Full circle

When I came up here a year ago for an interview, the snow drops were out in the woods. Now they are out again, it reminds me that it is precisely (give or take a few days) a year since I first came to the island.
I didn't have any expectations at that point of how it would turn out, and I couldn't have guessed. I'm glad I came up here, it's been... an experience ( I must be feeling quite mellow today, I usually use a stronger word than that!)
There will be things I'll miss, but I'm looking forwards to moving back to Wales. I'll bring my grandkids back here maybe!!

Pack up your troubles...

Oh how I love* moving house!

*this may not be true, as anyone who has been within a 10 mile radius of me doing this before will know

With the double complication of trying to work out the logistics of going to Oz for a month in the meantime, I've been working on the actual 'How to get off the Island' plans.
This is not being helped by having (by some mysterious process like cell division) managed to double the quantity of possessions I have to move.

Looking round my house, I have gained:

A 6 foot willow sculpture
A tambourine
A sheeps skull, complete with jaw and horns
A tea pot and a coffee pot
A second guitar (but how lovely!?)
A large glass mosaic
A large pile of bedding etc.

(I'm going to stop looking now because I'm scaring myself)

In short - my car was crammed to the gills when I drove up here, I cannot be leaving these things behind, and I doubt they will magically fit into my car on the way back down.

Same story, different address.

So, the process of packing your life into boxes and trusting the Royal Mail to get it down to Wales for me, begins. I'm quite looking forwards to getting to the stage of only having 2 changes of clothes here, and a plastic plate and one set of cutlery, as it's not like I can't live in a 'minimal' state, hell, I could get the train down!

Pole dancing in Portnahaven

It's not often that you get a phone call asking you to pop into the Co-op, find a man with a grey jacket and stick-y out ears buying juice, ans him if his name is Findley and if it is, to give him a dress and a wig. Only here. I don't believe these thing happen in the 'real' world. Although maybe they should, it makes life a little more interesting.
Anyhow, the purpose of this was because of a fancy dress (belated Christmas) party being held by the swimming club. My friends (who were visiting) and I went as the highly unpolitically correct 'Three Blind Mice' from Dr No. The evening culminated in the above shennanigans, and no, your eyes do not fail you, that's a pole in Jack's sitting room, it's there all the time, for dancing. (This makes Jack sound like some kind of Hugh Hefner, which I can assure you he's not, it's probably holding the ceiling up) The strangest thing is that Jack's house is not the only house here I've seen with a pole in the living room...

The escape route

It's winter again
I know this because it is dark at 5pm,
I cannot feel my fingers
It snowed again yesterday and the snow hasn't melted
The weather has stopped the planes and ferries more often that not for the past fortnight


On the plus side,
I will definately be leaving in April :)
This cheers me up no end
Apart from all the telling-folk-I'm-going stuff which I do not like at all

but generally;

:)

Decisions decisions.

After alluding several times to having had the 'what the hell am I doing here?' feeling, I decided after 7 months here, that I'd had sufficient time to 'settle' in here, and that it was time to do a conclusive review of the situation.

I don't suppose it's much of a surprise to hear that I'm going to be moving back South of the Border. *Thankyou to those who have listened to the endless miserable deliberations - I love you!*

Those who know - you'll already know how I feel about the job, those who don't - I'll tell you over a pint one night, and it'll probably make your hair curl.

Those who've travelled up to see me (and those who will before I leave) - I especially love you, and you'll appreciate how bloody difficult it is to get up and down from here.

Those who I haven't seen since before I moved up here - I blooming miss you, and I can't wait to see you again.

As precisely as the plans ever are...

I'll be in Austrailia for a month Feb/March time, seeing some more of the folks who come into the 'blooming miss you' category, and I'm planning to move back down to Wales roundabout April time.


<---- In the words of my favourite graffiti artist, life's too short to hang around on a cold hebridean island all your life.

Snow, I tells ya, Snow!!

OK, so this shold have been posted in November..

But look... Pretty!...




That's snow on them there Paps.

Here one day, gone the next

Travelling tales

And onwards to the joys of travelling in winter...

Now that the winter is upon us, and we get about 7 hours on daylight if we are lucky, we have also had some of the foulest weather *known to man or beast*

If you are tucked up at home in front of a cosy fire, this will not worry you unduly.
If you are trying to get home from a weekend away, it probably will.

I tried to get back from Glasgow.. the plane I was supposed to be on was cancelled at 5.30 pm so we had to wait for a plane to come in from Barra
At 7pm, the Twin Otter turned up (An old style-school lunch box propelled by a wind up elastic band) There wasn't enough room on it for everyone, so 2 people got paid to get the next flight in the morning.
The rest of us folded ourselves up into the 'plane'
We had a turbulant dark, noisy flight over to the island, I could see into the cockpit and the girl flying looked like she was wrestling with a poltergeist
We got to the island, then turned around and flew back to Glasgow as it was 'outside the parameters'
I could have cried. I had been up since 5am *trying* to get home :(
Thankfully (heh) they put us up in a hotel at the airport and we were able to get a plane the next morning, when the weather was stunning

Island life - meh!

