Winterval greetings

Ho! Ho! Ho! Quite unseasonal up here - grey, 10 C and light winds.


We've done lots since the last entry. High point was a great storm last weekend - winds up to 90 mph, more than 60 most of the evening and night. Anywhere else there would have been masses of damage but most things here are designed to be windproof. However, everything has its breaking point - a huge barn up the road lost its corrugatedroof: this was deposited whole in the road 100 yards away. I've never been out in such strong wind before - great if you don't have to work in it. Standing up was difficult, walking into it nearly impossible! Poor dog was nearly blown away. Here are a couple of pics of the dog in action mode and chilling out:

We went to a Christmas Quiz at the pub. We were a bit embarressed to win. This was followed by a trip to the island's bingo club christmas do - we were quite lucky there as well, Jo won some money and I got £50 worth of slow cooker/rice cooker - something I'd been considering buying. People were very friendly and welcoming at both events. The bingo's good as lots of islanders go to it so it's a chance to get used to the accent.


Everything seems to be going forward with the house purchase, we hope to "complete" at the end of Jan (2009!). Lots of birdie goings on this week: ravens in abundance today - the collective noun is "an unkindness", which sounds a bit mean (unless you are a sick rabbit). Lots of lapwings (see pic) and flocks of something that I think are bar-tailed godwits (let me know if you disagree). Still zillions of geese (greylag) and curlews that resist having good photo taken.













We are having lots of frank discussions about how to package, market and price our soaps. We hope to come to some conclusions by New Year and get down to some serious production before we get side tracked by doing things to the new house.



Best wishes to everyone for Christmas, hope you are all cold-free. M and J XXX

Tooled Up!!

Weather: Lovely bright day after a couple of dreary ones

Listening to: Lynton Kwesi Johnson - Forces of Viktry

Quote for the day : "You lookin' at me? I don't see anyone else here........., Punk?" That might be a mixture of Dirty Harry and Taxi Driver; sorry for the purists. If getting an air rifle to control rabbits makes me think that imagine what an Uzi for £100 from a guy in the pub must make you feel like?

No major happenings here. We went to the great metropolis that is Kirkwall yesterday. 1.5 hr on boat each way, good fun and excellent bacon sandwiches. Sea flat as a pancake so nice to watch the islands zipping past. Kirkwall's got most things you could ask for. I got a strimmer and rotovator to be prepared for smallholding next spring (they were on offer!). We found a fantastic shop called Shearer's that had every creature comfort of a foodie nature which one could ask for! A full range of Patak's pickles!

Found this groovy fish on the beach yesterday. It's a lumpsucker (you lookin' at me, Lumpsucker?). Quite common apparently, otters like them. We may have seen an otter the other day but I won't claim it 'til I'm sure.

If anyone has 400 grand going spare there is a very nice peninsula for sale here. We went for a walk there the other day, you drive for a mile over a beach beside amazing sand dunes to get to it. There's a little hamlet around a 16th century house and a range of amazing stone buildings. Apparently the previous owner quibbled about £2000 bill for boat repairs - three years later the bailiffs took his estate away! I can send the full agents details if you are interested. Picture below - the building with the damaged roof is the hexagonal horse mill - what a disgrace to let fall into disrepair!

Must do Christmas cards tonight so I'll leave it there.