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'supporting each other through really tough times'
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Ize likin vese Labridoorsiz ANTY ALF eye iz veri galdddd vat vey iz mine frendziz, verez nuffin lyke er guddd bitta drooliez iz vere??? lyka gud sniffie onna lampypostie fings, vats guddd tew, frum yer frend Docky xxx.0
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Aw kez
a bit if a rough time for you all.
GQ you've been? Isle of Lewis? When DH and I married on Isle of Arran we made the decision for DH to get a sabbatical with work and take a job on Outer Hebrides. He decided on Lewis as that was where the jobs were. Only problem being was our debt and nothing was well paid enough to make it work. Still to this day I feel like I should be up there and have missed out on an opportunity, even though an incredibly hard way of living. I will get there one day, even just to visit... No trees they say?I was there in 2005. A pal had a short-term contract in Stornaway and invited me to travel up to meet her at the end of it, and we would drive down the whole Outer Hebrides, then cross to Skye, then down the west coast to part again in Glasgow.
Which we did. I arrived on the ferry Isle of Lewis on the late evening crossing. A Force 9 gale came across that night. I was lying in my sleeping bag on the floor of her digs cringing as stuff (think it was wheelie bins) was flying around outside and impacting the building, which was actually moving in the force of the wind, too. The next day was pretty wild, also. So much so that a local man advised us not to walk the path near the sea further down the east coast of Lewis.I did see one tree, a small scrubby one clinging on to life in a gully just above a tiny cove, but it is mostly very bleak.
I guess my enduring image, apart from the heart-stopping beauty of the place, is the extremes of the weather, the quality of the ever-changing light and the amazing quantity of abandoned and derelict homes dotting the countryside, from ancient roofless blackhouses to much more modern homes.
My impression is that life is very hard for a lot of people there, with a higher cost of living (stuff coming across on the ferry) and limited employment opportunities. Pal is a healthcare professsional and tells me it isn't at all uncommon to find levels of blood alcohol in people walking and talking which they would normally only see in those who'd died of alcohol poisoning. Public drunkeness, apart from the yoofs in Stornaway, is pretty rare. But many people are quietly drinking themselves into oblivion at home.
It's still very religious; a friend of a friend was preparing to dive off a beach on Lewis on a Sunday (straight to hell for that) when he was suddenly accosted by a minister who appeared, as if from nowhere, grabbed his arm and told him he'd be wanting to come to the church.
He had to shake him off and tell him otherwise. One of my colleagues is a Lewis lass and has no desire to go back. I would gladly visit again and spend more time on each of the islands (we went all the way down even to Vatersay) but I wouldn't care to live up there. Too harsh a climate, I like my trees too much, and religion brings me out in hives.Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
John Ruskin
Veni, vidi, eradici
(I came, I saw, I kondo'd)
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Morning everyone, I'm cold again, I want the warm bit back it was soooooooooo nice!!!!!
Have never been to the western Isles but had the loveliest holiday a few years back in the Orkneys, DD1 and I flew up to Aberdeen and then on to Kirkwall and had a week island hopping on the little 8 seater planes (the best fun those!!!) and had a couple of nights in the most beautiful place I've ever been to which was North Ronaldsay where we had a stay at the National Bird Observatory. I loved, loved, loved it, I've never been anywhere so perfect in my life. The sheep are kept out of the main island by a wall built all round and eat seaweed on the beach, they all look like Shaun the Sheep and when they travel, you can hear them coming from a mile off, click clack, click clack along the beach and then they come all in a line one behind the other, click, clack, click, clack!!!!!!!and off into the distance click, clack, click clack etc. The beaches are pure white and the seals sing to you as you walk past, so we sang back, they liked christmas carols the best we found. The main island is magic too and we went to Skara Brae the stone age settlement,and the Ring of Brogdar, and Maes Howe, the burial mound, walked along Skappa Flow and had a wonderful evening in a hotel in Stromness where a professional storyteller and a ceileidh Band took us away from the 21st century to the story of The Mickle Muckle Worm.The people are genuinely lovely and friendly and kind and Kirkwall is a delight, St Magnus Cathedral is beautiful and we were lucky enough to be there for the annual Beating the Bounds of the island, and it was a sight to see all the riders, and carriages waiting to go off in procession to drive round the old boundaries on a Sunday afternoon. My fondest memory is being on one of the local busses, going to Skara Brae and a hare came up out of the ditch at the roadside and ran in front of the bus for about a mile, and the lady coach driver said' You'll not mind the bus being a wee bittie late will you? (we were the only passengers) we have so few wee hares on the island, I'll just follow him to make sure he's safe and can get in at the next gateway!' and she did, it was perfect, couldn't see that happening here on the mainland, well certainly not our bit of it!!! Have a good day all, and try to stay warm, Cheers Lyn xxx.0 -
