Fletcher saga 27 May 2004

Our trip to Kirkwall last week was uneventful despite Maureen's belief that the boat was doomed to plunge into the depths every time it rocked. The outward and return journey took about 90 minutes each instead of the usual 2 hours because the boat did not call at Eday or Sanday. It seemed strange at first to see all the traffic and people in Kirkwall even though it was less than two months since we left 'civilization. However, I remembered to keep looking in my rearview mirror and we soon adjusted to looking both ways before crossing the road and fastening our seatbelts every time we got into the car. The main purposes of the trip were to visit the hairdresser/barber, stock up with some seed potatoes, onion sets etc. and to bulk buy some frozen food. We achieved all these objectives and still had time for a leisurely lunch in the Kirkwall Hotel. An added bonus was spotting and buying some fresh strawberries that had been grown on Papa Westray – much tastier than the huge, forced strawberries that appear in some mainland shops at this time of year.
There were several monks from Papa Stronsay on the ferry to Kirkwall. On the return journey they were laden down with a variety of mysterious parcels including an extremely long curtain rail that was particularly difficult to control in the stiff breeze. I always thought that monks were quiet, thoughtful, rather lugubrious people but the Transalpine Redemptorists from Papa Stronsay seem perpetually happy and cheerful.
The chap who does various electrical and plumbing jobs that are beyond my capabilities (i.e. most of them) keeps hens on his croft and has just acquired five lambs, two to keep as pets and three for the freezer. Last week he thought that the lambs had escaped because there was no sign of them in their field. Just as he was about to commence a search of the area his wife called his attention to five lambs that were squeezing themselves out of the tiny henhouse entrance followed by one hen. Fortunately the lambs will soon be too big to get into the henhouse so the hens will have the place to themselves again.
We have just one wagtail who has visited us almost every day since we moved in. For almost a week now we have been delighted to see that he/she has brought a baby wagtail into the garden and has fed it while we watched through the kitchen window. There are plenty of local birds – sparrows, starlings and blackbirds - just as there were in Yorkshire but we hear curlews, oystercatchers and lapwings calling all the time. The two greylag geese near one of the two shops are now the proud parents of two goslings and emit warning hissing noises if they think that anybody is too close to their offspring. The sparrows and starlings are all very tame and appear to have no great fear of humans. When either of us goes into the garden the birds immediately take to the air but as we walk about they will land right behind us and carry on as though nothing had happened. It is not uncommon for Maureen to shake the washing line to make the birds fly off it so that she can peg out some clothes. Maureen puts out food scraps for the birds every day and they are soon gobbled up but some birds are very ungrateful and leave multiple tiny, dirty claw prints or, worse, their 'calling cards' on her clean washing.

Last updated 27 May 2004