91热爆

It was only after I had sent off the latest Saga on Sunday 08 January that I discovered the reason for all the police cars in Finstown on the previous Friday when I was driving to and from Stromness. It seems that on the Thursday evening a man had shot his wife then turned the shotgun on himself. Both were local people, terribly sad for all concerned but, fortunately, a most unusual event for Orkney.

In the middle of January our elderly oil-fired boiler and kitchen stove finally gave up the struggle and ceased to work. A new boiler soon arrived from Kirkwall and Jim Holland, our local haulier, manhandled the packing case into our utility room to await the arrival of a plumber to remove the old boiler and fit the new one. Fortunately the local plumber was able to find some time for us in his schedule but he is such a busy chap that he could only work at the job for the occasional day here and there. However, yesterday evening (Wed 01 Feb) the new boiler started working for its living. The house is now warm and cosy again with the exception of the kitchen which is quite cool because the new boiler has no "waste" heat like the old stove, a new radiator in the kitchen is the next priority.

Whilst the boiler was out of action we relied upon portable Calorgas stoves and the solid-fuel fire in the lounge to keep us from freezing. Of course, it was during this time that we had a cold snap and our first "white over" frost. One evening as we were coming out of the community centre at 9:30 pm we were amazed to find it was so crisp and clear that we could see individual street lights in Kirkwall almost 12 miles away.

When we lived in Brora, Sutherland in the 1970s the Church of Scotland minister emigrated to Australia. 30 years later we got in touch on the Internet and have exchanged emails for the last year or two. One day towards the end of January we a got telephone call from his son to say that he was on the Kirkwall to Stronsay and would be arriving at about 6:30 pm. We knew he was visiting Orkney (where his father had been a minister) but did not think he would have time to visit us. We had no beds aired or made up and our oil-fired stove was still out of action. Maureen swung into action and a bed was soon made up, the electric fan-heater was switched and we were ready to receive our visitor. At 5 pm, we got a telephone call from Stronsay harbour master to say that the ferry had turned back to Kirkwall because of mechanical problems. This ferry was the one that would have stayed overnight in Stronsay and was the ferry that I would have caught at 7 am to go to Kirkwall to get the car exhaust fixed in Stromness. As this is the refit period there only two boats in use instead of the usual three so we expected the ferry timetable to be re-shuffled. However, the harbour master telephoned back later to say that the ferry company hoped to have a boat at Stronsay between 07:00 am and 07:15. Sure enough, the ferry arrived at Stronsay quay at 7 am, having left Kirkwall at 5:30 am! I got the car exhaust fixed and managed to meet the minister's son for a drink before the ferry to Stronsay left at 4 pm.

There are many pleasant distractions on Stronsay. Yesterday I saw two black lambs as I drove to the shop (my first early lambs this year) and we heard Surrey "growl" for the first time - Surrey's growl occurred as she was sat looking out of the kitchen window at two other cats squaring up for a fight and miaowing furiously at each other. As we were driving back from the kirk last Sunday we stopped the car a few yards from the house and parked so that we could watch some seals basking on the rocks that were being exposed as the tide ebbed. However, later that day and halfway through cooking Sunday lunch the Calorgas bottle feeding the cooker ran out. It was only then that I realised that I had forgotten to replenish the spare Calorgas bottle.