8th July

A sad day for us all, H’s father, Ron, passed away in Kettering General Hospital this evening.

Ron was a man of many talents, a great bowler, watercolourist and model railway enthusiast. The latter fuelling his love for steam trains (the real thing). Before his health deteriorated he enjoyed the great outdoors and did a lot of walking combined with a bit of bird spotting. His binoculars and Ordnance Survey map were always close to hand.

Ron will be greatly missed by his four children, four grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

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10th July – With H travelling south to be with her Dad, I’ve been left to my own devices. Did a bit of walking up around Birsay this afternoon and bumped into this pair enjoying some quiet time.

11th June – We had a couple of tickets to see Jack Dee in Kirkwall this evening but, for obvious reasons, H was unable to go. Rather than waste the ticket, I took Jeanne Rose. Although unfamiliar with the comedian, she enjoyed the evening. Coincidentally, sitting behind us was Rev. Tom Miller, another ex pat American, who knew Jack Dee from I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, the Radio 4 panel show. A very funny show, I think Jack’s dour persona appeals to the Scots sense of humour.

21st July – The 2019 Shopping Week Hack rode past the house this afternoon. Shopping Week is an annual carnival held in Stromness, there are various events throughout the week and it culminates on Saturday with music, dancing and fireworks at the pierhead.

23rd July – The Museum’s new website has been launched today. I think it looks pretty good. Congratulations to the Collections Development Team for their hard work.

https://www.stromnessmuseum.org.uk/

Once the Scrabster ferry arrived this evening, it was time for the Shopping Week Raft Race. A series of teams build their rafts on various themes, this year we saw Vikings, Mexicans, OAPs amongst others.

It’s a long course from the south end slipway up to the harbour and the field is soon spread out. We get a great view of the proceedings from the house.

24th July – Recreational diving is big business in Stromness, so I thought I’d give it a go.

The Shopping Week fun always includes a scarecrow competition, these are a few examples from around the town.

25th July – The Museum had a surprise royal visitor today. The Stromness Shopping Week Queen arrived with her entourage this afternoon.

They do a lot of good work throughout a busy week, today they were en route to deliver some fruit and choccies to the residents of a sheltered housing complex.

31st July – Just dropped H’s brother, Colin, off at the airport. He came up last Friday and had a little break with us. The weather was pretty good, except for a bit of fog this morning. I think he enjoyed himself ( we certainly did ). We spent the week sightseeing and enjoying the local produce, as the Stromness bottle bank will testify!

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The only clouds on the week were the lack of puffins and Loganair’s poor performance on both northbound and southbound flights.

Go to August 2019

5th June – Took the ferry over to Thurso this morning to meet up with cousin Jane and her family. The day started rather drizzly but brightened up through the afternoon. We did a tour along the north coast, taking in Dunnet Head, the Castle of Mey and (of course) John O’ Groats.

8th June – Saturday evening in Stromness Town Hall and we were entertained by the Budapest Cafe Orchestra from Haringey ( geddit? Haringey/Hungary! ).

We’ve seen these guys a few times now and they never fail to entertain. Their mixture of traditional folk and gypsy music is always delivered with great style and panache.

11th June – A cultural evening for H and her friends Kate and Cary. They went to see a performance of the ballet, Romeo and Juliet, broadcast live from the Royal Opera House. I’m told it was excellent. If only I could’ve gone too….!

13th June – Just been to see a terrifically quirky Icelandic film, “Woman at War”. We both thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.

14th June – H took tonights ferry to Aberdeen, en route to see her Dad in Kettering. She booked one of the sleeping pods for the overnighter but didn’t find it very comfortable.

18th June – Still discovering what’s in the garden here. I thought this was an ornamental grass, then it produced lots of white flowers. After a bit of research, I found it’s called New Zealand Satin Flower (Libertia Grandiflora). It seems very hardy and salt tolerant and I’m now seeing it in many gardens.

20th June – A very busy day in Stromness Museum. On the eve of the anniversary of the German scuttling, we had two TV news teams in to film some of our exhibits, one from ARD in Germany and the other from the BBC.

Stromness is buzzing and the town is packed with visitors. It’s so busy that the ARD crew could only get accomodation in a caravan!

21st June – Today marks the 100th anniversary of the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow. At the end of the First World War seventy four German warships were interned in Scapa Flow awaiting the resolution of the Treaty of Versailles.

Not wanting his ships shared amongst the allies as spoils of war, at 10:00am on this day in 1919, the German admiral in charge ordered the entire fleet to be scuttled. Out of the 74 ships interned, 52 went to the bottom, 22 were beached and divided amongst the allied navies. The majority were susequently salvaged but seven remain and are visited by recreational divers.

