Buzz, buzz, buzz

Yes, you have  my permission to groan because the title does indeed refer to the fact that of late I have been a busy little bee. Well busy in terms of a) living on a small island and b) recovering from a broken ankle and the flu simultaneously.

 

On Tuesday I went to the dentist and the physiotherapist which was a bit too medicall-y in prospect but all was well with both teeth and ankle. Well I say that but the physio was a bit disappointed that I hadn't taken the plunge and left off wearing the ankle support. And here was me thinking how wonderful it was that I had gone from two crutches to one to none! I said I was a bit scared of leaving off the support but apparently It Was Time. So now I have and although I live in almsot constant dread of feeling it 'go' and consequesntly falling to the floor, the physio's assertion that it really wouldn't do that Anne seems to be correct. When I told her that first thing in the morning I walk like a penguin, on acount of my ankle not wanting to flex she said breezily 'oh, you'll be doing that for months'. Which at least stops me worrying about the prospect that it will stay like that for ever. I think.

 

On Thursday morning a couple of friends and I took a jaunt to a local - ish coffee shop.I wish I'd taken a photo, because then I could have proved what a lovely day it was. For three days in a row this week while the rest of the UK lived with amber snow warnings and gradually ground to a halt on account of the white stuff falling out of the sky, we had sunshine, blue skies and blue seas. Before you go too green with envy though it was also very very cold and windy.

 

Orkney has lots of lovely coffee shops, as well as a few of the other variety,but the ones that aren't in either Kirkwall or Stromness, our two towns, tend to close over the winter. Which is understandable but a pain. However the Hoxa Head Tearoom, which only opened this summer has bucked the trend by opening five days a week over the winter season, and I hope it has been worth their while because it's nice to have somewhere to go that doesn't involve a 15 mile drive into Kirkwall. This place was purpose built so has huge windows overlooking the sea; it really is a wonderful view and the more I write about it the more I kick myself for not taking the camera. Next time....meanwhile back in the tearoom I was able to have a slice of coffee cake unadulterated by walnuts. Coffee cake without walnuts is one of my biggest reasons for going to Hoxa Head because everywhere else you go there is obviously an unwritten law that states Coffee Cake Must Contain Walnuts. I once had fresh walnuts and they were gorgeous but they bore little or no relation to the dry and bitter tasting things that pass for walnuts on supermarket shelves in the UK. It was good to have a catch up with G and R and somewhere out of our respective houses because we were all of us suffering a touch of cabin fever.

 

Thursday afternoon I did my e-resource training, a remarkable amount of which consisted of a discussion of computer games (I swear if my Ph D never gets done it will be because I spent too much time playing Caesar 3 and Farm Mania 2* ), but we did cover a lot of useful ground and I was introduced to some awesone and helpful stuff. Honestly, I'm starting to think I could do this whole thing without setting foot outside my study door, so comprehensive are the resources availabe on the web.

 

* If on the  other hand it never gets started that will be totally down to UHI admin who I did chase up about my Registration and from whom I have yet to receive a response.

 

On Saturday the OH dropped me off at the home of another friend. It was 2.30. After a very enjoyable time, friend dropped me back home.

'Where on earth have you been?' shrieked OH as I came through the door.

'It was Elaines' I said. You know I'm always ages at Elaines'.

'Yes' he responded 'but five hours? What on earth were you doing?'

'Talking'

'Talking? For five hours?'

'Yes' I said.' It was Elaines'.

 

What can I tell you? She and I could both talk for Scotland and we hadn't seen each other for a while.

 

In other news, my-make-a-sweater in a week didn't quite come off, mainly because progress slowed when I got to the sewing up stage, but I could have got it done if I'd been sterner with myself. It will definitely be ready by the weekend.