Fletcher saga 16 May 2004

We have now been here for almost seven weeks. How time flies when you are enjoying yourself. The weather has certainly improved to the extent that I've been able to cut the lawns for the last two weekends, I even managed to get a sun-tan whilst doing it last week. Rocky appreciates the grass cuttings but is very selective, he prefers dandelion leaves to pure grass. The garden appears to be full of plants and Maureen tells me that we have fuschia, peony, wallflower, tulip, daffodil as well as strawberry and rhubarb. Unfortunately there are also a great many dandelions which appear to be well established.
Last Monday morning Maureen was alarmed to look out of the kitchen window and see a herd of cows trotting merrily past the house and down the main road into the village. Apparently this is quite normal when they are being moved from field to field but on this occasion one of the lead cows took a wrong turning, but for a lot of shouting and stick-waving by the herdsman the whole herd would have ended up milling around in the local haulier's yard. The local haulier (who hails from Leek, Staffordshire) spends a lot of time travelling to and fro on the ferry between Kirkwall and Stronsay. He also delivers our heating oil and has the council contract for "special collections". Every 3 months the council arranges a "special collection" for the Northern Isles of heavy items for disposal, all you have to do is phone the council in Kirkwall and tell them what you have for disposal and they arrange for it to be collected by the haulier. We took advantage of this service to get rid of two elderly mattresses and associated bedsteads.
On Tuesday 18 May we are catching the early morning ferry to Kirkwall so that Maureen can visit the hairdressers, I can get a short back & sides, we can get some bulk shopping done and I can get the car serviced. Maureen is apprehensive about the crossing and fully expects to emulate Grace Darling on both the outward and return journeys.

Last updated 16 May 2004