1st December – Orkney’s hi-tech experimental mail drone met a watery end yesterday as the machine fell from the sky into the sea, where it promptly sank. I think it unlikely that it can be retrieved.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0j29yy4yp3o
2nd December – Another Peace Vigil at St Magnus’ Cathedral, attended by the LibDem MP for Orkney and Shetland, Alistair Carmichael. Might be worth watching this peedie video from The Orkney News.
3rd December – The days are very short now and we are still three weeks away from the shortest. This photo of the harbour was taken around 4pm. The harbour lights must seem very inviting to ships arriving on stormy nights.
The dark evenings and the calm sea always enhance the moonrise light. One of my favourite scenes, moonlight on water.
8th December – We visited the Christmas Exhibition at the Pier Art Centre today. As usual there is a lot of great art on display, clearly a lot of talented people in Orkney. I was particularly impressed by this, rather more prosaic piece by Joanne Holdinga.
Clever stitching shows a blank image when viewed face-on but viewed from an angle it shows the Orcadian phrases “Whit like the day” and “Beuybeuy”.
Well it amused me anyway.
16th December – An horrendous morning here, really strong wind and heavy rain. H and I got soaked on the first half of our vigil but it cleared up enough to venture from the shelter of the cathedral to take a photo.
The weather reduced the turnout but, as this is week six and the weather is awful, it’s pretty good.
19th December – Had some errands to do in Stromness this afternoon, it was nice to see some of the Christmassy windows and shops lit up. This is looking up Victoria Street towards Argo’s Bakery, we were lucky to catch a lull in the shopping crowds to get this photo!
Victoria Street rivals Regent Street in London for its bright lights and the Christmas gaeity.
Further along, in Graham Place, the Northlight Gallery always provides festive windows with their collection of Santa’s.
23rd December – Here we are again, sadly no progress of note being made in Gaza, so the vigils are being continued. Despite the driving sleet there is another good turnout in front of the cathedral. H is well wrapped up but really felt the cold today.
This sleet was falling as snow between Kirkwall and Stenness and the road was quite tricky. However there was no snow to be seen in Stromness and the cloud is too low to see if Hoy is white.
28th December – St Magnus Cathedral during a lull in the storms.
We had an appointment at the Balfour, so we took advantage of the trip to have a look around Kirkwall with it’s Christmas lights.
Scapa Views 
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