Go to July 2019

4th May – H spent the morning at the local supermarket, manning a table for the Red Cross. Raising funds and awareness of the services that the Red Cross provide locally. It’s not all overseas emergencies and disasters but includes comfort and support nearer home. That reminds me, we need loo roll!

On the way home we popped into the Northlight to see the latest exhibition by Ralph Robinson. Entitled The Anthropocene and the Orkney Diner Scene, it is a thought provoking display, assembled using items salvaged from derelict buildings and an old army midden.

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5th May – After a visit to the Fernvalley Wildlife Centre we went puffin spotting at Birsay this afternoon. Didn’t see any puffins but there were plenty of razorbills. This pair heading out to sea, just feet above the crashing waves, completely unfazed by the turbulent waters below.

10th May – The first cruise ship of the 2019 season to visit Stromness. Hanseatic Nature lying at anchor in Cairston Roads, just behind the Outer Holm. The visitors are transferred into the town using the ships tenders. Unfortunately there was a fleet of buses waiting to take the passengers to see the sights around the island and the the town didn’t get much business from them.

14th May – 21⁰ here today, a lovely day. We were in Kirkwall this morning buying paint for the kitchen. Afternoon saw the usual stroll around the Ness Point, there’s a lot of visitors about now, all enjoying the weather.

It’s warm enough now to encourage some daring water sports including this surfboard water skiing.

The Museums and Galleries of Scotland held a reception this evening at the Parliament in Edinburgh. Stromness Museum was well represented, this is a pic of our team, Norna, Janette (our Curator) and Katy with our Scapa 100 display. Katy is holding the VR headset which gives an amazing underwater experience.

15th May – A regular visitor to Stromness, the Dutch ketch Tecla does cruises around northern waters, sailing as far as Greenland.

17th May – Happy Norway Constitution Day! Orkney celebates the day to mark the historic ties with Norway, which are reflected in the Orcadian flag.

18th May – After a week of cloudless skies, it’s a bit overcast today. The local sailing club are undeterred and are out in force. It’s a busy harbour this morning with their dinghies, the Graemsay ferry and Hanseatic Nature back for a second visit.

19th May – A pod of Risso’s Dolphins at Birsay this afternoon. The pic is a bit blurry, I think the camera focussed on the ruins of the Earl’s Palace in the background. Today was the 2019 Orkney Nature Cruise, the ferry MV Hamnavoe took us up the west coast to Rousay and back again. A nice afternoon all round.

23th May – The first day of the 37th Orkney Folk Festival. Six concerts were held around the Stromness area this evening, with over twenty acts performing. We went to the concert at Sandwick, to see four of the bands, headlined by the excellent Còig from Nova Scotia.

25th May -Muriel and Leo are visiting us. It’s a grey day so we stayed in Stromness and looked around the town, taking in the Museum and the Pier Art Centre. In the evening, after dinner at the Hamnavoe, we went to the Folk Festival concert in the Town Hall. Local bands Banyan and Gnoss were on great form, as were headliners, Irish band, Four Men and a Dog.

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26th May – Headed down through the South Isles today. Calling in at the Italian Chapel. Just so happened that, as we were there, The Peter Wood Shetland Dance Band arrived and played a couple of tunes in the Chapel. A stroke of luck for us. H and I saw the band on Thursday but it was a bonus for Muriel and Leo.

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After that it was down to the tip of South Ronaldsay and an excellent seafood lunch at the Skerries Bistro.

27th May – Into Kirkwall today to look around the town and the Cathedral. In the evening we went for a meal at the Foveran, a really nice restaurant with views out over Scapa Bay.

28th May – Early start for Muriel and Leo, check in at Kirkwall at 10:00am for the flight to Edinburgh and then onward to Stansted. I think the visit was a success.

After a quiet afternoon, we went to see the comedian, Phil Jupitus, in Stromness Town Hall. We managed to get front row seats, which comes with its own perils, i.e. having to have a selfie with the man himself!

31st May – The Museum team received dementia training a few weeks ago. I forgot to post the photo! No, actually, it just appeared on Twitter today, so I thought I would post it here.

Go to June 2019

6th April – Today sees the opening of the Museum’s new summer exhibition. 2019 marks the centenary of the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow and the museum is displaying items salvaged from the ships. For this exhibition many of the pieces have been loaned from private individuals and may never be brought together again.

Over time the wrecks have become home to a myriad of sea creatures and the second part of the exhibition shows examples of the rare and unusual sea life that now flourishes on these rusting reefs.

