This will be the last Fletcher Saga for 2007. Maureen and myself (not forgetting Surrey, our white cat) hope that all of our readers have a pleasant Christmas and a very happy and healthy New Year. I'd also like to thank the patient readers who have sent emails and/or comments on my ramblings. Any feedback, be it brickbats or bouquets, is always very welcome.

The 11 am service at Stronsay's kirk on 15 December was rather different. The congregation was invited to follow the children between the kirk to the church hall as they re-enacted the story of the Nativity, complete with costumes and very realistic "props". I didn't see all of the performance as I was busy preparing for each hymn but Maureen tells me that the costumes were very good indeed and that there was a rather splendid camel. The "guiding star", affixed to the top of a very long pole, entered the kirk via the main door and was passed, hand to hand, through the congregation and followed by the shepherds and the magi. As the offertory was taken at the same time people had the tricky task of passing on the "star" whilst simultaneously getting their collection money out of their pocket, handbag or wallet. The shepherd's "fire" was simple (a red electric light bulb under some foliage) but very realistic; one young shepherd had to resort to a bit of improvisation when he went to stamp out the "fire" before setting out to follow the star because there was a slight lack of synchronisation between his actions and the person responsible for turning off the red bulb.

The air ambulance for the Northern Isles used to be provided by Loganair's fixed-wing aircraft from Kirkwall, the same aircraft and crews that provide the regular daily ferry service. However, the air ambulance for the last year or two has been a helicopter which has to travel up from Inverness.This, it was claimed, is a more effective and efficient use of resources. There have been concerns that the service is not as good as it used to be so a petition was drawn up and signed by most households in the Inner and Outer Isles. It was handed to the new chairman of the Scottish Ambulance Service early Dec who has promised to pay a visit to Orkney in the New Year to discuss the concerns.

We were delighted that an agreement was been reached in December on the pay award for the crews of Orkney Ferries. It would have been dreadful to have the refit timetable commencing in January whilst still being subject to the uncertainties caused by the work to rule.

I took the car into Kirkwall for servicing a couple of weeks ago and, having some spare time, went into the Kirkwall Library's excellent and comprehensive archive to look up our house in the the valuation rolls. Claremont was built by Peter Lennie in 1914 as a "shop and house" becoming a "shop, house and bakehouse" in 1926. The name Claremont did not appear in the rolls until 1931 when it was owned by Peter Reid in 1925-39 and his widow, Robina, in 1939-46. In 1946 it became a "house and garden" owned by Mrs Elizabeth H Swanney and in 1957 has a garage that was run as a seperate entity by "Sydney Swanney, motor engineer". Unfortunately the valuation rolls are no longer useful after 1990 because they only show commercial property. When we were talking to Jimmy Allan, the builder, about the history of Claremont and the recent history of Stronsay Jimmy told us that a few years after WW2 he was a youngster living in the south of Stronsay; for him a visit to Whitehall village, only 4 or 5 miles away, was a rare event undertaken once or twice a year at most, and the journey was made in a horse and cart. How times change.

The new doors and windows for Maureen's "medieval" hall arrived a couple of weeks ago and Jimmy Allan is in the middle of fitting them. The wallpaper has arrived but we won't be able to have a Grand Christmas Opening as the wallpaper still to be hung and painted when Jimmy has finished work on the doors and windows. And we still have to order the paint and a new carpet.

We were quite concerned when the phone rang at 10:30 pm on 10 Dec. Phone calls at that time of day tend to convey bad news and the call was from Sue, Stronsay's postmistress, who lives with her mother. We were relieved to find that the phone call was not bad news but merely Sue letting us know that the Merry Dancers (Aurora Borealis) were clearly visible over Sanday. We went outside to view the display which was easily visible in a crystal-clear, moonless sky. However, we didn't think that it was quite as dramatic as some previous displays that we've seen.

Tim Barthorpe who lives in Stromness has a "cat cam" on his website at http://www.barthorpe.me.uk/html/catcam.htm but I am quite sure that Surrey, our white cat, will be not be getting her very own webcam from Santa Claus this year. Although Surrey has an extensive collection of toys she has spent the last week or two ignoring them all and has spent most of her time playing with a old, scrunched-up piece of aluminium cooking foil. Now that Surrey has lost a bit of weight Maureen has noticed that Surrey's legs are somewhat "wrinkled" - perhaps we'll have to nickname her Nora after the character in "Last of the Summer Wine".

Last updated 17 December 2007