Saturday 19th May 2012

Visitors arrive,the sun shines and the boat trip of a lifetime.

Rodney and Libby arrived up on The Pentalina on Thursday afternoon and so of course the sun shone, the wind ceased and Orkney was at its beautiful best. It always seems to do this when we have visitors and occassionally even when we do not have visitors.

We had originally arranged to take the boat trip round "the flow" that we had won in the Children in Need auction on Thursday but I had made a cock up about the dates, thinking that Rodney and Libby were arriving Wednesday. Fortunately when I phoned Magnus Woolham there was no problem about re-arranging it for Friday.

By now you dear reader will have probably heard ad nauseum about the boat trip but you are going to hear it again.

It started out a lovely sunny calm morning and we went down to Burray pier where we met up with Angus and Jean who were also coming on the trip as the auction was for upto 6 people.
 The two Magnus's and Jon launched the boat at the slip and came round to the pier where we all boarded, then off into the flow at high speed. I think that Magnus Woolham is very proud of how fast his boat will go and likes to impress/frighten people.
 We had a good tour of this end of the flow with a really good commentary, looking at the wartime defences and batteries and seeing the obligatory seals and puffins before being dropped off at Lyness on Hoy for a look round the museum and lunch at the cafe. Magnus Spence and Jon had been diving for scallops on our way over and went out to do some more dives while we were at Lyness.

We had arranged to get picked up at 2PM for the return trip and were thinking that perhaps we should have arranged a later pick up time as we had not really had time to look round the museum. As it happened though, in light of later events, our timing was perfect.
 We boarded the boat again and set off round Flotta where we stopped to refuel in the shelter of the old submarine nets between Flotta and The Calf of Flotta. Almost immediately after we started up again Magnus Woolham spotted a fin in the water so steered over to have a look. It appeared to be a large basking shark so everyone on board was very excited as you do not see them close up very often.

 I was very pleased as this was a real bonus and would make Rodney and Libby's trip to Orkney very memorable. More was to come though.

Magnus Spence climbed up onto the top of the boat to get a better view as the shark came right up to and under the boat and he along with Rodney and Pam saw that the shark had spots right down its back. Magnus also thought that it was the wrong colour for a basking shark and that the front of the mouth and nose were the wrong shape. Amongst his many other talents, Magnus is a marine biologist and has probably seen more basking sharks than most people. What could this be then. It may be very exciting.More of this later.
 Unfortunately this is the only photo that I got of the shark.





 After the shark had got bored with us and swum off, we continued back towards Burray. Within five minutes however Magnus Woolham shouted that there was a whale fluke ahead so he hurried over to where he could see it. 
 As we got closer we could see the whale was thrashing about and even with my limited knowledge of whales, it did not look right.









Now you have to ask yourself what would you do if you saw a 45 foot whale thrashing about wildly in the sea and obviously in distress. Staying in the boat and moving a bit farther away to a safe distance would probably seem like a good idea.
 Magnus Spence however had other ideas. He grabbed a snorkel and jumped off the boat to see what was the matter. A minute or two later he returned to the boat and informed us that the whale had got a creel rope tied round its mouth with a load of old creels on the seabed fastened to one end  and tangled with a rope to some more creels at the other side.
 By this time the whale was visibly weakening. Every time that it tried to come up to breath it had to lift all the creels from the seabed and it was tiring rapidly. A little while longer and it would not have the strength to lift the creels and would have drowned.

Magnus asked if anybody was in a rush to get back home but I don't think that he expected an answer to his question.

Without any hesitation,and without thinking of himself, Magnus Spence  donned his scuba gear and dived over the side again to swim down to the whale and see what he could do. Jon put his gear on and waited in the boat in case Magnus got into trouble.
 I have since been told by several people that this sort of behavoir is what they would all expect of Magnus. He is very well though of.
 Magnus managed to get down to the whale but as it was thrashing about a bit and the 6 foot long fins were getting a bit close for comfort, he went further down and came up the creel rope as far as he could. He then cut the rope and it slid  easily out of the whale's mouth.
 The whale then swam off without even popping up to say thankyou and give us a little display.
Magnus was over he moon when he came back into the boat but then who wouldn't be when you have just saved a whale's life.

 I later found out that all the women on the boat had been thinking that the whale was about twice the size of the boat and were worried about it capsizing us as it thrashed about. This had not occurred to any of the men who were just enthralled by the nearness of such a magnificent and huge animal. I sometimes think that we are not just different sexes but almost different species.

After a little time after we all had a few minutes to calm down and repeatedly say "WOW" to each other, we set off and returned to Burray pier without any further adventures. Jon suggested that we try and get "The Orcadian" and Radio Orkney" interested in the rescue to give Orkan Adventures a bit of publicity. If any of the crew tried to publicise it then the newspaper and radio would not use it because it would be classed as advertising.  I agreed to try and get a bit of publicty for the two Magnus's. From the pier it was straight into the pub to continue trying to get our heads round what had just happened. Then back home and after checking my photo's and videos, phone calls to the paper and Radio Orkney.

Monday 7th May 2012
There is a wrong way up for sheep netting

 Another nice few days and we have found where the ducks have been going when they dissapear.
 They have been toddling over to Mr Scotts farm up the road and helping themselves to his cattle feed as his sheds are now open.
 Because of this we have had to imprison the ducks in the garden. At least we can find the eggs now and we are getting 3 duck eggs per day on top of all the hens eggs.

 I shall now have to fence one side of the top field with wire netting because the numpty that originally put the sheep netting round the field put it on upside down so that the big holes are at the bottom.
 Gareth and I fenced 2 sides of the field when we first moved in, so they are OK and the remaining side was fenced correctlyin the first place.

