Retirement and a holiday in the Orkneys

Underwent forced retirement from February. We have been busy ever since with babysitting and travel!
We went to the Orkneys, finally, at the end of April for an, all too brief,  week. The trip to and from the Orkneys took four days, two there and two back. We went by train from Peterborough to Newcastle and then Newcastle to Aviemore, in the Scottish Highlands. This trip took approximately seven and a quarter hours. The train journey to Newcastle was very scenic and green, I dragged Liz' case and she dragged mine, I really did not think that the kitchen sink would be needed in the Orkneys, I could always wash in the rivers, but still in it went. Liz did have a moment of indecision when we left, about taking a coat or coat length jersey she had, final decision was jersey, final result was left in Catriona's car, hah. Liz only had two more jerseys with her! Liz did have to get by with only five pairs of shoes as well. Aviemore was great, the station was only over the road from the station. We arrived at seven thirty and were soon booked in to our hotel, it was very nice and all the pensioners seated in the restaurant window looked like a good sign.

The meal we had in the restaurant was very nice and the service was excellent, we did have a bedroom on the top floor, but we managed to get up there. The hotel even had a piper in full regalia to play at sunset, it was a great stay and made the journey more interesting. The following morning we left for Thurso at 10 in the morning and arrived just after two in the afternoon. All we had to do was get the bus to Gills Bay, near John 'o Groats, for the 18:30 ferry. I had thought there was a bus stop halfway down the hill from the station, in Thurso, about one hundred yards of suitcase dragging, we were quite early and had nearly two hours to kill before the bus left for the ferry crossing, seven miles, or one hour up the road. We wandered down and then up again and got chatting to a local, from Lancashire, who said she thought the bus left from the bottom of the hill, about half a kilometer away! She asked her bus driver and he confirmed this change, so off we sprinted to the bottom of the hill again and reached the stop with five minutes to spare, no time for any refreshments on a warm day! We were dropped at the top of the hill overlooking the sea and told the ferry was just around the corner (yes about 200 yards) We finally reached the harbour at five thirty with an hour before the ferry left. The ferry left on time and halfway through it's one hour crossing the captain told us we were going to take part briefly in a search for a missing diver, he had been missing about two hours at this stage. We never saw him, but he was rescued at about two the following morning. We arrived, half an hour late at the harbour in Saint Margaret's Hope in the Orkneys, Michael was there to collect us.

Happy Christmas and merry new year

Well, Christmas has been and gone and everyone here is getting excited by the prospect of snow, maybe they all want a holiday when the country grinds to a halt. We have made a few startling discoveries. The first one is that the cats, no matter how thirsty or hungry, do not like creamer, they were most distraught when we put a teaspoon of Coffeemate into their bowls, I had never heard a cat swear until that moment. The cats are starting to enjoy the attentions of the new grandchild, Tristan, he is getting mobile and has now started to crawl. This year we had the traditional wet Christmas, no catering at home either, we had lunch at our eldest daughter’s house, hooray someone else to do the dishes. We had condensed lamb on a spit, a leg in the oven, it was very nice, but not quite a shorts and T shirt party though. Liz has been doing her singing in the shop and was caroling in store on Christmas eve,for charity, she did really well. The fish pond is frozen today and the fish appear to be drifting aimlessly under the ice. Father Christmas bought Liz a digital camera, so that she could take pictures of grandchildren etc herself, it is starting to get quite a bit of use. We had a “cup” of coffee at one of those big chain coffee shops, however I decide to forgo the pleasure as I do not feel that it should be served in a plant pot, the “china” is so thick, I am starting to feel like a grumpy older person now and want to take my own cup for them to use. They must get a lot of clumsy people in the shops who drop these cups, which is not surprising when you consider the size of them.

We now have yet another leather sofa in the lounge, I managed to get it the twenty odd miles here without it leaving the roof of the car, hooray! We do have a rather large leather footrest in the lounge, the other sofa still here, it will have to make it’s own way to the dump! The lounge is really cosy with three sofas, a chaise longue and all the laundry, not much room for us and the cats.

Louise has been dropping off Tristan for the day on Fridays and he has been really good, greeting us with a broad smile. Liz takes him for a walk to feed the horse, if he can leave the carrot long enough. When he gets back he race around the house on all fours and is constantly dragging himself up onto his feet, he is dying to walk.

