Monday 13 August 2012

What I’ve been up to…



I’ve been up to the top of Gallows Hill in Stornoway. That’s what I’ve been up to.  GB and I had coffee (with my obligatory Florentine) at the Woodlands on Saturday morning then I left him to do the Co-op shopping while I wandered around the Castle Grounds.  The view from Gallows Hill is wonderful.


I spent a wonderful couple of hours but didn’t spot any new (to me) wildlife or views, just the occasional lost-looking German tourists off the cruise liner anchored outside the harbour.  Spesh’s husband David was bussing a load of them around the Island and he had wonderful day for it. A couple of his recent Island tours have been undertaken in the pouring rain notwithstanding which the tourists all got off the coach to troop around the various sights and squelch back onto the coach again in a steaming mass.  Poor souls – the world looks so much better when that yellow thing is in the sky.

I managed to tire myself out so much it was straight to bed for me at four in the afternoon and I didn’t emerge until the early hours of Sunday.  By which time the meteors were raining down.  Well, not exactly raining.  More sort of spitting at an average rate of about one every five minutes (though two came down only a split second apart, in the same part of the sky and at the same trajectory.  Was this one that split on entry into the atmosphere, I wonder.  I don’t k now much about these things.  Just enough more than primitive man not to be frightened by them!   Unlike last nights pale little efforts these were brilliant ones.  Really bright and streaky and one directly overhead was a real starburst of a one. 

Having decided I was too awake to go back to bed and feeling bright and breezy I did some odd jobs on the computer.  One of them was order some stamps from a dealer who sells all the old British commemoratives. These are brilliant for Postcrossing because it means I can send people a stamp appropriate to their interests.  A postal worker in Ireland, for example, got one of these.


Saturday also provided me with the first decent sunrise of the holiday.  I can’t believe it’s taken nearly five weeks but most of the time the Island has been grey and cloudy.


 There has been some compensation in the many shades of grey…


 The dew after the heavy mist of Friday night gave me the chance to photograoh a washing line on Saturday morning. Not something I normally bother photographing!




And dew on a slightly more attractive subject - the mallow.


Then Sunday gave me another sunrise so I’m quite happy now.


 I love the way the mist hangs in the valley.





 Well, the Olympics are over for another four years.  I shall miss them.  I didn’t watch much this year - they are usually in all day every day at home.   I saw enough to know that we Brits did the thing well.  So did the athletes and I’m not just referring to the British ones. So much dedication, so much effort, so much emotion.  No doping scandals to hit the headlines and make the games derided by those who like to think we aren’t really getting better and better.  The USA girls broke one of the oldest Olympic records in the 4 x 100 metres.  Another big “Well Done” to all the volunteers who helped for the whole sixteen days and took part in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. But, of course, for me it is our 65 medal winners including the 29 golds that have made the Games so special.  I can’t see us matching that total for a few Olympics to come and I hope people realise that the atmosphere of the stadia and velodromes and so on have contributed to that wonderful total in a  way that no future Olympics can for the GB team.  


A final bonus for me has been the Royal Mail issuing special stamps and painting pillar boxes gold.  I suspect my postcrossing friends will be getting Gold Medal stamps for a while to come. Well done everyone!




13 comments:

  1. Such a pretty place! And the dew on the washing line is exquisite.

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    1. Hello Sonia. I don't think you've visited before, so Welcome!

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  2. Beautiful sunrises - and dewdrops too!

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    1. Thank you, it was just such a perfect morning.

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  3. No sun? You are looking in the wrong place!!!!
    Loved your pictures - I am learning so much - I am getting quite an expert on the names of the wild flowers around the island - courtesy of your blog and your pictures.

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    1. I usually look in the sky. Is that the wrong place? It could explain the last five weeks!

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  4. Superb pictures...I used to use this harbour in the days when pubs were shut on Sundays and before the big CO-OP was built. The first sunrise and second washing line were worth waiting five weeks for. The Hawkweed is also a keeper.
    What are you going to fill your days with now the hopping, skipping and jumping is all over?....Use the time to take more pictures.

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    1. Thanks Adrian - compliments from you are worth having!

      I have 5,824 photos to sort from when I first left home asnd went to Helen's. That should keep me occupied until the autumn and then it's back to writing my book. That's the theory...

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  5. Ooh, I specially like the washing line picture. You should not have said that was what it was. How about a crystal sculpture by a very talented up and coming local artist? :)

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    1. If I had cropped it a bit more I could have done that, couldn't I. Perhaps when folk have forgotten all about it I'll blog it again as a 'What is it?' picture.

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  6. The Olympics were great! We were so happy and proud of the job the British did in hosting the games and performing so well. And as icing on the cake, our granddaughter's friend Nathan Adrian earned some swimming medals which was lovely.

    Like you, CJ, I'll miss the games.

    Hugs, Carol

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  7. What a wonderful post. I was going to say which photo I liked best, but they are all just so beautiful.
    Your sunrise photo! I know it is sunsets that most people talk about but our home faces east so it is the sunrise that we enjoy the most and love.

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  8. Beautiful sunrise and the dew drops make a great photo. What a lovely and interesting idea you have for the stamps.

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