
It was not so bad here, I think it was about 100mph but 100mph is still a fair bit breezy.
Fortunately I had already tidied everything that I thought may take flight so we did not suffer much damage. The hen house blew over but was not damaged, the bird table blew down and rather surprisingly, a cast iron bench in the garden blew over. The bench was outside the walled part of the garden though so was fairly exposed to the wind which was south west so blowing straight at it.

I was told at the village shop that somebody down the village lost a greenhouse. This means lost, not just blown down. The greenhouse has disappeared leaving only some bits of broken glass.

We are lucky compared to some though. Some large agricultural sheds have blown down and partially built houses in South Ronaldsay, Finstown and Tankerness have been flattened. One of Duncan's mates has a house being built in Tankerness close to our land. It had the windows in and the roof on but they had not fitted any bracing across the rooms inside. The walls spread in the wind and the complete roof fell in crushing the walls as it fell. Fortunately nobody was in the building but the house is a write off. I just hope he was insured.

Needless to say, the barriers were closed this morningas they reckoned that the wind was still force 12 which I think is hurricane force although it did not seem that bad to me. The wind fell away extremely quickly though and by dinner time it was just a bit breezy. The weather here always changes fast but it is difficult to believe that it could change so much in such a short time.

The first of our chicks hatched today ( If they were horses I would have to name them storm and hurricane or something like that but they are only chickens so it is OK) These are two of the 6 Light Sussex eggs that Pam got from South Ronaldsay.Not a very good hatch rate especially as they had not travelled far. At least even though there are only two of them they are good and healthy and they managed to get out of their shells with no help. This must mean that the incubator is working properly. I had been thinking that the temperature may not be correct and I was mis-trusting the thermometer but all must be OK.

In the evening we had a dinner organised by the dog training group at the British legion in Kirkwall. I was not looking forward to it as I only know the people from Molly's class and Pam knows nobody. It turned out to be a really good evening though. When I returned from having a crafty ciggy outside, Pam was talking to a couple from Rendall. The bloke, Colin, had been in the police in Orkney, Shetland and Inverness and now worked for the Orkney housing association. He has 2 Fergie T20 tractors and was generally interesting. Colin's wife Wendy was into crafts so Pam and her got on like a house on fire and were swapping phone numbers and addresses.
I had been thinking that we would leave as early as was decent at about 10:30 and was a bit worried about the barriers as high tide was at about 11PM. As it happened we were about the last to leave at about 12:30 so the tide was on it's way down and we just got a bit of spray on the car crossing over.

I've never seen "Phenomenal" in a shipping forcast before.

Thursday 3rd February 2011
It was very windy first thing and there had been hail overnight but we are told that there is much worse to come. Most of the ferries to the mainland or between the islands are cancelled but surprisingly the ferry to Westray is still sailing. Westray is one of the outer northern isles. Maybe they are made of sterner stuff out there and refuse to let a small thing like a hurricane disrupt their travel plans.

I had a look at the inshore shipping forecast and for Cape Wrath (well named) on the north coast od Scotland a bit to the west of us, the sea state was given as "high to very high, occassionally phenomenal". I have never heard of phenomenal in a forecast before so I checked on google and it is the worst sea state that they have and means waves over 45 feet tall. To my mind that is not a wave, it is a whole series of tsunamies, one after the other for mile after mile. I hope nobody is going to be out in it. I think that even the folk from Westray may decide that it is not a good day to go fishing.

Tonight the wind really got up and at one point I was concerned that the living room window may come in. It is a big picture window which is all well and good on nice sunny days but it is about 12 foot wide. This is not such a good thing on windy days. We could see the whole frame flexing in the wind. The window is held in the frame by about 3/4 inch seal all round and with the amount it was flexing I could imagine it just flipping itself out of the frame. So I closed the curtains.
This was much better as I could not see what was happening, I also felt that if it did come in then the curtains may stop some of the shards of glass from hurtling across the living room and impaling me to the settee.

Molly got spoiled and I fetched her box in from the porch so that she could sleep in the house. She gets frightened when the wind gets really high and starts howling loudly round the porch. I also put the radio on for her tuned to the World service so at least she will be slightly better educated by the morning.

Molly comes back. Sometimes

Tuesday 1st February 2011
A bit windy today but apparently there is a lot worse to come. The forecast is for 80 to 90 MPH gusts on Thursday and Friday so a bit of tidying up is required. I will have to shift everything that looks as though it is capable of flight if not tied down.

I have been meaning to take a photo of the house now that all the work is finished, so I took my camera down to The Hope when I went to pick up some stuff from the shops. At least from over there you get a better impression of how the house sits in the landscape. Not bad I think. Hopefully the colour will blend in better as it ages but it doesn't stand out as a modern design would. I think the traditional shape looks OK.
I will get a more close up photo some other day.