Holiday in Scotland and Ely

Sunny Scotland

We went up to Edinburgh to spent a few days in “sunny” Scotland, which had it’s moments. Liz did not like the trip at all. On the way through the borders it started to bucket with rain and little brown rivers of mud and pebbles were running down the hills and across the roads, I had to slow down to 60mph, joking, about 30mph in places while Liz sat quivering next to me with my jacket over her head so that she couldn’t see, if she had her way we would still be on the road to Scotland! There had been some terrible floods in Jedburgh a couple of weeks earlier, so I guess this was on her mind. We did not go that way, but went through Selkirk, Hawick (hoik!) and Galashiels. The mornings were chilly, but soon warmed up. We went and visited the burial spots of Liz’s mother and father. The weather was great and I took a few pictures, the wheat is being harvested late in Scotland as well it would seem. I thought there were a lot of Polish people around, but then realised the language was Scottish, silly me. We found a butchery in a run down part of Edinburgh, called Shumba Butchery. I bought some excellent biltong and was given a piece of droe wors, both were very good. They had a few SA products there. The butchers were both African and one spoke Shona, so probably came from Zimbabwe, they seemed to be good old fashioned salesmen and the biltong was good. We had lots to eat and even managed to get black pudding and chips for Liz and a spicy special haggis for the older person, that would be me! The haggis was very nice and very spicy just right for a pensioner or similar. Liz was a little disappointed as the pickings were a little slim in the charity shops even though there were quite a few in Gorgy, a part of Edinburgh.

We visited a butterfly farm at Dobbies garden centre off the Edinburgh bypass. It was very humid and warm inside and my camera kept getting fogged up for the first fifteen minutes or so. There were some little quail running around under our feet all over the show, you could almost touch them, and the butterflies were flying tantalisingly close, people were running after the blue morpho variety with their phones trying to take pictures, or maybe just taking calls for them, I don’t know. Once the camera had warmed up we got a few pictures. There were even a few pythons and insects in glass enclosures in another room. There were huge moths as well, as large as my hand. Liz was thoroughly enchanted by the whole place. There was a little bonus, in that I got the pensioners discount, hooray! I remembered there was a Shell garage nearby that had fuel at a better price than quite a few other garages, so we went there and filled up. On the way home the next day we went past and I saw that the price had been reduced by a penny $%£%*#!

Week two was quieter, spent in Forty Foot. We went to the auction on Saturday and bought a mattress for the new bed, Louise and Tristan joined us as well as Catriona and Bobby, quite a family gathering. We jammed the mattress into the back of the car,there was no way I wanted to risk it being bounced down the parkway again. We decided to take a little trip to Ely on Tuesday and invited Louise and Tristan to join us, we had a wonderful time and the weather was really kind to us, summer had arrived. We eventually found some parking and wandered down to the riverside with Tristan. We had a little walk along the bank and then went to a restaurant called the Maltings next to the river and had a magnificent meal. There were quite a few Muscovy duck and geese roaming around, looking for handouts. I warned Liz not to feed them, no matter what they said to her, she took my advice in and ignored it, we spent the rest of the time fending off feathered starving creatures! Tristan got to enjoy some mince and sweet potatoes, prepared by his father, mmmm. We sauntered off back to the car only to meet Matt’s father Phil and wife Judith who had decided to come out to Ely from Peterborough, what a pleasant surprise, Tristan was delighted too, he had a wonderful day.

Of cats and visitors

Little does she know!

Sooty, our black cat, keeps telling us that she has not been fed and as a result is always hanging around our feet when we are in the kitchen, this can be fraught with danger! She was hanging around my feet the other evening, letting me know how hungry she was, whilst I was trying to get biscuits for cheese off the top of the dresser, well the box of biscuits slipped out of my hand and hit the bread board, withe the cheese and butter on it, the whole lot went hurtling to the floor and narrowly missed the cat by millimeters, I think. She rocketed out of the kitchen, whilst I collapsed in a heap with hysterical laughter, I nearly wet myself, but the cat was not impressed,she was keeping a wary eye on me from next to the fireplace in the lounge. I went to see how she was, but she bolted through the kitchen and out the cat flap, in on smooth movement, before I could get near her,she was not a happy cat and her hunger was forgotten!

Kung po chicken

Ria, Liz’ friend from near Southampton, came for a visit and got to eat a Chinese takeaway prepared in our own kitchen, by our Chinese chef Miles Ying To! We had Kung Po chicken, ( I’ll have to make guests try something else next!) Ria had a great time and survived the meal with no adverse effects. Louise and Tristan came around for a visit and Sue popped in too, a good time was had by all. Saturday was quiet after that and Liz went to St Ives for chuchch see, it bucketed whilst she was away. The cats were cowering inside as far from their flap in the kitchen door as they could get, they were not impressed with the downpour.

Sunday we went off to the Norfolk broads to meet Sue , Melly, Melvin, Robert and the boys on their little 47ft cruiser. We met them at Acle, just the other side of Norwich, and went for a trip on the broads. Liz made one of her large chocolate cakes for the occasion, this was greeted with much joy. It was quite busy and there was even what looked like a bachelor  party on another boat, the same size as ours, they had a fellow in a luminous green mankini skiing behind their boat in the equivalent of a rubber tube, they must have been doing at least 5 miles an hour, speeding? We had a wonderful, roast beef, lunch at the pub on the side of the canal in Acle, then the two boys decided to have a little dessert, waffles, chocolate muffins, caramel ice cream, cream. syrup and flakes, I still get heartburn, and I only looked at it. They did have a little help though and battled to finish it.

Fifty shades of grey, is that a new hair dye?