Winter update

And so to a few days furious writing to make up for not writing for weeks:

The R_____ Hall Debacle
Having not yet been to a 'disco' (ie not a ceidlh) at this local landmark, I volunteered to be on the door at a fundraising disco and noted the following points.

* The doors may open at 8pm, but no-one will come til 12
* As the bar shuts at 1pm, everyone will drink like hell for this hour
* When the 'doors' close (also at 1) the smokers will cause merry havok (curses on the smoking laws in Scotland)
* It doesn't matter if you are a girl, drunk people are still going to physically try to force their way into the hall, like it is the most important and exciting opportunity of their lives (which for some of them it probably is)
* Keep your thumbs OUT of the fire door (ouch)
* The police will sit in a car outside the entire night, however the punters will be seemingly unaware of this, and presume the island is a lawless state
* A crap disco is always a crap disco

So, all in all, I don't think I need to be doing that again

I'll stay at home and poke myself in the eye with a blunt stick next time

The advantages of a rural idyll

The advantages, I shall list them for ease of brainstorming:

No traffic jams
No traffic lights
No roundabouts
No 24 hour Tesco
No evil supermarkets fullstop
No traffic wardens!
No door to door salesmen
People who know each other
Waving at every car/person you see is a habit
Children who are allowed to 'go out to play'
Peace and quiet
Oh so pretty-ness of surroundings
Living by the sea
Cute baby cows
Other more surprising wildlife (seals otters and deer (and eagles))
Morning beachcombing
Not watching TV (only me, not everyone)
Having a butcher and a baker
Growing tomatos in the garden
Kindness of folk
Agricultural shows
Pubs where the barstaff get you 'the usual'
Lots of visitors
Excitement when you go 'to the mainland' (Woolworths - woo hoo!!)
Discovering that you don't necessarily miss trudging round town on a Saturday
The joys of Royal Mail - parcels - love it!!

What's not to like?

*with acknowledgements to Patrick for reminding me that life is (sometimes) good*

A few more pics

Thought I'd illustrate the changing season best with a few more 'nature' shots. While there is still a bit of daylight up here, and while I can still get a photo without becoming like a drowned rat!


Looking forward to when all the midges die off in the winter


And to toasty bonfires on the 5th Nov

And (in some strange way) getting the thermals and wooly hats back out of the cupboard.

And looking forwards to making sloe gin (if I can find any sloes, otherwise I may have to import them from the mainland)

Looking forwards to seeing snow on the Paps again (it will remind me of the day I moved up here)

It's not all bad.

Watson gets the girl

Those who know me for the past few years probably know about my partner in crime, Watson.
That's right: the knackered, naff classical guitar found out by the dustbins, adopted, illustrated and given a new lease of life.

Well, Watson and I have been producing tortured strains for a good few years now, and he has established himself as a well known character on the pub circuit.
So it will come as no surprise that a handsome and tuneful~(!?) individual such as himself, should have found a lady friend.

Oh yes, a Lady guitar has moved in to our house!

A piece of guitar totty if ever I saw one. Pru (for that is her name) is an electro-acoustic vision in blue, quite the prettiest guitar you ever did see. No wonder Watson fell for her!

So what could have been an awkward moment (the introduction of 'another guitar' into the happy home), has turned into a match made in heaven.
Watson gets to have a bit of a breather, he is getting on a bit after all,
I get to 'broaden my skills '(i will not have it said that Watson was holding me back!)
Pru gets the adoration of all who behold her.

What a happy family!

p.s. there is nothing wrong with naming inanimate objests is there?!

End of the Summer?

The nights are drawing in and there's certain chill in the air, could this be it?

the end of summer?

Undeterred, I decided to try out my new tent last night. Having already managed to pitch it in my kitchen earlier in the week (well, I just wanted to see how to put it up, and it was already dark out) and despite the benefits of having an ensuite fridge/freezer, it just wasn't practical.
So I ventured outside.
I wasn't sure the tent was going to be up to much, particularly when I was putting it up and it looked like a wobbly jellyfish. However, the spotty kid in the camping shop was right, geodesic is the way of the future (even if he couldn't explain what it means and neither can I)

This is me camping the other side of the loch from Bowmore (visible on the horizon) proper hardcore, me!

Still at least it's not the back garden.

I got to have a camp fire and everything (good to know that my firelighting skills are still up to scratch). Mind you, it was bloody cold last night. And it rained, lots. But that is a good thing, as the tent did not leak.

Which made me a happy girl indeed.