Mostly, the mail is pretty good here, at least by Canadian standards. Delivery is six days a week, and can be more than once a day. Granted, there are a number of postal strikes going on, but strikes are managed differently here; you get warning and it’s only for a day or two at a time. So an alert might show up on the BBC website saying that Scottish postal workers will be out next Tuesday and Wednesday, for example. Feels efficient in its disruption.
I’ve mentioned the hide-and-seek post boxes that can be tucked into a garden wall. Or, you can be driving through the countryside and come to an intersection: two single-track lanes converging, and the only thing to be seen for miles (other than sheep; there are always sheep) is a one bright red post box. There’s just something quirky about all of this to my Canadian town-or-city girl eyes.
Latest learning for me is all about when the mail is picked up. Wondering if you’ve made it to the post box before the 2:30 pick-up? Well, it seems that on those post boxes, be they tucked away in a wall or a red pillar box on the high street, there is a silver disk near the top which tells you what day is the next collection. So when I dropped my letter into the pillar box this afternoon at 1:25, I could see that the postal worker hadn’t been by yet. When she does come by, she’ll pick up all the mail, then change that disk to read ‘Mon’. Love it.
The first time I heard the noise, Scout & I were walking along the high street. There was banging, and shouting, and maybe honking, then a truck pulling a hay wagon drove by with a group of women hanging off the back, shouting, banging pots and the walls of the truck bed, and waving to the pedestrians. Oh, and they were covered in streaks of mud or something. Okaaay.
That was the first Blackening I saw. An Orcadian tradition (although I believe they do it elsewhere in Scotland), kind of like a stag or pre-wedding shower. Sometimes the men and women are together, but mostly it’s one group or the other, celebrating an upcoming wedding.
The hen party (if it’s women) are smeared with treacle and driven around town, banging pots and drums. Traditionally, blackenings were a LOT rougher: the groom would be stripped, bound, smeared with anything from treacle to dog food, to, well, whatever (ugh). Then covered in flour and feathers., and then paraded about. But those days are past – while it’s still loud and messy, it’s much more benign.
Last year I observed that the only snowfall Orkney seemed to experience was sideways sleet, that created a <1cm of snow on the ground, which didn’t stick more that 36 hours at most. And that was pretty much the case all of last year and most of this winter.
Well, this week we had a true snowfall. Just like back home. Big fluffy flakes, that ended up being about 5-8cm accumulation. Needless to say, the town shut down. The streets were deserted, next to no pedestrians, and a couple of friends emailed to check that I was alright. So very kind of them, but did I mention that it was between 2 & 3 inches worth, at most? But by this morning I could see the gritters had been out, as Scout & I headed out for our morning walk (only the second time I’ve worn my traction soles since arriving).
It was a very quiet walk – next to no one was out. What I could not get over was how beautiful everything was. I thought I had seen Orkney at its best, but this morning’s sunshine on the snow turned the town and the countryside into something magical. Snowcaps on the drystane walls, the bluest skies imaginable, and crocuses and snowdrops peeking up through the snow.
The snow is pretty wet now (it’s 3° and sunny) so it won’t last, and I know several of my friends found this a great inconvenience, but I am so glad I got to see one true snowfall here in Orkney.
When my Canadian/American/English friends were here last week, we were making more home vs here comparisons, particularly around food.
We all agreed the passion for wrapping everything in the produce section in plastic was annoying. (And just plain wrong. Reduce, people, reduce.) And I’m someone who already thinks we over-wrap in Canada; just imagine how bad it must be here.
With packaged foods, the amount (weight, volume) is always on the back. Why? What are they hiding? On the other hand, supermarkets here are much more diligent when it comes to the cost/unit calculations – they are clearly marked on every price card on every shelf. (Of course, that could just be a Tesco vs Longos/Loblaw thingy. But the ‘don’t tell them how much it weighs’ labelling is universal here.
All over-the-counter pills come in blister packs. All. Again, what an utter waste of packaging.
And on the other other hand, allergens are clearly marked, not only in grocery stores, but also on restaurant menus.
My friends left today, heading home to Oxford via Stirling & Lindisfarne (they love history). We had a great visit – their first and last days here were sunny (!) and no rain the entire time (!!!). We went to tourist sites I’d seen before, as well as some I hadn’t. The most remarkable of those was Maes Howe.