There was a fun day in the Co-op car park on the 29th July, Liz and I did the book stall, naturally , we supplied quite a few as well. The day started at 11am and it started to rain at 12, so much for that. The day had the makings of a good day, but the weather put paid to that. We had to move the books and sold only about two more, we did make £29 odd, so it wasn’t too bad and there was also a cake stall, Liz on made one chocolate cake for that.

Tristan chillin' and saying nothing!

Liz had a brainwave in Lidl the other day and bought one of those fancy body thingys that hold women together, picture a top without sleeves. When we got home she tried it on, it took two of us, quite a while and a lot of huffing and puffing, I did suggest a liberal application of Vaseline to her upper body, she declined. The top seemed to work, but her feet were swollen to a size twelve, thank goodness the excess didn’t go the other way. one big head in the house is enough! That is going back, this lycra is too tight.

We had an interesting weekend, went out to a race night do in Chatteris, had a bit much to drink, more than one beer, thank goodness I was not driving. We took Catriona’s bed to her new house in Peterborough, that took some doing. We had to stop and re-tie it a few times and even got Bobby collecting half the base in the Celica. The mattress flew off the roof on the parkway, but luckily no one ran over it, now a little scuffed, but still OK. Louise Matt and Tristan were around after spending the day at her office do in Chatteris, Tristan looked quite alert and interested in everything, he does seem to like the TV.

There's another raspberry Liz!

We had a busy weekend. There was an auction on Saturday, but there was nothing we could not live without, so went early. We had to dash round to a friend’s house to put up the 4 metre by 6 metre marquee for a party on Sunday. The weather was great on Saturday, really warm. We went round to an allotment and picked three punnets of raspberries for the lunch on Sunday. Liz enjoyed the taste, they were good. The party was a 70th birthday party for Melly, our friend’s, father. The party was great and we had a hog roast prepared by our neighbour’s brother, the same one who catered for Catriona and Bobby’s wedding.

Drink Liz?

The marquee is up

The weather has really perked up now and I’ve put away the snorkel and flippers and got out the braai and lawnmower. Whilst waiting for the rain to go I did wonder what responsible sourced prawns were, did they jump voluntarily into nets and responsibly harvested fruit, did that just fall into the pickers baskets, a mystery? Liz has now decided to go on diet as all she has done in the winter is eat, she is doing a weigh-less type diet, but it involves baked potatoes and baked beans, it is right up there with the cabbage diet, I am going to put up a tent for her at the bottom of the garden! I had my eye test yesterday, it is all run by people from the Asian sub continent, got away with less than £200, boy they know how to charge.

Catriona now has two cats from some cat rescue place, I wonder what they think of her fish tanks. Tristan Toyer is fairly growing and gurgling, and Louise is looking at a larger car, as she can’t fit the child seat in her Celica.

19th July, 2012

All aboard!

The engine was called Dragon. ( I said engine!)

We went to the Nene Valley Railway on Sunday, there was a steam engine show on as well and we went for a little ride on the old train into Peterborough and back. I got a discount ticket because of my advanced years, over 60! We went for the first mile or so behind a steam engine and the rest of the trip was behind a diesel locomotive. There were quite a few miniature steam engines to run on the roads, plus a couple of full size vehicles. It would appear that the major problem with the miniature engines is the soot that builds up on the driver’s face, no picture, sorry. The coaches on the train were genuine vintage, a lot of the coaches etc were from Europe and were wider gauge, I guess they won’t fall over so easily, ha, ha. They were offering free bus rides on a vintage bus to a farm that had a vintage bus show, but we had no time. We were treated to a few sights on the trip and at Ferry Meadows I wanted to get out and take pictures, but I was told by a station person to shut the door if I was not getting off, ulp! We were able to disembark at Peterborough station and take a few pictures. We had a great day and even saw an ancient Vellocette motor cycle that would have appealed  to Andrew. We also managed to get pictures of a steam train.

Some old boy at the station

Chinese takeaway

I made a lovely Chinese dinner last night, spicy lamb with Jasmine rice, mmmm tasty and expertly cooked. Chinese food is supposed to be healthy, but if eaten in the quantities we have it maybe not, still we’ll see. Sweet and sour chicken is on the menu tonight, with some stir fried veggies, that should keep us going. The lawn is crying out to be mowed again, but it may not get it’s wish, it is going to rain soon (I hope), we need the rain for my proposed rice paddy. If I am going to eat Chinese we are going to have to take up subsistence farming, how do you grow bamboo shoots and soya sauce! The cats think we are already doing that as they get to eat birds freshly caught under the bird feeder, placed within a short stroll of the back door. Sooty is a bit fed up with the wait for the right flavoured bird to fly in, she is partial to the ones with yellow feathers, although I have not seen the robins recently.

The starlings are fighting over the bird feeders next door, so the sparrows are using our feeders, Sooty is salivating and also has a crick in her neck.

Went for an eye test today, didn't managed to see anyone, I will have to go back next week, maybe I will have better luck then. ( I hope you got the pun)