Not Quite the trip we were expecting ...

 

...or, the best laid plans etc etc

We were getting ready to drive over to Stromness on Sunday to spend the night on the boat, catch the early sailing and be in Strathpeffer, where the Opera Highlights was on, in time to have lunch on Monday with the lovely Lea, our emerging artist at Scottish Opera.  And then we had a message to say she was sorry but she had lost her voice and was being bundled back to Glasgow on the train by the tour manager so we couldn't meet and she would be missing the next two performance and maybe more. 

Oh dear! More for her than us, although we were disappointed on our own account as well. It was one of those times when, if you had had just 12 more hours notice you could have rejigged your plans totally, rather than continuing with the existing framework and wondering what to do with the huge hole that had just been blown in them. 

However, as I said, we had got be positive and make something of what we had rather than repine over what we didn't have, so that's what we did. Rather than stopping at Strathpeffer we carried on to Inverness where we did some 'nice' rather than 'necessary' shopping. So a new shirt and a jigsaw puzzle for me, a book each, half our younger grandson's birthday present and, after a bit of havering over a cup of coffee and a bun, a 'velvetiser' from Hotel Chocolat, which is   for making hot chocolate,   We've been havering about this for much longer than the time it takes to have a cup of coffee - several years in fact, and this was the occasion we cracked. Possibly something to do with the horrible winter weather we have had, which has meant  we have ben drinking more hot chocolate than usual, and possibly also something to do with the £30 off if you bought it and signed up for the loyalty scheme. 

Even with all the lovely shopping we still arrived in Strathpeffer somewhat before checking in time at the hotel, so we had a walk around the 'town' (it's a village really, it's tiny) and then walked part way up one of the hills to see the Pictish Eagle Stone.

Horseshoe on top, eagle below. Two things surprised me about this; one was how well preserved the carving was, and the other was the fact that it hadn't been nabbed long ago by the National Museum and stuffed away in one of its dungeons , sorry, storerooms. 

We'd had a great offer from the hotel which included dinner on our first night, which was very nice. A restricted menu, and we both accurately predicted the others choices for all three courses! And then it was time for bed because it had been a long day - not to mention that spending money makes me very tired indeed. 

 

A Grand Day Out.

 And totally unexpected too. 

The weather was lovely yesterday. A bit brisk and with the occasional short and gentle shower, but  in general the sun was shining, the sky was blue  and it was a day for being outside. Well some of the time. 

When I suggested to the OH that we go out he ran through our usual gamut of local walks but I said, No it's lovely why don;t we drive over to Birsay? So we did. 

On the way we saw three hares in a filed and a white rabbit with very short ears (which I think must have been an escaped pet) and we parked in Birsay village where the council recently provided a small car park, and walked along to the mainland end of the causeway over to the Brough. The tide was out and we could have gone over but we hadn't checked the times because we weren't really expecting them to be right, and we had no idea where it was in relation to its turn. We certainly didn't want to be trapped on the Brough - the weather wasn't that nice. We walked back  to the village where we saw, much to our surprise, a sign saying that what we persist in thinking of as Bob Nelson's tearoom, although Bob Nelson sold it many moons ago, was open. In Orkney, and in  February. A huge but welcome surprise. So we had lunch out. Readers with good memories may remember we were less than thrilled when we visited this place last summer, when scouting out a route for our American friends who were visiting for a day. Glad to say this was a much happier experience. I wouldn't go back in the summer when it will be totally rammed and very noisy, but at least at this time of the year there's nothing on the menu  threatening you with removal after 45 minutes. 

A few photos. 

We are catching the boat tonight to have a couple of days in the Highland Spa town of Strathpeffer, mainly to see Scottish Opera's Opera Highlights 2024 spring tour, but also to catch up with 'our' SO  emerging artist, the amazing Lea Shaw.  There seems to be plenty to do in the area if the weather is good; what we'll do if it rains is anyone's guess.

Charity Shop Rant

With apologies to a couple of people who will already have seen this on Facebook

Taking stuff to charity shops.

How it should go.

Us: we've got a couple of boxes of stuff for you here.

Them: oh thank you so much. By the way there isn't anything electrical in there is there? because we can't take that.

Us: no, nothing electrical. We know you can't take them.

Them: oh great. I have to ask. Anyway again, thank you

Us: it's our pleasure.

We leave feeling good. We have given away some nice things they can use to fundraise and we have cleared some space in the house.

How it actually went.

Us: we've got a couple of boxes of stuff for you here.

Them: (aggressively) Nothing electrical I hope. We can't take electrical stuff.

Us: No, nothing electrical. We know we can't bring you electrical things.

Them: Only we have to spend time sorting it out and then getting rid of it ourselves. It's a waste of our time.

Us: yes we know. It must be very frustrating. That's why we never bring electrical items to charity shops.

