91热爆

On Boxing Day we were being taken by some friends for a lunchtime
drink at their cottage in Lower Whitehall when we came across a lovely
sight. Margareth, one of the island's nurses, was doing a passable
imitation of "Heidi" by taking her goats Lara, Naomi and Frivolous for a
walk along the quiet road at the far end of Whitehall village. The goats
were very well behaved and obediently moved off the road and waited
until we had passed before continuing their perambulation.
'The Orcadian' newspaper reports that Orkney was one of the warmest
parts of the UK in December 2005, the highest maximum temperature topped
12.5 degrees C on December 10. The first few days of 2006 were bright
and clear but very cold. After a pleasant, quiet Christmas, both Maureen
and I succumbed to the winter cold virus. Fortunately we were well
stocked with proprietary cold remedies so we took to our beds at 10 pm
on New Years Eve and waited for the virus to run its course.
Unfortunately the sniffles meant that I was unable to play for the 11 am
service on 01 January.
The car was off the road for a week or two over the New Year as a
cracked hose was causing a serious leak of transmission oil. One
lunchtime I ordered some spare transmission oil from Kirkwall and the
package was delivered to our door by Jim Holland, our trusty haulier, at
7 30 pm - just under eight hours from order to receipt, the usual
excellent service to which we have become accustomed. I had booked the
car & myself onto the 0730 ferry on Fri 06 Jan, booked Surrey (our cat)
into the Kirkwall vet at 0945 to receive her annual vaccination booster
and booked the car into the garage in Stromness for 1030 to get the hose
replaced. I was up early on Fri 06 Jan, had breakfast, got Surrey into
her luxury travelling box and got her settled in the car. When I tried
to start the car to drive down to the ferry I discovered that the
battery was flat! Panic telephone calls brought immediate assistance
from Bob Wilcox and Viv Erdman, the car was soon started and Surrey & I
caught the 0730 ferry .As I was still recovering from my cold and
therefore even more dopey than usual I was concerned that I might mix up
the bookings and leave a bewildered cat at the garage and give a
startled vet a Landrover Discovery for vaccination. However, all went
well and Surrey is safe for another year whilst the car is running
smoothly again.
In my last Saga I mentioned the visit by Santa on 17 Dec. "Orkney
Today" newspaper has produced more information on the visit. The
wonderful sleigh and reindeer float were prepared by Yvonne and Steve
Weaver and club helpers, and it was driven by Ingram Stout. As Santa
paraded down through the village the youth club children accompanied him
collecting money for Macmillan Cancer Relief as they went. The club had
voted to raise money for charity this year instead of for their own
group. 拢140.75 was raised for Macmillan. After the parade everyone
gathered in the Stronsay Hotel where carols were sung accompanied by
Andy Brown on keyboard. Lee Caithness representing the Youth Club gave a
vote of thanks to everyone who had helped towards the event with special
thanks to Santa, who received presents for his hard work and to Alan and
Carol Cooke of the Stronsay Hotel for providing hot dogs, crisps, sweets
and juice for all the children.