November 2024

1st November – With the storm clouds passing, the evening light on Hoy can be truly magical.

We’ve had some strong winds lately, and a lot of rain but the forecast is reasonable for the next week, so might be able to get some Shorewatches done. Having just passed 2000, I’m keen to keep the momentum going.

13th November – H and I took a stroll along to Stromness Museum this afternoon. It was good to see the old team working away, preparing the winter exhibition on the theme of seaweed.
There have been a lot of changes since my time there and the place looks good.

Amongst the new artefacts on show are these Malagan funerary carvings from Papua New Guinea. They were presented to Kirkwall Museum in 1928 by John Muir, a merchant seaman from North Ronaldsay.

Some things never change though, and poor old John Rae is still paddling across an Arctic river using a tin plate.

14th November – A large fire lit up Stromness harbour this evening. A shed adjacent to the Pole Star pier was engulfed in flames and the fire was so intense that nearby windows were blown out.

Some residents were evacuated and other homes were advised to keep their windows closed. This incident is almost next door to Gray’s Noust, so that would have been a worrying time for us.

18th November – First flurry of snow this season, it’s cold but still sunny enough to charge the car.

19th November – This excellent painting hangs in Stromness Library. Stromness Books and Prints is the tiny bookshop in Stromness that was run for many years by Tam McPhail, more in the way of philanthropy rather than a profit making exercise.

The following is from the Library description. “The Bookseller of Stromness combines a portrait of Tam McPhail, of Stromness Books and Prints, with a surrealistic tapestry of literary achievements. Orkney has a thriving literary and cultural life, which stems from the creativity of local authors.

Many of the books whose covers are shown are instantly recognisable as being written by Orcadians, about Orkney or have some other Orkney connection.

It is a painting about connections, and in a small community such as Stromness, connections are the lifeblood of the town, giving a sense of belonging and weaving people and place together.

The painting was purchased for Stromness with aid from The Art Fund and the National Fund for Acquisitions.”