Them: X takes them. And possibly Y. But we don't.

Us: Well we don't have any. Shall we just put these boxes on your counter?

Them: oh well yes

We leave feeling irritated and that we've been got at for no good reason, and determined that, however handy this shop is for a car park, we will never darken its door again. Also, that a thank you wouldn't have gone amiss.

I haven't named the guilty premises on FB because it would upset some of my local FB friends. But it was the Salvation Army shop.

Shopping in Proper Shops

So here's my fairly modest haul from a morning's shopping in Glasgow. We only went to a couple of places in the West End; the Yarn Cake and the top end of Byres Road, we weren't anywhere near the centre of the city. But the top end of Byres Road is very nice, as far as the sort of shops I want to see goes. 

So in The Yarn Cake I bought a small bottle of Eucalan for washing hand knitted things and these -

which for anyone who doesn't know are crochet stitch markers. I got them because I was planning a large crochet project and knew these would be useful and I don't have any, never having been what you would call a prolific crocheter. I'm now on the verge of changing my mind about the project and knitting it instead, but we'll see. Meanwhile please note, I did not buy yarn. 

And the rest was books. In the excellent Oxfam bookshop I bought these:

and realised that in future if I want art books I should definitely burrow about in charity bookshops for them. Otherwise they are shockingly expensive. I have had a quick look through the Kahlo book and I know it's going to be a painful read. I am amazed by the fact that I never came across Susan Cooper and her The Dark is Rising books when I was younger; so many people have sung their praises to me in recent years that I couldn't resist this opportunity to buy them all in one volume for the princely sum of £3.99. And they will keep me going for a while once I get started on them, that's not a thin book! 

And in Waterstones I got these:

In Ascension is the Waterstone's February SciFi/Fantasy book of the month and I topped it up with the Clytemnestra so that I qualified for a stamp on my card. After less than stellar experiences with Jennifer Saint's Ariadne and the even less satisfactory Daughters of Sparta by Clare Heywood I was a bit leary of this but thought I would give it a go, especially as it was on the Buy 1 Get 1 Half Price table, as was In Ascension. Reports on all in due course. 

A Good Read

 

I get a lot of e-mails from Waterstones. This is because I have a loyalty card which is not very much use to me as my nearest branches are in Aberdeen or Inverness. If I ever go to Aberdeen I'm only ever swapping from ferry to train so I'm never near any shops and Inverness is where we refuel the car on our way south in an out of town place and again, nowhere near the Waterstones. On the other hand I do religiously visit Waterstones when I'm away and there are several branches in Glasgow, so it's worth keeping the card  and putting up with the e-mails.

Anyway a recent e-mail informed me that in addition to their monthly fiction, non-fiction and possibly crime/thriller(? you can see how much I focus on these things)  selections each month in 2024 they were going to be doing a Sci-Fi/Fantasy choice and I thought, because I am prone to such thoughts as anyone who has ever spent any time on these pages will know, wouldn't it be a good idea to buy that every month and acquaint myself with some authors I haven't previously encountered? My resolution wavered when I discovered that the January choice couldn't be mail ordered - what?????; you could just do a click and collect from your nearest branch. However I double checked with son no 2, who was more than willing to go and collect it for me so I ordered it and there it was, waiting for me in the flat on our recent trip to Glasgow. Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

I loved it. It has an original premise and some wonderful central characters and I am impatient to read  Book 2 which is now out and called Sunbringer. However as that is currently only available  in hardback and the paperback isn't due until January 2025 I will have to conserve my soul in patience.

Meanwhile I have the February choice and several other books bought on my recent trip to get stuck into. Of which more anon. 

Nature Pix

oops - I hit a wrong key there when I was typing in the heading. Good thing I caught it, or anyone clicking through for some 'mature' pictures would have been well disappointed. 

Scotland is beautiful and one small consolation about living in Orkney is that we get to drive most of its length on a regular basis. Not much consolation in the rain and the fog but more than wonderful if the sun is shining. With that in mind, here are a few photographs I took on our recent trip when the weather was kind in both directions. 

and that last one surely says that spring is on the way - hurrah! 

Half Marx

 

Did you see what I did there? It was literally half marks from us as we left at the interval. It was such a disappointment. Technically it was great; the singing was wonderful, the set was fun, the costumes were fine, everything was good, except the music, which was nice in places but didn't flow, and the plot was thin and silly. The production has had rave reviews and I can quite see why; it just wasn't our cup of tea. Seat prices being what they are these days I shall think twice before committing to anything so unknown to us again. It's not just the ticket prices but the travel, and of course all the general weather related worry about whether you will actually get away, and back, that makes the whole thing seem a bit of  an expensive drag. 

Not all bad though; we saw son no 2 who was well and enjoying his new job and I got to browse some real shops and buy a few bits and pieces. Mainly books, of which more anon. 

