A Very Soggy Island Today
And one stranded guest.
This was the dive boat that arrived the other day.
At the risk of boring everyone to death with waffle....... let your eye follow the line of the hull from the bow down to the stern area, this is an old traditionally built Scottish boat.
It has style it has flair and it has curves. (Bear with me, I am going somewhere with this)..... the top of the wheelhouse is almost the same height as the top of the bow keeping it well out of the way of crashing waves etc etc.
It was designed for big seas and hard work, but it still looks like a boat............
This thing is it's modern counterpart!!
At first glance you tend to think, Where is the rest of it? Has the back fallen off?
The only line on that is the paintwork, if the white bit was painted blue you could see it for what it truly is....... a rectangular box with the wheelhouse stuck on top.
Even the Plimsoll line is wrong, if you ballasted the front down to where it should be the the stern would be two feet in the air.
What a mess!
Anyway, back to the island.
It's all wet and verdant.
The rain today is of the fine type that gets you very wet very quickly, (Wimbledon is with us once again) It is also very thick, so thick in fact that pilots cannot see through it.
We have a guest who came over on the ferry last night for a meeting and was due to fly away this morning, no points for guessing what happened next.
The family room was made available (comfy chairs, telly etc) until the ferry arrives this evening and all is well.
Look.........we have a tree!
A bit of a rarity up here.
Until next time..................
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Busy, Busy, Busy At The Moment
And something a bit rare.....
.
Look............Darkness, don't blink or you will miss it.
One thing about living here at this time of the year is that it never really gets dark, this can be a bit confusing as to what time it is and it certainly messes with your sleep pattern.
There's lots of talk about blackout curtains and eye masks.
This was taken at 2.00am,
and this at 2.30am. Another day dawns.
Another Diving boat skipper phoned us yesterday and once again asked if he could bring seven hungry and thirsty men to the pub, I thought about it............. for a millisecond.
Come on down!
We are really very busy now, hence the long gap between Blogs. I must try harder!
Julia...The camera is a Nikon D3000 that I have not had all that long and I am still "Playing" with it.
And finally, thanks to all of you who "named that flower in one"
Until next time....................
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A Walk Out On A Different Planet..
And some lessons on the local terms for us.
The sun has been out again and a few flowers in the garden have been popping their heads up for a look.
Even the fish in the pond are on the move.
As it was so nice we went out for a walk along the nearest beach. It had to be the nearest beach because the heap of junk that we swopped for our lovely Transit van got the hump with it's timing belt and threw it off.
Anyway......off we went into the sunshine when this mist started to build up on the water, this is known as a "Haar" up here (Not too sure if I have spelled that correctly).
Still, it made the beachside graveyard a place to quickly pass by.
Then we were out on a different planet.
Lots of scrabbling around later,
and we worked out that if you lifted the Bladderwrack weed up there was a host of Winkles lying underneath.
Now - confusingly for me as I used to fish for the common Whelk - Winkles are known as Whelks up here and Whelks are known as Buckies. The Whelks latin name is Buccinum undatum so you can see where "Buckies" came from.
Just how good does this seaweed look?.... albeit very "Alien"
The same goes for this shoreline.
What a place......Absolutely fantastic!
On the way back we came across this Fulmar, these birds have a delightful habit of spitting a foul smelling oil at you if you get too close. Thank goodness for a zoom lense!
I was really hoping that this one would take off as I still need to get a decent picture of one in flight........ It was not to be.
The harbour is filling up nicely as the Lobster season is due to start any day now, a few Mackeral have also been throwing themselves on the lures recently, so all the signs are good for the summer.
Bring it on.
The Whelks (Winkles) were delicious, the best I've ever tasted.
We will soon be going back for more!
Until next time..................
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A Quiet Time On The Island,
And a Botanical question for someone....
The sun has been out again and you can almost sense the calm the animals are exuding as they lap it up.
Whiling the day away amongst the Daiseys.
Even the cattle are at it.
Who said they only lie down before it rains?
Right, here's the question. Does anyone know what this is?
Ok ok, I know it's a flower and I know that it's yellow.......... but that is all I do know, someone a bit more enlightened in the floral ways is needed.
Until next time..................
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