Dr George McKay, the island's doctor, took over the practice from Dr Jon Buchan on 01 Feb this year. Dr McKay held an open meeting on Wed 23 Feb to acquire feedback from the islanders. During the well-attended meeting it became apparent that we need another doctor (officially an "Associate Doctor") so that Dr McKay can take some time off - he is on duty 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. So, please ask around and if you know of any doctor (male or female) who would like to share Dr McKay's duties (even if its only for a few weeks at a time) please let me know by sending me an email (to 'ricardian' at 'btinternet.com') or by phoning Dr McKay direct on 01857 616321. It is a wonderful opportunity for a doctor who fancies trying their hand at a single-handed medical practice and/or sampling the island life for a few weeks - and there are less than 400 patients on the island!

Still on medical matters, the Health Board has provided the island's nurses with an 'official' car. It is not a brand-new car and it appears that the Health Board expects the nurses to perform routine maintenance on the car, as there is no garage on the island. These routine inspections are not confined to the usual daily check of petrol, oil and water levels but include periodic under-car checks of the condition of brake-pipes etc. It does seem a bit much to expect our nurses to crawl under the car at regular intervals especially when the checks have to be carried out in the open. Even the Royal Air Force of 30 years ago did not expect me to do more than daily and weekly checks of petrol, oil and water levels on a Land Rover; in fact I would have been in trouble had I attempted to do more than that. I may be getting old and cynical but it seems to me that the requirement to inspect the underside of the car is there to protect the Health Board rather than the nurses, if the car really does need checking so regularly then it seems sensible to either return it to the mainland for a day and let a garage carry out the under-car checks or send a qualified mechanic out to the island to carry out the checks.

Surrey, our white cat, is now five months old. One day we noticed that she was sitting in her favourite spot on the kitchen windowsill but her back was arched and her ears were flat against her skull. We soon found out why - one of the local cats, a huge fluffy thing, was sat on the external windowsill and was peering into the kitchen. When the local cat made a sudden move Surrey backed off in fright and fell off the window-sill causing the local cat to make a speedy exit, particularly when Maureen gave it a good verbal telling off. A couple of weeks later another cat tried the same thing but Surrey was so busy chasing one of her toys around the kitchen that she failed to notice the cat before Maureen sent it off with a verbal flea in its ear.

The last week or two have been very cold and we have had frequent showers of sleet, hair and snow. However, the snow on the ground has not lasted for any length of time. A friend of ours has just spent a week in Norfolk (in the East of England) where she found it to be bitterly cold, the locals all assumed that she was "used to this kind of weather" and were surprised when she said that she certainly was not and was used to much milder weather in Orkney. And when she got off the aircraft in Kirkwall on her return she found the air felt (and smelt) so much fresher.

We have just heard that Rev Alison Finch, Rector of Kirkwall (and the rest of Orkney) is moving to a new post in Colchester, England at the end of April because the diocese of Aberdeen & Orkney and the Vestry have decided it is not viable to keep a stipendiary Rector in Orkney. It is such a pity because Alison had begun to visit the Northern Isles on a regular basis, we do hope that the Non Stipendiary Ministers from mainland Orkney will be able to carry on where Alison had to leave off.

Last updated 05 March 2005