Just in time

 I finished another jigsaw puzzle. Put the last piece in this morning and we're off this evening, following our new habit of spending the night on the boat so that we can do the early sailing from Stromness without having to get up at the crack of dawn to drive over there in the morning. It's quite enjoyable really, the cabins are comfortable and there's a lounge with hot drinks, magazines and pastries. Last time of course they were having problems with the heating so that wasn't so very comfortable really but fingers crossed that won't happen again. "We dock on the other side of the Firth at 8.00 so you get the drive south off to a flying start. 

We have been so prepared for this that I am now at a loose end for the rest of the day until we leave. I have packed, I have changed the bed ready for  our return and I have even had a very thorough tidy out of the top drawer of my desk which has needed done these many years. I shall knit and read this afternoon and then we'll have an early tea and be off. 

Meanwhile here is the jigsaw 

The World of Hercule Poirot, which was a (requested) Christmas present from my sister.  It was a bit of a challenge as there's a lot of very dark brown and a lot of beigey/greigey stuff and lots of little details that your eye just doesn't take in when you first look at the picture. There are apparently 100 references to the Poirot books in it, all detailed on a poster and we shall enjoy playing the game of Spot the Reference when we get back. 

Meanwhile we're looking forward to a couple of days in Glasgow complete with a trip to the opera to see Scottish Opera's new production of Johnathan Dove's opera Marx in London. It's very modern having been written in 2018 (as far as I remember) but we loved the other Dove (Flight) SO did a few years ago  so I'm optimistic. Not looking forward to getting to and from the theatre as Glasgow has introduced a Low Emission Zone in the city centre. This means not taking the car in but catching the bus. Actually that's great for the wallet as it means no parking charges, and being old we get free bus travel throughout Scotland, but not so convenient, nor so warm, as taking the car. 

So off tonight and back on Sunday and hopefully with a few photos and things to write about. 

We Went Out!

 I haven't posted for  a while because due to  the truly appalling weather we've been more or less confined to the house except for  boring things like doctor's visits and supermarket shopping . Let me say here that I have not been unhappy spending time reading, knitting, and doing a little bit of light housework when the mood takes me, but it makes for boring blog posts. 

I thought yesterday would be more of the same but when we got up the sea and the sky were blue, the wind had dropped, and the sun was shining. So I suggested that we go out and do a long drive around the coast of West Mainland, and get out now and again for a short walk should we find somewhere that wasn't totally sogged. Uncharacteristically spontaneous of us I know. 

We decided to go clockwise so passed through Kirkwall then turned onto the road that goes along the south coast to Stromness. Very nice. And when we got to Stromness we got out and had a walk along the main street. It was a depressing experience. I know it's out of season but over half the shops were closed, as was the library and the Pier Arts centre. Even the goods in the Orkney Cats charity shop looed thoroughly depressed. 

We walked back and decided to partake of some hot chocolate and lemon drizzle cake from Julia's Shed before pressing on. Julia's use to be a very nice, if somewhat expensive cafe on the waterfront in Stromness. Julia has now sold it, possibly to someone called Albert as it seems to be known as Albert's now. Albert's was shut. Of Course. But Julia now has a shed next door (dating back to the  first lessening of Covid restrictions) where she does take away drinks and a limited selection of rolls and cakes, and a few seats outside where you can sit and watch the boats. So we did that - and it was very nice. However even as we sat there the temperature plummeted, the air grew very damp and some dark clouds started trolling towards us. We glugged down what was left of the hot chocolate, raced the rain to the car and came home. 

What is it the poet says about the best laid plans? But at least we had been out and had a bit of a walk and a change of scenery. So that was good. 

I managed a photo of OH, hot chocolate and the lemon drizzle 

Eagle eyed viewers may have spotted he has had a recent haircut (hurrah)  mainly in preparation for our trip to Glasgow later this week. Assuming the weather lets us get away of course. 

Eek! It snowed (again)

 This was the view from our sunroom window yesterday morning

It's not a lot different today to be honest. 

It was worst in the north of the islands so that, although we had what I would call more than enough, it was a lot worse in Kirkwall and even worse up on the north coast. It was less bad south of us on South Ronaldsay. We both had appointments; the OH was supposed to have a routine scan at the hospital in Kirkwall and had to cancel as he couldn't have got there. Mine however was in St Margaret's Hope, which is the main settlement in South Ron and I made it. 

It wasn't as bad as the last lot as the council were able to keep the roads largely clear, and without the high winds that we had last time the snow didn't get blown into deep drifts. It still meant it was  another batten down the hatches day. We'd been supposed to be going to the cinema to see the Royal Opera broadcast film thing-y of Manon - the ballet not the opera, but that obviously wasn't happening. They are showing it again next Tuesday afternoon so we might go then, weather permitting, of course. 

