EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

girlatplay

I looked for a provider switch last week.  Ut1lsh1tty came up as the cheapest.  I laughed, then laughed more, and went with the next cheapest.  Thank you for the very detailed heads up.

Have a brilliant time!

RelievedSheff

girlatplay said:

I looked for a provider switch last week.  Ut1lsh1tty came up as the cheapest.  I laughed, then laughed more, and went with the next cheapest.  Thank you for the very detailed heads up.

Have a brilliant time!

I'm impressed you managed to find a switch worth taking  

girlatplay

RelievedSheff said:

girlatplay said:

I looked for a provider switch last week.  Ut1lsh1tty came up as the cheapest.  I laughed, then laughed more, and went with the next cheapest.  Thank you for the very detailed heads up.

Have a brilliant time!

I'm impressed you managed to find a switch worth taking  

Not sure if it was really worth taking but I panicked 😞

lucielle

Have a wonderful time
L

Seasidegal58

Have a great holiday EH!  I can see Harris from where I'm staying on the mainland at the moment so I'll wave!😃👍

greent

Have a great time

EssexHebridean

Well, what a wonderful and yet also in many ways quite historically earth-shattering couple of weeks we've had since I was last here! It would be wrong not to mention the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II first up I think, we had made a day trip to Harris that day, (would have waved back had I known SSG!) and had been hearing from various friends and family members as well as from BBC newsflashes that the situation with her health was clearly deteriorating at quite a rapid rate, and almost exactly at the moment we walked back through the door of the cottage after driving through from the ferry back the announcement came through. A strange combination of feelings, for me - quite astonishing to think that this person who had been a fixture and constancy of my entire life had ceased to exist, a feeling of unreality that we now had "A King" - and it still feels slightly like we must be playing a game with that one - trying it out for size so we know how it will feel "when the time comes". Above all a feeling of deep sorrow for the Royal Family - not only for the loss in itself, but also that they were now going to have to go through the following period of times while trying to come to terms with their own huge loss, fully in the public gaze with barely a moment to step back, breathe and take everything in. We watched the funeral yesterday - and again it was the people involved that got to me - the Prince of Wales (that feels strange when referring to William) and the Duke of Sussex clearly struggling SO much with the whole "walking behind a coffin" thing. Prince Edward requiring a hankerchief - retrieved by the Countess of Wessex from her bag, of course - to mop his eyes at one stage during the service in the Abbey. That once inside the Abbey not a world leader or politician mattered a jot - they were all unimportant yesterday. The Duchess of Sussex trying to keep her face impassive to hide her emotion but failing utterly to obscure how distressed she was. The Princess of Wales focusing her attention on the children in order to maintain her own composure and the lovely touch with ensuring that little Princess Charlotte was next to "uncle Peter" Phillips where she clearly felt entirely comfortable. How absolutely BEAUTIFULLY the two children behaved throughout - it must have been incredibly daunting for them. In the afternoon I was doing well until first the pony and then the corgis appeared on the screen - it was absolutely right and correct that they should be there but still I found the thought of them trying to understand why their mistress had abandoned them almost impossible to cope with. My eyes are filling again now thinking about it.
There will be everyone here from ardent royalists through to those who are distinctly anti-monarchy and those like myself that fall into neither camp - and this thread is (rather like the party politics thing) not a place for any debates on such subjects, however, hopefully all can agree (and if you can't, please keep it zipped and treat her in the same way you would want a loved one of your own treated by others) that the late Queen deserves huge respect for her dedication to the role that she carried out for so many years, and as an astonishing role model, for all, but particularly I think for women and girls. On the way home on Sunday we listened to the Radio 2 re-broadcast of the concert commemorating the Queen's 90th birthday - and one of the final songs to be played was "My Way" - wholly appropriate for a monarch who, while understanding the restrictions and limits of what she was able to do within the security restraints that she lived throughout her entire life with, pretty much, always did manage to do it "her way" when it really mattered.  

And now, we move forward into a new era - one with a King, with new titles for so many in the Royal Family, new ways of doing things, new wording to our National Anthem, and more history to be made with a Coronation to come when the time is right.

Separate post for the holiday stuff, I think... 

MrsPorridge

EH your post on the funeral again bought tears to my eyes.

EssexHebridean

The Hebrides trip was wonderful as ever - a nice trip up in simply fabulous weather - and sufficient spare time built in for a decent long stop at Glenfinnan where we went for a walk, met a rather cute little shrew who was snuffling around in the undergrowth by our feet, saw a wonderful viaduct and a steam train on it (IYKYK) too, and found ourselves at Mallaig with a full hour to kill until we needed to be there and no cafes open for tea & cake. Undaunted we sacrificed the tea and bought cake from the Co-Op - and sat on the barrier around the harbour to eat them! Lovely crossing over, and a nice smooth drive through to our accommodation for the first couple of nights thanks to rolling off the boat near the front of the queue and then all three vehicles that we originally ahead of us turning off inside the first couple of miles. 

The weather the first week was beyond belief - aside from getting soaked through on our first full day over and then a very wet Sunday morning on our first day in the cottage, we barely saw another spot of rain - and in fact even during the second week when it was far more overcast it still stayed mostly dry. All the usual favourite places were visited - some new hills climbed, a breathtaking night of Northern Lights watched, and a boat trip taken with wonderful views of White Tailed Eagles. Add in lots of lovely food, plenty of good walks, catching up with some friends (and meeting a social media pal and her three dogs at long last, too) and just having time to relax and enjoy our favourite place on this earth and it was perfect, really. 

Thanks to the unexpected Bank Holiday we were also able to extend the trip by a day - travelling back on Sunday morning's ferry rather than Saturday afternoons. This meant that we didn't arrive home until just after midnight after a drive straight through from Mallaig but as neither of us needed to get up for work yesterday morning that didn't matter at all. The drive home once we got free of some very slow traffic through the Highlands also went well - we found ourselves crossing the A66 as 8pm approached and were able to find a suitable lay-by to stop in for the 8pm minute of National reflection - rather fabulously as we stood there we were also joined by two other vehicles with the same idea. Not a word was exchanged, but the four of us stood there in silence for 60 seconds before all going on our separate ways - a moment in history shared. 

Now it's back to the "normal" - we're both working today and MrEH is also in London, so I need to decide whether to go to the gym tonight (I probably will unless he is also going to be in London tomorrow, in which case I'll take today to acclimatise back to the cycling) or not. I want to renew my focus not only on getting tp the gym regularly but also on the surveys that will begin to properly build the "gym neutral fund" too - it has another 4 months to run before I will need to make a decision about next year's membership so time enough to see how much I can add to it. 

Meal planning for this week is sketchy but is also relying on a very minimal shop made on the way home. (£22 spent including food for Sunday evening as we were travelling). Tonight will be couscous with the usual bits and pieces. Tomorrow probably a pasta dish of some sort - using up the last of an open box of hot-smoked salmon trimmings that came back with us. Haven't quite decided about later in the week yet - we'll see what the freezer can offer us. I want to put together a proper meal plan for next week though.

Upcoming plans include several trips that require accommodation to be booked - I need to work out how those are to be funded as well  as actually getting the bookings made.  

The other thing I need to do is establish what the situation is with our Green Energy UK electricity fix - whether the new price guarantee thing will make any sort of difference to it (we suspect not as it's not a provider that is bound by the price cap) and if it won't, where we might be able to switch to back to an SVR tariff. I'm suspecting there may be news over on the energy board about all that, though! 

foxgloves

Glad to hear you had a good holiday, EH. How wonderful to see the Northern Lights.
F