We've been here several weeks now, and we are feeling guilty that we are not keeping in touch with the friends we have "left behind" as well as we should. So, starting a blog seemed like a good idea. We hope you will agree, and welcome your responses!
Sue and I have been busy since we've been here. Saturdays are a bit manic, as we have to visit our two distant cottages to do the "turn arounds" and then dash back here to do the upstairs apartment. Because it's 38 miles each way to Rowan Cottage, and diesel is currently £1.40 a litre and still rising, we try not to go there during the week, so I have to mow the lawn and tidy outside too. Whoever goes to Aird View (only 27 miles each way...) also gets to do the weekly shopping in the supermarket in Portree.
So far, living on Skye is everything I thought it was, plus a bit more. The weather has been amazing. We've only had a few rainy days. It's a lot chillier than the South - jumpers are worn much of the time, but the air is so clean and fresh - apparently I have stopped snoring...!
Where we live there are only a few other properties. Next door we have a small guest house run by a couple who recently moved here from Surrey. (The guest house has the purple door - we are the the building with the velux window in the roof). There is a modern bungalow opposite the Guest House, and the couple there have been here nearly a year - they are from Manchester. We all get on very well.
My original plans to do gardening and "odd jobs" to keep me busy have been put on hold while I wait for an operation to repair a hernia... I guess I did just a bit too much moving of furniture and fitting of kitchens. Still, the health service here has proved to be efficient, and I will be having my op on 10th July - in a little hospital on the island - so I should be fully active by the end of August. Meanwhile I have been getting familiar with the website building software called Dreamweaver, and will soon be publishing a new website for a mountain guide here on the island. I hope to get a few more commissions for websites - it'll be a good winter activity, and will earn a little pocket money.
Sue has re-discovered her cookery skills, and is pottering in the kitchen quite a bit, with wonderful smells coming from the cooker and an ever widening range of things to eat appearing on the table. Fresh vegetables here are amazing - potatoes and carrots in particular actually taste like they should!
Together, we get out with Basil most afternoons, and I am getting back into taking local photographs for the Geograph website. My presence on Geograph is at: www.geograph.org.uk/profile/20032 There's plenty of opportunities for taking photographs on Skye!
We plan to add posts on this blog as often as possible, so please come back and read about what is going on here.
Bye for now, Richard
6 comments:
Hi Richard
This is a great way to keep in touch!!!!! You and Sue both look so happy its great to see...
annemarie xx
HI well I'm BLOGGED.. I've doneit! I hope!
Good to hear your news and to see that you've "homed" into Skyewith ease
that is after a lot of hard work! Hope you get this. love val
Hi Richard
It sounds bloody marvelous! Spotted any sea eagles yet? Enjoy!
Jenniex
Glad to hear that you're settling in well and enjoying your new life. I'm sure it will prove much less stressful than living down south although I suspect the winters may take some adapting to! Hope all goes well for you both in the future.
Hello there.
Have been gripped by the mystery of The Case of the Spotted Bird.
Could it be a Siskin relative of the finches and did it have abit of greenish near its tail?
or... is it a linnet?
val
Could it be a Siskin relative of the finches and did it have abit of greenish near its tail?
or... is it a linnet
Not sure Val - I've added your suggestion to the "Birds" post, but we're not getting much help here!
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