I’m on duty tomorrow for the first Sunday opening of the season.

10th April – There’s nothing worse than ordering the crab for lunch and some hooligans arrive and try and pinch it from you.

This little drama played out in front of the house and lasted some time.

16th April – Just found this letter posted on the internet. It’s from George Mackay Brown to the writer, Ernest Marwick. It appears that in 1946, GMB was living at 6 Well Park.

19th April – A glorious day, it’s been dry for about a week. As the roads are gridlocked with Easter traffic, what better than getting out and painting the shed.

It has now been refelted and given a new coat of paint, so it should survive another winter.

20th April – Hurray! Our tickets for the Folk Festival have arrived. Really looking forward to it this year, especially as Muriel and Leo will coming to one of the shows.

28th April -A first for me and H, a pair of Red Throated Divers passing by the house this afternoon. It’s unusual to see them in the harbour here.

Go to May 2019

8th March – Following her visit to Orkney last May, Susan Calman’s programme, Secret Scotland, finally made it to our screens. Here she is at Stromness Museum, being shown a neolithic figurine by one of our Trustees, Antonia Thomas. (See May 2018 post)

14th March – H spends Thursday afternoons with a group of ladies doing their own craft things. This “hooky” rug was made for us by H’s friend Jackie. Very comfortable under the toes!

16th March – An evening at the Picky with Jason Manford. A packed hall enjoyed a very funny gig. These comedians have a hectic schedule: Friday – Kendal, Saturday – Kirkwall, Sunday – Lerwick. Definitely worth seeing if you get a chance.

18th March – A beautiful day here. The daffodils are out and the boats entering the harbour run the gauntlet of The Cannon.

23rd March – Apparently Mute Swans frequent sheltered sea coasts, I always assumed they preferred fresh water. This pair have been paddling around the harbour for several weeks now.

Go to April 2019

1st February – Whiteout! Lost sight of the harbour. This is probably the heaviest snowfall we’ve had since coming here. It has turned a bit slushy on the roads but looks nice on the high ground.

2nd February – Let winter do it’s worst, we have the technology to overcome it’s icy onslaught!

3rd February – The winter brings a large scale invasion in the shape of hundreds of Greylag geese. The, normally, clear fields provide fodder for them but they can do a lot of damage to the emerging shoots of the cereal crops.

H has spent the weekend attending a stone cutting course in Kirkwall. Run by an artist from Westray, the students are taught the techniques to produce relief carvings. This is the class and below is Helen’s Shag with Outstretched Wings. 

5th February – Enjoyed a beautiful golden sunrise this morning. As the year progresses the sunrise gets earlier and earlier, so we have to make the most of them while we can.

8th February – Went to see the Deerness Drama Group’s production of Swallows and Amazons.

We all thoroughly enjoyed it (Jeanne Rose came along too). An imaginative production and true to the book, it’s not easy to enact a story set in boats, on a lake, in a community hall! With some catchy songs thrown in, it was great fun. Congratulations to all involved.

19th February – You can spend a fortune on binoculars but the best thing for spotting wildlife is a labrador.

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….and there is something about this pic that makes me think about Eric Cantona and sardines….!

20th February – The super moon has produced some exceptionally tides in Stromness. Over six hours between low and high tides, the sea rises 3.8m.

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Fortunately the weather was fine and we didn’t have any surges causing flooding. Even so, the cottage at the upper right had water lapping at its wall. The pics below are looking back towards Well Park.

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24th February – Last night we went to see Harry Dean Stanton’s last film, “Lucky”, at the West Side Cinema. A beautiful and very poignant portrayal of old age. Well worth seeing.

This afternoon we went for a run out to the beach at Evie, looked for groatie buckies but no luck. En route we passed this cottage in Sandwick with an impressive mural of Kirkwall on its side. Apparently it was created by the Australian artist Guido Van Helten.

Go to March 2019

1st January – Had a quiet Hogmanay, woke to a nice but cold 2019. Usual walk around Ness Point, the sun is still low at midday, this pic was taken about 1pm. Looking to the Hoy Low lighthouse on Graemsay, with the Hoy hills in the background.

9th January – Although Stromness Museum is closed from the 21st December until 5th February, there are still little jobs to be done. The museum sits on one of the old piers and the sea damp penetrates the building. To combat this, a number of dehumidifiers are installed throughout the building, I try to go in every two or three days and empty them.

It doesn’t take long but gives an opportunity to see the exhibits in peace and quiet!

23rd January – A bit more snow this morning but nothing much at ground level. A bit of warmth this afternoon will probably clear it.