 After rounding up the ducks and putting them in the garden as a temporary measure, I was thinking that at least one problem was solved  when I noticed that the geese had got out into the bottom field. They had somehow managed to get under the 2 gates and when I caught up with them, they were legging it off down the green lane at the side of the field and heading towards the sea. I use the term "green lane" loosely. In fact it is supposed to be a lane but it is full of old farm machinery and slowly rotting silage bales so it is a bit of a challenge to walk down. Surprisingly though, even the one remaining gosling was managing to make it at a good speed.

In the end the geese were returned to the field, the wire netting was put up along the fence and the gate was dropped on its hinges a bit so all should be OK.

 I have been having some practice at "flat-pack" assembly for the past few days. On Thursday a filing cabinet arrived and there were so many different bits that I had to resort to reading the instructions. I would have thought that a filing cabinet would be simple but I am sure that they are having a laugh when they design them.
 Next day it was a desk but by this time I was getting more experience and apart from sorting out which piece was which, I only had to look fleetingly at the instructions.
 On Saturday, Pam's excercise bike arrived and by this time the instructions were almost superfluous. Much to Pam,s surprise, all three items work correctly and much to my surprise, of all the three pieces I was only left with one spare washer.

 It was election day for the local council the other day and all was high drama. There has been quite a bit of animosity in all of the Orkney parishes. One of our local councillors had questioned the expenses claims of the council convenor, pointing out that he was getting an allowance of £25 per day for staying in his own second home. ( Shades of Westminster). The convenor represents the northern isles and has a second house on the mainland so he has been claiming an allowance that it seems was designed to allow island councillors to stay with friends or family on the mainland for staying in his own house.

 Because he denounced the convenor a few weeks ago, our councillor was forced out from the position of chairman of the accounts committee and there has been a lot of personal animosity during the run up to the election.
 We elect 3 councillors for our ward and Ross Madge, the errant councillor romped home with a vastly increased vote and about 3 times the number of votes as his nearest rival and the second highest number of votes in the whole council.
 It should be fun at the first few meetings of the new council.

 One of the hens has gone broody, so on Monday, I stuck 10 eggs under her. I shall now have to harden my heart and bump off some of the hens that have faults. Some of my Andalusians have bad feet and although they will lay OK, there is no point in keeping those that are not right. There are also a couple of Pam's hens that need to go but I do not think that she will let me neck them. If Pam had her way, we would be running a home for crippled chickens.

 That's it for now. I have to go and try to finish another masterpiece.

Clapton comes to Orkney

Friday 4th May 2012

We have had 5 or 6 nice days and 3 or 4 really beautiful, hot, clam days.
If it was not for the high winds and snow that we are having at the moment, even today has been very nice.

 Last Sunday I went out with the South Ronaldsay walking group for an amble from Eastside Kirk to Grimness. We can see Grimness from our house but I have never been there, nor to Eastside Kirk.
 The beautiful, isolated places in Orkney never cease to amaze me. Eastside Kirk is a lovely little chapel on the coast close by Newark Bay. a sandy bay with loads of rock pools. It was a great day. No coat needed, even on the coast. A beautiful place and half a mile of sandy beach at low tide with not a single footprint to show that anyone had been there. How many places in the world are so great to live in?

 The walk to Grimness was pleasant and more to the point, easy. We stopped at the top of the cliffs to have our selection of home-bakes and tea. Pam had kindly made me some walnut loaf for my contribution. Then it was back to the cars via the "Lang Road", a wide grass track.
 Sheena, the woman who takes the art class that I go to, had fetched her 2 children along and her 7 year old daughter "Pip", was flagging a little towards the end of the walk. I dropped back to keep her company and to encourage her to walk a bit faster. Indeed we ended up running a bit, (not a good thing at my age).
 Pip really amused me. She reminded me of Maddy. She just chattered solidly and very fast for the last 30 minutes. Amongst other things that I was told, was that she had been put on an amber warning that week for chattering in class at school. Why was I not surprised?
 It was very nice however when she got almost back to her mum's car to leave and then suddenly ran back just to say goodbye to me. It quite made my day.

 Next day I took Pam down to Newark Bay and we had a stroll down the beach and back throwing balls for Molly.

 On Tuesday, the U3A painting group were meeting at the Stones of Stennes. Just to prove that I am going senile , I turned up on Monday morning and wondered where everyone was. At least it gave me a chance to find a nice viewpoint so that when we actuallymet on Tuesday, I knew where I was going to sit.

       This is what I was supposed to paint but I am not going to load a copy of my dismal attempt.

  I had originally intended to do a pen and ink drawing as I am getting a bit better at this. Gloria, who is in charge of the group, is however another one of those artistic people who demand that I use watercolours.
 I ended up producing a very childlike painting that a 6 year old may or may not be pleased with.
 I shall have to use the excuse that it was the first time that I have ever used watercolours and shall have to practice a bit more.

Returning home as I was coming through Kirkwall there was another scenic masterpiece. One of the tall ships, the "Statsraad Lehmkuhl" was moored up at the pier.
She is one of the ships that was here for the tall ships race last year and although she is not the biggest, she is definitely the most spectacular.

 Next day a really swish, expensive looking cruise ship was in at Hatston pier, so the summer must have started.






 Saturday night there was a concert  by Eric Clapton in "The Picky Centre". Well not actually The Eric Clapton, but a very good tribute band. The lead had been doing Clapton tributes for 27 years and was excellent, and a lot cheaper than the real thing, so a good time was had by all.