Fletcher saga 01 August 2004

I was amazed when I looked at the calendar today and realised that we have been in this house for 4 months. The time has just zipped past but we seem to have done very little apart from unpacking an enormous number of boxes and finding somewhere to put most of the contents. Maureen is just about sick of the sight of curtains, curtain material, hems, ruffelette tape and curtain hooks. All the main windows are much longer than anything else we have encountered and this is the first house in which I have ever had to use a stepladder to hang curtains or change a lightbulb (I am 6 ft 4 ins tall). At long last I have almost mastered the art of putting up adjustable shelving in order to accommodate what seems like most of the contents of the second hand book shops in all the places that we have lived for the last 30 years.

In my Saga for 13 July 2004 I mentioned the Newfoundland puppy from the monastery on Papa Stronsay. Further enquiries have revealed that the monks now have two Newfoundland puppies - Captain and Papay. Papay, the oldest, is the dog who appears on the monk's website. Both dogs are being taught (by a man from Devon!) to swim and to assist in retrieving people from the sea. Apparently this ability is supposed to "come naturally" to the Newfoundland breed but it has almost been bred out of the modern day dogs.

When I visited Maurice Williamson's store at Olivebank last week to order some more of his superb Orkney beef I noticed that the two goslings are now nearly as big as their parents and that they almost completed the change of plumage. I also noticed that the chicks which hatched on the compost sacks are now quite independent of their parents.

Changes are afoot on the island. At Ebenezer's, the other store on the island, Mike has taken delivery of three huge upright freezers and has just finished stocking them with a wide variety of frozen goodies. And we have just had a letter from the petrol station at Boondatoon, where I get petrol for my car and refilled gas cylinders for the cooker and the stove, to tell us that the site changes hands today (01 August).

The three hens have visited the back yard once or twice in the last month but we have not seen the cockerel for ages. Maureen puts out some food for the wild birds although most of the vegetable peelings etc go into the compost heap. The dish used to hold the bird's food is just outside the kitchen window and it is delightful to watch the small birds fluttering their wings as they anxiously await their parent's selection being pushed into their beak. However, we are being troubled by what we have termed "Cyril". Cyril is a starling who is an eternal Oliver Twist, is perpetually hungry and is always making a noise. Cyril's poor parents stuff an unending procession of food down his throat only for Cyril to shrilly ask for more as soon as he can breath after swallowing. There may be more than one Cyril (it certainly sounds like it at times) but whenever we hear a raucous cackle in the backyard we just look at each other and say "Cyril again!".

Rocky is still awaiting his summer shearing but looks fit and well. Now that the schools are on holiday and there are several holiday-makers in the area he gets lots of visitors, something he appears to thoroughly enjoy. Rocky is accustomed to and unafraid of dogs because one of the local inhabitants walks his German Shepherd dogs every day and always stops for a word with Rocky whilst his dogs put their heads through Rocky's gate and happily pant and drool after their exercise.

In the fields around the road on the way to Olivebank it looks as though the silage- and hay-making are almost complete. There are a few potato fields and they look healthy. Maureen's strawberry patch is doing well but the fruit are slow to ripen so I have taken to gathering the larger fruits and bringing them into the kitchen so that Maureen can place them in the window to ripen.

We are trying to rectify the distorted idea of life on these islands that some of our friends appear to have. We are sometimes asked questions such as "Do you have electricity?", "Do you have a radio?", "Do you have a television set?" and "Is your TV in colour". Some friends appear to think that we are so remote that if we need anything we have to order it months in advance. That this is incorrect is shown by a incident when I was painting a bedroom and ran short of paint on Sunday afternoon. On Monday I called into Olivebank and asked them to order two litres of the paint; the paint was waiting for me when I called into Olivebank on Friday afternoon having arrived on the late evening ferry on Thursday.

I played for the RC chapel last Sunday (25 July) for the first time in several weeks. Most of the monks from Papa Stronsay have been away for the summer - no, not on their holidays but on missionary work prior to returning "home" for the contemplative part of their work. The regular kirk organist was on holiday on 18 July so I was asked to deputise for her. The kirk secretary assures me that the small size of the congregation on that Sunday was due to the holiday season and not because they had heard that I was due to play the organ.

Maureen and I went to Kirkwall last Tuesday (27 July). The outward journey was dull as a heavy mist prevented us from seeing very much. However, on the return journey the sea was as smooth as the proverbial millpond and the sky clear blue. We were delighted when we saw a common seal raise its nose just a few feet away from the boat but were not so delighted when we saw quite a few very large jellyfish in one area.

This week ended with me carrying out the pre-winter work on our drains and gutters - a vital task but not a terribly exciting or pleasant one.

Last updated 02 August 2004