Books to Read Poster No 54

 

Yes, Homer's Odyssey. I read it in the much praised recent translation by Emily Wilson. I hadn't read it before end to end, in fact I doubt I'd read any of it, just knew quite  a lot of the story. 

What can I say? A founding text of western European literature; I'm hardly going to say it's rubbish am I? Not that I thought it was. I think I'd possibly have preferred a prose translation to Wilson's insistent iambic pentameter which I'm sure is very skilful but often didn't work for me. I did find that it got a lot more interesting once Odysseus reached Ithaca. I also found Odysseus rather repellent, but I perfectly understand that's an anachronistic view and  that he displays many of the characteristics that the original audiences would have found heroic and exemplary. I defy anyone not to come away with the impression that Telemachus is a spoiled, sulky and entitled brat who should have had a more disciplined upbringing. 

I was very surprised by the ending because it just stops. Apparently this has been the subject of much discussion amongst scholars (who knew, not me); possibly there was lots more and the stories that follow have all been lost. 

I'm glad I've read it, and although I don't see myself rushing to read it again - still another 46 books on that poster to go apart from anything else -  but I can see myself reading books about it. Which is often a lot more interesting than reading an original text. 

Domestic Pottering

My productivity streak continues with some cross stitch cards, which have been hanging about for, probably years, partly finished, and are now complete. 

 and I made four hats for a prem. baby charity. I had intended to make more, from my DK scraps but I was so bored by doing these ones that I decided not to continue. So the wool will go to a charity shop and these four will go to the charity and I can concentrate on knitting things that I enjoy. 

I made a cake this morning but there won't be a photograph of that because for reasons I needn't go into it slopes. I know why it slopes, I won't do what made it slope again, and anyway it looks delicious, and uses up some of our many home grown raspberries from the freezer. There are are still A LOT of them in there. 

I finished my Dinner with Frida jigsaw puzzle. As I said a riot of colour. I also read up a little bit about her. Summed up in the phrase - not an easy life. I did enjoy doing this one, even if it did make my eyes hurt a bit; my current one has large swathes of brown in it so much less of a strain in that way. Although correspondingly more difficult to do. We persevere. 

Not the most exciting blog post ever. But the cold, the wind and the rain persist. It's snuggle down weather with a vengeance. 

The Great Wool Sort Out - Update

 Well there is good news. The only wool added to the pile in January was 100g of sock wool which I received in a swap ( most of which was knitted up during the month) and there was 1490g taken from the pile, for  a net reduction of 1390g. A good start. 

I didn't manage to sell much; post Christmas and the way things are with the economy I suppose that's not surprising, and it wasn't any of my really nice yam, most of which lives in other boxes. So most of the yarn that's gone was either gifted, donated or used up. 

About half was used on the Finnish jumper which has already made an appearance here. Other things that I finished were 

the Stockholm Shawl, in the WYS Christmas colourway. Not finished in time for Stockholm sadly, but I suppose I can always take it there with me in March.

A sampler type cowl, using some worsted weight yarn sent to me by a friend in America.

This one had been languishing half done in Box 1 for a long time. When I say 'this one' that's  a bit misleading. The reason it was languishing was because I was trying to do another Anne of Green Gables cowl. I loved the previous one that I had done with the Game of Thrones minis from Laura at The Lonely Knitter (even though I had been less than impressed with the colours as some readers may remember) and thought I would see how it looked in this self striping yarn from Helen at Giddy Yarns. The answer was 'pretty awful' so I had abandoned it. Picked it up in January, pulled out what I had already done and started again, this time choosing only those stitches that did well in self striping and alternating them with plain sections. Although it was painful to rip out what I had done before as I had got quite a long way,  I'm very pleased with how this turned out in the end so that pulling it out and reknitting was a very worthwhile exercise. 

The aforementioned socks for which I used a lot of the wool I was given in the swap and paired it with some plain WYS for cuffs heels and toes. He loves them. So bright!

This was a small kit; I'd bought a few of them in a destash meaning them for swap parcels. One has been sent off in a swap, but I wanted to knit this one, Rather than use the rather yucky piece of ribbon and excuse for a bow that were supplied, I substituted a pretty button. Wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but the OH saw it, was charmed and claimed it, so it's now hanging in his office. 

 

A long since abandoned work in progress. I have no idea why I stopped work on this as all it needed was sewing up and buttons putting on. Obviously originally intended to got to the prem baby charity I have knitted for in the past this has now been claimed, and is being proudly sported, by one of our multifarious bears. 

And finally not knitting but a craft project completed this month and not previously recorded on here - a cross stitch thistle book mark from a kit sent to me by a friend. It's the sort of thing that in the past I might have done the cross stitch and then just left in s drawer but this time I finished it off properly with the felt backing and put on the tassel. It's lovely.