I have been thinking of letting Molly out off the lead in the garden when I am around to see if she has got any better at coming back instead of just legging it. Pam however pre-empted my decision and opened the door to take some washing out without checking where Molly was. Molly of course spotted the opportunity and shot out past Pam's legs.
I was pleasantly surprised. Molly stayed in the garden and when I got a ball she kept retrieving it and fetching it back. I thought that it was about time that she learned to come back when she was called and was pleased that at long last we seem to be getting there. It will also be better for Molly if we can let her have the run of the place without having to be on a lead.
I was going to do some work in the shed later so I thought that Molly would like to come with me and have a sniff round all the rubbish in the shed. I opened the door and she shot out then totally ignored me and hurtled round to next door scattering chickens in all directions. After about 1/4 hour of trying to pluck the tail feathers out of all the chickens and totally ignoring me,she finally got herself into a corner where I could get her trapped.
Oh well, Back to square one.

Wednesday was Babs's birthday. so being the loving and dutiful father I sent her a text and facebook comment with birthday wishes first thing.The facebook comment seems to have got lost in the ether somewhere but at least she got the text. I am getting all up to date with all these trendy things now. That must be the third or fourth text that I have sent in the last few weeks. Soon I will be typing them all the time while wandering round the town just like the kids.

The weather wasn't brilliant but I thought that I had better take Molly for a good long walk today because it seems that if the weather forecast is correct, then she may not be getting a walk for a couple of days. I have a mental picture of me walking down to the village with Molly flying like a hang glider on 20 feet up on the end of her lead. The rain held off for most of the time so it was not to bad and Molly enjoyed rooting round on the beach to see how many dead crabs and seagulls she could find.

Duncan fetched up the three bookcases that he has made for us, so once they are painted and varnished we can get the bools out of the cupbords where they have all been boxed up since we got here. I don't know what it is about having books around but a house doesn't seem like home until my books are around.
I remember reading somewhere a long time ago that the average family had just two books and that one of those was the bible (or maybe the Quoran nowadays). Presumably if the average is 2 books per household and I have a couple of hundren or so and Babs has more than the British Library, then a lot of homes do not even have a single book. (OK Babs)
It is not surprising that we now have a generation growing up in which many kids seem to be barely literate. (Could go of on a rant about trendy teachers and education policy but thought better of it.)

Pam's Birthday

Monday 31st January 2011
I was going to go down to the shop with Molly this morning to get a birthday card for Pam but just to be awkward, Pam got up early. Well actually she did not get up until about 9 o-clock but this is early compared to her more usual 10 to 10:30.
To be fair to Pam, she does say that when she appears in the living room at 10:30 she has already made the bed, cleaned the windows, polished the dog etc, etc. You can make up your own mind as to wether you believe this rubbish or not.

Anyway because Pam was up early, I got a bollocking for not having a card. It was a wet and windy day but Molly and I braved the weather and went down to the shop to get a card. It was either that or get no food today. When I got back I gave Pam the card and her present which was an iPod docking station. Unfortunately the iPod that Barbara is sending has not arrived yet so my present is useless.

I had a go at doing some drawings of birds after starting to read Tim Wooton's book. I was quite pleased with the result. I think that it actually looks like a bird.
No comments from perfectionists are necessary.

In the evening I took Pam out to Lucano's, the latest jewel in Kirkwall's vast array of cosmopolitan night spots. (Well it's an Italian restraunt) It was very nice but a meal at the pub down Burray village may have been better and certainly would have been cheaper and more convenient. I am getting older and wiser now though and after thirty something years of marriage, I have finally realised that as far as treats for ladies is concerned, quality, value and convenience are less important than appearances and the impression that you have had to go to a great deal of trouble.

Most women do not seem to be genetically more stupid than most men but when it comes to going out somewhere they seem to loose all common sense, wanting to do the most difficult and most expensive thing even if it is not the best. There is however no way of changing this so we will just have to go along with it and humour them.

The computer is on a go slooooooooooowwww

Sunday 30th January 2011
The computer has been horribly slow yesterday and today so I thought that I had better try and sort it out. My first thought was that the virus checker may be slowing it so I changed my virus checker. No difference. I spent most of the morning trying a variety of things that I thought may be slowing it down but all to no avail.

As I was getting totally hacked off with the computer I decided to abandon it for the time being and we went down to the Sands of Wright and Hoxa Dam for a stroll.


The little house that Maddy built when she was up in August is still there but it has had a little bit of damage either due to the winter storms or over enthusiastic children jumping on it.




This is the little house when new so I think that Maddy has a few repairs to do to it when she next comes up here.