I had walked around it before, but never gone in (that’s actually been the theme of more than one of my holidays in the past: Saw It, Didn’t Go In). But this time, I did go in. It is accessible by tour only – a tour guide drives your group to the site, a hillock in the middle of a field; then unlocks a tunnel that you hunch your way through; and gives a 40-minute talk on the amazing chamber inside. Cathy & Mike say it was the highlight of their trip, and I think I have to agree that it is one of the most impressive things I’ve seen since coming to Orkney. It was built 5,000 years ago, in such a way that the sun on the winter solstice shines directly into the chamber (assuming it’s sunny on the 21st of December, a hit-or-miss proposition). It was then sealed and forgotten for a few millenia until Norsemen found and plundered it – there is actual Viking grafitti, some of which is quite vulgar, and one or two which basically translate to “Thor was here“.
But the best part of the tour, bar none, was our tour guide, Sarah. Really, a tour guide can make or break your experience, and she was amazing.
** Note: I think my friends would agree on the worst part of their visit to Orkney: my shower. It was a roller-coaster of a rinsing ride this week; their showers ranged from boiling to frosty, with little opportunity for the user to make changes to the temperature. Not a very nice way to start each day.
No, not that AA. Very funny. When my car wouldn’t start on Sunday, it occurred to me – I have Automotive Assistance! Rather than waiting for a mechanic on Monday, I could call The AA and get the car looked after right away (altho a part of me did think, well, they’ll still have to take it to a mechanic, so odds are it won’t be fixed today anyway).
Called their 0-800 number, and was advised that if this wasn’t a highway accident or breakdown, I had to use their website to report my breakdown. Okay, fine. Keyed everything in and got a reply: Based on your input, it seems that you are reporting from you own home. You are not covered for assistance for any breakdowns within a 1/4 mile of your home address. Really? Well that’s just splendid. I’m sure CAA doesn’t work like that.
Cathy & Mike did offer to help push my car 3/8 of a mile from my house, and we could try again, but that seemed. silly.
I mentioned that last month the bakery and produce shelves in Tesco were bare, no doubt due to Orkney’s ferries’ inability to sail in inclement weather. Which was true. But as you may have noticed, the rest of Britain is in an uproar at the moment, because produce shelves are bare, most obviously, tomatoes, all across the nation. (As well as tomatoes, there is a shortage of leafy vegetables, cucumbers, and beans, just to name a few.)
There’s a variety of reasons why there is a vegetable shortage here: everything from the weather in Europe and North Africa, to the war in Ukraine and its impact on power generation, to reduced farm labour here in the UK, to . . . . Brexit. That’s the biggie. As a result, major grocers are limiting customers’ purchases, and the prices of many items have shot up.
Late last week the less-than-admired Environment Minister came up with a solution for Brits: eat turnips instead of tomatoes. As you can imagine, this did not go down well with the general populace, and some of the backlash has been quite funny. I come from a turnip-loving family (Blackadder fans will consider that an intriguing statement), but even I see what a stupid comment that was.
And, funnily enough, as of this morning, English grocery stores are now reporting a shortage of turnips. Oh dear.
Years ago, LL and I decided to do a road trip around southwestern Ontario. I was going to sell my Mini Cooper, and we thought that before it went, we’d load the dogs and some luggage into the car and spend three days tooling around Woodstock, Ingersoll, and Port Dover (it was more fun that that might sound). We headed out in the morning: I was driving, Lori had the map/GPS, and a Standard Doodle and an Old English Sheepdog were settled in the boot. We had a lovely lunch on a patio in Woodstock, and then I reached for my wallet. (LL knows where this is going). No wallet. No wallet, no drivers license, no credit cards. Oops. For the next three days, Lori did all the driving, and paid all the bills. It really was an accident, honest.
Broch of Gurness
My friends arrived yesterday afternoon. After having driven 800 miles in two days – and Mike only just got his UK licence after months of no driving and Cathy is still waiting on hers (all to do with the complexities of US/UK driving laws) – he was going to have to get back behind the wheel, as my car still wouldn’t start. I assured him it would only be for the afternoon, as the mechanics are very prompt here on Orkney. We drove (and by ‘we drove’ I mean ‘he drove’ to the Broch of Gurness where we wandered around, then drove across the island to see the Standing Stones of Stenness as the sun set. Then off to Tesco to pick up dinner and supplies for the week.
