A Rambling Addiction

Last night I switched off the laptop at the mains as a way of encouraging myself to get to bed. Once the battery ran out I couldn't carry on. could I? Don't you believe it - I was blogging in my head whilst lying in bed at least an hour and a half later. I woke up, got up and started blogging. Now I'm typing with one hand while eating breakfast with the other. That's it. If there was any doubt before let there be none now - I AM ADDICTED. I think I'll set up a clinic for folk like me to dry out. All mod cons, great meals, spa, massages, pool, no need to go to the gym - but no broadband. Imagine it. Aaaaarrgh! My friend Pat and her daughter Kate have been sent to a virtual clinic by BT for the last few weeks. BT have managed to tell them a different story every day as to why their broadband isn't working and to promise them 'today's the day' they'll get it back. I'd ask you all to sympathise but there wouldn't be much point - they can't read your comments until the crisis is over!

But back to the subject of the clinic. Has anyone got a couple of million pounds (dollars will do) to help me set it up. Partner-who-loves-tea is a well qualified and very experienced psychotherapist so we could have our own in-house therapy sessions at a reasonable fee.

Fortunately I have only had one day of Broadband trouble here at GB's (am I tempting fate by saying that?) but I am having problems reading certain blogs. I have to alternate between Google Chrome to read Saz's and Fhina's Blogs and Internet Explorer to read certain others. Chrome loads my blog more speedily but, ironically, won't show me my comment moderation pages properly. I have to switch back to Internet Explorer for that...


At this precise moment I am delighted - I'm up-to-date in reading the blogs of my family and friends. That won't last long but I reckon the USA hasn't woken up yet and there's only a few folk this side of the pond daft enough to be up with the sunrise like me. (I bet one of my NZ or Australian blogger friends now posts just to keep me on my toes.)


"Oh No; Yawn! - Not another excuse for a sunrise picture."


 

Life

Sunrise
Life seems to be getting in the way of blogging at the moment. Which, as certain folk will quickly point out, is better than death getting in the way of it..... The main consolation I can draw from this is that life is giving me many, many photos to post on quieter days. And when the day draws to an end ----

Sunset

 

Not Rambling Far

In response to Adrian's comment yesterday - "Yes, it does rain here sometimes". But the weather changes so quickly that even on bad days there is the chance of some lovely skyscapes. And Tuesday began once more with the shine of promise. Red sky in the morning is supposed to presage a bad day but the sight as the red turned to gold at 4.35 a.m. would have made it worth while for me.



Prior to the sun coming over the horizon the sky was red in every direction. The clouds didn't have silver linings they had pink ones. Then during the minute or so that the sun topped the hill behind Upper Bayble everything turned instead to gold and silver.


Then the clouds thickened and I could see rain showers working their way down the Minch. (The Minch is the channel of the Atlantic that separates the Outer Hebrides from mainland Scotland.)


As the clouds thinned again parches of sunlight shimmered on the surface of the water.


The mountains of the mainland are 60 kilometres and more from GB’s. But they were as crisp and clear this morning as I have ever seen them.

Sadly, Tuesday was the day that Brother-who-blogs left for the mainland for hospital treatment leaving me to enjoy the Island on my own. I have plenty to keep me amused but shall miss him on weekdays while he's away. I can draw consolation from the fact that the treatment will be successful - that's an order!! - and that he'll be home at the weekends.


After the cloudy start to the day the sky cleared and it developed into another scorcher. I spent an hour and a half on the phone to Partner-who-loves-tea, putting the world to rights; though, sadly, not putting her computer issues right. I then did some weeding in the garden. The midges drove me in for a while and I made some cornflake crunch. I had intended to try making Florentines but thought I'd better find my way round GB's kitchen before experimenting and I can make cornflake crunch with my eyes closed (well almost).


A book, some nibbles, a seat in the sunshine, a midge free hour, and a view to die for - what more could one want?


 

A Wink or a Wimble

If I keep on getting up early you could become very fed up of seeing sunrises...


GB cooked an excellent meal (as always) for seven the other night. The topics of conversation before and during dinner included the following:- finding a dead body in the water; finding a not-dead body in the graveyard; a dog bringing home a human skull; what happens when emptying a septic tank goes wrong; what happens when emptying the loo on a coach goes wrong; burying bodies for forensic science research; scattering ashes (potentially into the wind) from on board ship; forgetting ashes and leaving them in a hotel bedroom; people being found dead on the moors; piracy at sea; assorted medical procedures; plane crashes; blocked drains; and heaven knows what else. Notwithstanding this (or perhaps because of it) everyone enjoyed themselves. One advantage of reaching a reasonable age is that these things don't spoil one's appetite and the only young person at the table had been away for months living largely on the diet of a ship's crew so nothing was going to put her off her food.

One of the things that reminds me I'm in a 'foreign' country is getting change in the shops. In England it is years since we had pound notes. In Scotland not only are there pound notes but they are issued by more than one bank, as are five, ten and twenty pound notes. (I'm not rich enough to worry about £50 notes!!). Here are a few samples.







Sadly you can't spend pictures or I'd show you a few more.


This is a wink or wimble, once used for winding hay bonds or straw ropes. It was one of the many fascinating items to be seen in the farmng museum at Bicton Park near Exeter.

The name wimble is defined in the dictionary as being a boring tool (i.e. a tool that bores holes, not one that stimulates no enthusiasm!), like an augur, so presumably its use in this context is a dialect term from Devon.


The same may apply to wink for which a suitable definition cannot be found in the dictionary. Definitions tend to be the ones one might expect like 'a facial expression' or 'closing one eye quickly as a signal'. (As a completely irrelevant fact you may wish to know that Wink was also the name of a 1980s Japanese pop duo - but then you might not wish to know that!!)

If you like finding out about the origins of words and phrases or learning new and unusual words you may care to visit my Words and Phrases Blog which has a new entry every day.


 

Of sunsets, sunrises and shirts

It is worth coming to the Outer Hebrides just to see the sunsets and sunrises. In summer you have to stay up late to catch the former and be up very early to see the latter.


On Monday night the sun dropped below the skyline of Lower Bayble just as I ws on my way to bed but I had a lie in until 6.00 am on Tuseday so the sun was already well up over Bayble Bay. By 6.15 a.m. GB was on his knees in his dressing gown pulling blanket weed out of the pond. I've spared you (and him) a photo. But then he might have retaliated as I was wandering around in a weird assortment of clothing.

I commented, half jokingly, on my Hebridean blog the other day about a friend wearing a corporate green shirt instead of his usual white ones. Needless to say he looked very neat and smart but there is a certain something about the wearing of a crisp white shirt that makes a man stand out. When I worked I wore a shirt and tie all the time and on special occasions I would wear a white shirt but for most of the time I wore a lightly patterned or slightly coloured one. I don't think I realised at the time the difference that a white shirt can make. Nowadays I hardly ever wear a formal shirt - favouring instead the casual polo shirt or occasionally a T-shirt. Suits have been replaced by casual trousers and jumpers or cardigans. For a slightly warmer outdoor wear I can usually be seen in tracksuit tops. It occurs to me that a change back to shirts and ties may not be a bad thing. Whether I shall do it or not remains to be seen.


The showery day led to a couple of rainbows in the afternoon. This first one was a broad band well out to sea, towards the mainland.



The second rainbow was a complete one across Broad Bay with part of it a double rainbow. It was very impressive.


By the time the third rainbow appeared I was getting a bit blase about them. But the fourth one seemed to end in the garden before gradually moving out to sea.


I've never seen so many rainbows in one afternoon before. With all those pots of gold around perhaps I should check my lottery ticket.