When we returned I had a sudden flash of inspiration about the computer. It started acting up just after Alistair fixed the TVs. I looked behind the telly and sure enough there was a spare phone plugged in with no suppressor on it. I unplugged the phone and Hey-Presto, problem solved and computer back to normal. Most of a day wasted for nothing but then I am retired and so days are meant to be wasted.

At last we move in.

Friday 28th Jan uary 2011
Well at long last we are using some of the vastly expensive extension. I was beginning to think that it was just a big over priced ornament that I could look at but not touch. Today however we finally got moved our bed into the new bedroom, so at last part of it is functional.
I shall look forward to having a good nights sleep with all the high tech underfloor heating keeping me all warm and toasty. I shall report tomorrow as to the effectiveness of the heating.

If you remember dear reader, I phoned the Wernlas Collection last week to see if they would have any silver/grey dorkings for sale in April. Well, they phoned me back today and ,Oh Rejoice, for they have fertile eggs and will have some for sale. I have ordered 4 hens and 2 unrelated cockerels.

On Saturday Alistair from the village came up and sorted out all the televisions, so now we can watch TV all over the house. It is probably all to complicated for me so I expect that I will be throwing remote controls out of the window. In theory we can watch Sky or freeview in both the sitting rooms and in the new bedroom but we can not have different Sky channels on each telly although we can have different Freeview channels.
At one time I could program computers using machine code. Now I have problems knowing which button to press on a TV remote and DVD recorders are totally beyond me.
Oh the joys of getting old!!!

The RNLI had an open day in Kirkwall today and as I have,fortunately never been on a lifeboat, I thought that I would have a look.
The Kirkwall boat, The Margaret Foster, is a Severn class boat and is a very impressive looking piece of machinery.
If you really feel that you must go down to the sea in ships then this is probably the best one to do it in.

There were not many people about so the 2nd Coxwain, Stewart Ryrie, showed me round the boat and very proud of it he was to. Half the boat is taken up with two huge diesel engines of 1250 Horse Power each. (It would make a really good boat for water skiing). he was telling me about some of the call outs including one last year in which the 4 inch diameter steel column supporting one of the crew seats was bent beyond repair by the boat hitting a wave. It makes you realise why the crew are strapped in like racing car drivers.
Stewart's eldest son is also a member of the lifeboat crew. I couldn't help but wonder how his wife felt when they were called out in bad weather.

I have met a few very brave men in my life and they all seem to have two things in common. They all have an air of being at ease with themselves and they do not brag about what they have done. I suppose it is because they have nothing to prove to anybody else and they have proved to themselves that they are the equal of anybody. These crews are very special people.
Well that's the RNLI appreciation society bit over but I just could not ignore them.

Pam did not come to see the lifeboat so she sat in the car and read her e-book. The woman has no soul. She did however redeem herself by going to Wisebuys and getting quite a few things. Wisebuys is fast becoming her favourite shop, maybe even more that the dreaded supermarket that shall be nameless. Unfortunately Wisebuys do not sell food.

Oh, I nearly forgot. The heating in the new bedroom is hunky dory. In fact it is to hot so I shall get all eco-thingy and mean and will turn it down.

A beautiful day from dawn to dusk

Thursday 27th January 2011
Today has been one of those days when I get out of bed in the morning and realise straight away why I love living here. The sun was just coming up and it was fantastic.
No wind at all and the sea was dead flat calm. It was impossible not to just stand in the garden looking at the view for a few minutes before coming to my senses and realising that I needed a cup of tea.

The electrician and the carpet fitter were up today so everything is now officially finished. Pam is like a dog with two tails, especially as both the carpet fitter and Nick, the electrician told her that they liked the cathedral ceiling in the new sitting room. I personally think that someone (probably Duncan) had primed them on what to say.

It was Pam's craft meeting today so she shot off to Finstown where they meet in somebody's house. I get the impression that it is more of a gossip than anything else but with a bit of crafty stuff thrown in. It doesn't really matter though and Pam enjoyed it and that's what life is supposed to be for.
When Pam came back she had in fact made one thing. It was a Papay Rattle which is basically a woolen ball round a pebble which is contained in 2 limpet ot cockle shells. Originally supposed to be from Papay (Papa Westray). They were rattles for babies. Health and safety would have a heart attack at the thought of them now of course, children choking on fur balls and sucking germ ridden sodden wet wool balls.

To end the day there was a gourgeous sunset, even better than the sunrise this morning. Please excuse the photo which does not do it justice and is a bit shaky because of the magnification.
The mountains in the background over the lights of The Hope are in Scotland. I think the big pointy one is Ben Griam Mor near Forsinard. It is about 55 miles away but we can often see it on clear days.