September 2019

2nd September – Enjoyed a visit from this beautifully marked wheatear in the garden this evening. They’ll be heading back to Africa soon.

11th September – Just back from a long weekend trip to Kettering. H’s family gathered to celebrate the life of her Dad, Ron.

We caught the midnight boat to Aberdeen on Friday and with a comfy cabin, we arrived refreshed, early Saturday. After a nice breakfast on the boat we headed south, over the new Queensferry Crossing, and had a good run to Kettering.

On the Sunday we had the celebration and it was nice to see all the family together, many of whom I’d never met and some that even H had never met! Below, H, Simon, Gilly and Colin had a chance to spend some time together.

Monday morning saw us popping down to Rushden Lakes shopping centre. H taking advantage of the chance to visit M&S.

Then we headed off to the M6 for the journey north. It all went downhill from then. It took us seven hours to get to our Travelodge at Lancaster. Four of those getting from J19 to J21 !!! Never again.

On Tuesday we arrived in Aberdeen in plenty of time for the ferry, so we had a look round the Union Square Shopping Centre. Although there is an M&S here, there are some proper shops too.

Back home at 11pm on Tuesday night. A busy few days for us. And a big thank you to Fran and Jeanne for looking after Monty!

21st September – A glorious weekend here. A perfect day for a round of golf under a cloudless sky.

This must be one of the last swallows in Stromness, grabbing a few flies before heading south for the winter.

23rd September – We had a VIP visitor to the Museum this morning, Fiona Hyslop is the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs at the Scottish parliament.

Here she is hearing about the sinking of the Royal Oak, in Scapa Flow, in 1939.

She is in Orkney launching Scotland’s Arctic Policy Framework at a gathering with our Nordic neighbours.

26th September – Went to the Picky this evening to see the National Theatres Encore broadcast of One Man, Two Guvnors. We saw it in 2011 but it is just as funny second time around.

27th September – Acting as a tour guide today. Jeanne Rose had invited a group of artists from Woodstock, NY, over to Orkney and I was asked to take some of them around the island.

Apart from one sharp shower, we had a nice day and covered a lot of ground. The tour included Maeshowe, Birsay and St Magnus’ Cathedral.

28th September – Very pleased with work that our local handyman, Mirek, did in constructing the top half of our kitchen dresser. Has achieved a really good match with the bottom unit.

Go to October 2019