I've always wanted to go to Scarra Brae. A Scottish friend who has been there insists that it contains some Norse graffiti which says Fafnir shags goats. :rotfl:
Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
John Ruskin
Veni, vidi, eradici
(I came, I saw, I kondo'd)
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Quite likely, I was so taken with the place, I loved the stone built welsh dresser in the sunken roundhouse, I could just identify with a stoneage housewife putting things as high as she could to keep them out of the reach of a stoneage lurcher, making a link right across the millennia that is as relevant today as it was then! One of the nicest things we found there was nothing to do with the historical site, but kids had been down on the beach and all the way along were little Stone Circles, built with stones off the beach and I could imagine stone age kiddies out playing and doing the same thing, having fun and laughing, it's a really brilliant place, so go if you get the chance because you're worth it!!!!! and so is the place !!!!! Cheers Lyn xxx.0
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The picture you paint GQ is the picture I had in my head. It's a romantic idea, accompanied by a determination to succeed, but one that was real at the time. Now? Imagine my panic if bringing up a family on the Western Isles. Trying to keep my family safe day after day would have me on constant medication just to function, I'm sure of that.
The Orkney experience is one I'm yet to have but fell in love with Skye. We often talk about retiring to such locations, again a romantic idea but... People do
Thanks for the cannelloni beans ideas. I've found a couple of chicken drumsticks in the freezer last night so about to go prise some chicken off, chuck in slow cooker as curry and add the beans to bulk up the lack of chicken. Housekeeping is down £7 - tooth paste, weetabix, milk, liver (dog) rice and bread flour. Those are the things that I should have ample off and ticking myself for not keeping on top of my stocks.
40p tescoooo rice? Is it ok in the sense of curries? I've bought a 99p pack as worried the cheap rice would be too crunchy on cooking or too sticky? Anyone use it?0 -
Oh god stoppit. I would give my eye teeth for a trip to Orkney. And GQ, I totally agree re the hives LOL! I don't like trees though and feel drawn to anywhere that hasn't got them, I do like wild & bleak.
Lewis though is too strict - maybe Barra or South Uist would be better.0 -
Well mar, I'm giving my eye teeth to come to near your neck if the woods
we're off to Western Scotland to vist father-in-law at the end of the month. No petrol (work car) ferry crossing (fatherinlaw sends down tickets as cheaper his end) board and lodgings at fil's
hardly costs us a penny. I need a break and DH's dad is so funny. Pucks Glen here we come. The girls play fairy's amongst the scenery. Google it as can't post links but very magical to walk around.
Does anyone know of any blogs written by islanders? I'd really like to follow life as it happens and suspect the authors would be like minded people too0 -
Are you coming up the A1 fuddle? Or the A7 or the A68?0
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FUDDLE the rice is fine, I've run on the cheapest I can find for more years now than I care to remember, it cooks up perfectly well, and if you have some boiling water ready to give it a rinse when it is cooked it isn't claggy either, try it, you can always use it up in soups if you don't like the texture because soups cook for a longer time, the rice will be properly done at then end of the cooking time for the soup. You might try logging in to the Bird Observatory on North Ronaldsay they do the annual census and count for migratory birds and might have photos, it's a hauntingly beautiful place, we spent the best part of a day on the northernmost point of the island where there are two lighthouses, one very new and one very old one looking for, but unfortunately not seeing a pod of Orcas which was in the area, oh, I'm there in my head now, it's the peace and quiet place I go to in my head when life gets difficult some days, just have a coffee and drift, Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!!! Cheers Lyn xxx.0
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