Got out of the car at Tesco – where was my debit card? I searched every pocket of my jacket, and down the sides of the seat, but no card. So Mike had to pay for my groceries. And, as there was no card lying around my house, I’ve had to cancel it and order a new one (5 days to arrive), and now Mike is paying for everything this week. I think it fell out of my hip pocket when I took my phone out to take some pictures at the Broch – it was an accident. Oh, and the mechanic can’t get to my car today. So Mike has to keep driving us around Orkney (he will also be driving 800 miles home later in the week).
What I have here is a life-long (well, six year old) system of testing and taking advantage of my friends’ good nature as a way of validating their love for me. As Freud said, there are no accidents.
Friends from Oxford (originally from London Ontario – go South Lions) are coming for a few days. I’ve got a list of things to see and do, starting with the Cathedral this afternoon, followed by a walk with the dogs at the Broch of Gurness (they like history – that is, Cathy & Mike do. The dogs are indifferent.). Woke up to sunshine and a great forecast – all systems go.
Well, except my car won’t start. I assume it’s the cold weather – hoping as the day progresses the engine will warm up and the problem will be resolved. So I can’t get groceries before they arrive. Oh well, we’ll all go together when they get here.
Just checked the Cathedral – turns out it only opens on Sunday afternoons in the summer (for the tourists). Okay, well Tesco can replace touring the church. Groceries over God.
I had warned them that in inclement weather the ferries can be hit or miss. But that’s okay – as I said, it’s a beautiful day here. Ah, no, just got an email from them – the ferry has been cancelled due to mechanical issues. Great. But wait, they’ve changed direction and will make it just in time to the ferry out of John O’Groats. Whew – crisis averted.
Last month I talked about the fact that I was becoming housebound and was determined to change that. Then I got COVID, setting me back into settling down. This inertia wasn’t just laziness, although that’s what I said at the time. It was worse than that. I won’t say I was depressed, because that’s not fair to people truly dealing with medical depression – it was more like a lethargy, a lack of interest and energy. I had stopped exploring different parts of Orkney, I wasn’t replying to friends’ emails, I wasn’t going out for lunch or dinner, I was just staying in all day, watching movies. You know that flower arranging evening that I enjoyed so much? I came this close to calling my friend and saying I couldn’t come, just ‘cause I couldn’t be bothered. (Glad I didn’t.)
St Magnus at Sunrise
I didn’t like how I was feeling, so I did what I always do when I need a boost – I looked for external stimuli to get me back up and out. I know, I know, we should find our motivation from within. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that’s not so for me; I’ve said it before: sometimes I just need to watch a video or read a book to get back up-and-at-it. (In fact, this is one of the reasons I’m sure it wasn’t depression – true depression is not resolved with a self-help book.) During the first lockdown, my sister told me about a book she was enjoying, The Productivity Project, by Canadian author Chris Bailey. Some of the takeaways from that book are things I still do today, pretty much every day, which help me stay focused and productive when I need to be. Well, last year, the same sister told me about another book, Atomic Habits, which was all the rage. Excellent, just what I needed. I started listening to the audiobook on my walks with Scout a few weeks ago. There are a lot of good ideas, some of which appeal to me, and some of which just aren’t my cup of tea. But that’s the thing about these books, you don’t have to embrace them fully; you can just pick the one or two or three things that resonate for you.
A couple of the ideas that author James Clear talks about are: habit stacking and improving things by one percent per day. Well, I spent a lot of time thinking about these ideas, and my current daily pattern, and re-listening to chapters of the book, then I decided what changes I was going to make.
And it worked. The changes I’ve made are going to sound so mundane to you, but I can honestly say that in the last three weeks I have been busier, having more fun, and getting more done. For example, instead of having my morning tea before going for a walk, we now head out as soon as I get out of bed (the dog, you can imagine, is delighted). The results of this are: by the time I walk, get home & have tea, and read the news, it’s still before 9 a.m. and I’m raring to get things done, around the house, or out with friends. This is a photo I took on one of these walks of the cathedral just before sunrise – absolutely beautiful. We’ve checked out parts of Orkney I hadn’t seen before – this walk to the Covenanters Memorial (below) was exhilarating. And on Saturday night, I took the bus to Stromness, had an amazing dinner of scallops, lobster, and rhubarb pie (all local) and bussed home (the bus was so I could have wine). Well, so what, you think? How is forcing yourself to go out for dinner a big deal – you do that all the time. Yes, but this time, because I wasn’t driving, on the way home I saw the Northern Lights. Wouldn’t have seen that if I’d been sitting watching Netflix. (I didn’t get a photo through the bus window, they were just a greeny line along the horizon. But still.)