29th January – Snow overnight has made the roads a bit tricky. This is the main Stromness to Kirkwall road this morning. We decided to cancel our shopping trip after a Vauxhall Vectra spun across the road in front of us.

31st January – We had a bit of an aurora tonight. Not very bright but a bonus getting a clear sky.

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Go to February 2019

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December 2019

1st December – The Pier Arts Centre, in Stromness, hosts an annual winter exhibition, giving local artists and crafts people an opportunity to showcase their work. These are two of the seven galleries being used.

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We’re like kiddies in a sweet shop and it takes a lot of discipline not to spend loads of money!

4th December – Woke up this morning to the first signs of snow of the season. Just a light dusting on the hills of Hoy.

There are still a lot of seal pups around, this one was having a snoozy morning in the sunshine. It might be the same one we saw at this location in October.

8th December – Jeanne Rose has opened an exhibition, Vanishing Points, in the Orkney Museum, Kirkwall. Jeanne was artist in residence at the Ness of Brodgar this year and these works were inspired by her time there. She was also allowed to borrow some of the artefacts from the dig which set off her work nicely.

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9th December – It’s always nice to look out of the window and see a little face watching you.

15th December – Uh-oh, Storm Deirdre is bringing the worst combination for Stromness, 60mph winds from the southeast. Churchill Barriers closed, all ferries cancelled, no newspapers today! We will catch this square in the face. Time to batten down the hatches!

21st December – Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, which is a pity because it is a beautiful day today.

Near Stromness is the neolithic tomb of Maeshowe, built some 5000 years ago, it is one of the largest such tombs in Europe. On the winter solstice, the rising sun shines directly down the entrance passage, leading to speculation about the astronomical significance of such places.

And after a beautiful sunny day, a beautiful moony evening.

23rd December – Kirkwall braces itself for the Ba. The Ba is an event held on Christmas day and again on New Year’s Day. Basically it is a cross between a riot and, well, another riot. There can be as many as 350 big, burly men taking part, it’s not for the faint hearted. They are divided into two teams, “Uppies” and “Doonies”, the object being to get the “ba” up to the top of the town or down and into the harbour.
Shops and houses barricade their doors and windows to prevent players being pushed through.

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There are four games each year, two for the men and two for boys, and a specially crafted leather ball is made for each. This is awarded to the best player, as judged by the other participants, and is highly prized.

25th December – Sunrise on Christmas Day – Happy Christmas everybody!

31st December – The annual Stromness Yule Log Pull sees a junior event this year for the first time. The Soothend Juniors won this inaugural event in a contest that was more closely fought than last year’s Seniors. The youngsters have a shorter course and pull a 200kg log as opposed to the 400kg tree trunk that the seniors use but an entertaining contest nonetheless.

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Happy New Year to all.

Bliadhna Mhath Ùr !

Go to January 2019

3rd November – An early start for H at Peterborough station. Catching the Edinburgh train and on to Aberdeen. The ferry was delayed due to weather but arrived in Kirkwall at 23:20, only 20 minutes late, after a smooth crossing.

Thanks to Colin and Gilly for the providing the taxi sevices.

8th November – A poignant reminder of those that never returned from the wars. This “invisible” man is sitting by the cannon on Ness Road, gazing out across Scapa Flow.

9th November – Popped into the Kirkwall Mart this afternoon to see the Cage Bird Society show. Mostly farm birds on show but we were impressed by this handsome white Wyandotte cockerel and a …errm…duck.

12th November – We’ve had a couple of lovely days now, hopefully November will be a bit more settled than October. It’s getting dark early now but this was around 3.30pm looking towards Hoy.

14th November – Out on the walk this morning, watched a pair of hooded crows flying up and dropping whelks on to the rocks, took this pic with the shell being dropped and then noticed a seal had popped up in the background.

17th November – The museum’s winter exhibition opens today. One of the exhibits features artefacts discovered at the Ness of Brodgar. Amongst the items on display is this selection of stone axe heads. At over 5,000 years old, they show great craftsmanship.

21st November – Went to the Merkister Hotel in Harray for lunch with our former neighbour Cati. Our last chance before Cati heads off to California for Christmas and to avoid winter in Orkney.

A lovely setting, good company and very good grub. The Merkister Hotel was once the home of the writer Eric Linklater.

23rd November – H took this atmospheric shot looking down the twisty South End.

24th November – Windwick, South Ronaldsay, a good place to see seal mums gathered together with their youngsters.

 

 

27th November – Had to take the car over to Kirkwall this morning to have some work done. Got the X1 bus back (free with the travel card!) – managed to find a seat OK.

Go to December 2018