What a Week!

This has not been the easiest of weeks on the island. We have had a sudden death, which involved a lot of police being on the island and talking to everyone, and another person having to go in to hospital. We have had several long power cuts, and the weather has not been good. The winds have been steadily getting worse since Thursday, with gale force winds since Friday, reaching severe gales today with that forecast to continue until Monday morning. Fortunately they should go down over Monday afternoon.

Through all of this, the one bright spot was Thursday lunch! The Community Association do a Christmas lunch for the Over 60s each year.

The Community room is always very festive, and we all have crackers – and have to wear the hats! First course this year was a choice of melon….

….or soup….

and the main was turkey and all the trimmings:

And the lunch is followed by some sort of entertainment. This year it was a group called Charlie’s Angels from Sandwick, on the West Mainland. They had a fairly bumpy ride to the island, but the boat got in early enough for them to be shown the island and to get over the crossing well before the food!

The group were a typical Orkney ‘entertainment’. Not just singing, but poems and stories as well. – story telling is alive and well in the Northern Isles. Many of the songs they sang were well known, and we were invited to join in.

I videoed one song, just with my camera. It is on You Tube – a song called Kirkwall Bay, well known over here, about returning home to Orkney by boat and coming in to Kirkwall Bay, and the welcome you get when you do so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAhLpFaLskw

Soon after this song, the power went out again!! It was pitch black. But Alan Rosie, one of the farmers on the island, found his way out to his pick-up, and came back with a real of cable and two lights, which were soon strung up as ‘spot lights’. And we continued with the programme!

It wasn’t too long before the power came on again, and Alan was able to switch off his generator. Charlie’s Angels finished their programme and then there was more food – Christmas cake and mince pies, home made shortbread and biscuits – with another cup of tea.

During the afternoon the wind had been rising. On my way home I was nearly blown off my feet – it was very gusty. And I have hardly set my nose outside since!!

There are days I am glad my work involves staying at home…!

About these ads