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The hairdresser flew over to Stronsay for her regular, monthly visit in early November. The poor girl was still recovering after spending several days in bed because of a rather nasty tummy bug and had brought everything that she needed with the exception of her rollers. At first it looked as though Maureen's planned perm was not going to be possible but we managed to borrow some from the island's registrar who, as luck would have it, just happened to be in need of a bit of help from me to sort out a small problem with her computer.
A few weeks ago we endured 80-mph winds. All schools & colleges were closed for the day, there was no public transport on the mainland whilst all ferries and even the regular Loganair flights to the Northern Isles were cancelled for the day. The Churchill Barriers on mainland remained closed until the afternoon. Here on Stronsay we just battened everything down and stayed indoors. The electricity went off at mid-day because both sides of the ring circuit feeding the North Isles developed faults. Some parts of island got power back during the evening but Whitehall village (about 70 homes, including ours!) had no power until mid-morning next day engineers came over from mainland on the early morning ferry to fix the problem. A very apologetic chap from Scottish Hydro Electric phoned at teatime, just as the wind was at its worst, to tell us power would be off until the following day. It was only a few days earlier that I'd replenished our supply of butane gas bottles that we use for the cooker and the emergency portable heaters and, like all islanders, we always have plenty of candles, matches, torches and spare batteries. We also have a small radio that can be powered by clockwork if the batteries run down but I've found that it's hard work winding the handle to give just a few minutes listening time.
Malcolm, our regular handyman, has some "call ducks"; these are very small ducks, originally known as Coy ducks or decoy ducks from the Dutch word de kooi meaning 'trap'. After the 80-mph winds Malcolm found that one of his call ducks was missing. The missing duck was eventually discovered happily swimming on a pond half a mile away but so far it has eluded all efforts to return it to Malcolm's place. The other call ducks are probably quite happy about the absence as the missing duck appeared to be a self-appointed "foreman of ducks" and was always making lots of noise; since it's gone missing the other ducks are much quieter. Malcolm lost most of the tarred roofing on one of his outhouses forcing him to make a quick water-tight replacement for winter before "proper" replacement takes place next spring. Another result of the high winds was that Paul, another handyman who also keeps hens, has found that his hens resolutely refuse to leave their hen-house despite Paul tempting them to leave by placing tasty scraps just outside the hen-house.
Remembrance Sunday was bitterly cold and windy with heavy showers so we didn't go to the 11 am service at the war memorial but went straight to the kirk, observed the 2 minute silence there and waited until everyone came back for the service which started at 11.20 am.
Work on Maureen's "medieval hall" is progressing nicely. The roof is watertight and the internal plasterboarding is almost complete. Jobs remaining include fitting replacement doors and windows (scheduled for December), papering and painting of the walls & ceiling followed by laying of carpet tiles. We had hoped to have it finished by Christmas but this seems increasingly unlikely.
Surrey, our pure white cat, has definitely lost a bit of weight (thank goodness!) so I was not unduly concerned about being reprimanded for over-feeding Surrey when I took her to the vet in Kirkwall for her innoculations last month. The vet reported that Surrey has a bit of gingivitis and gave us some toothpaste (fish flavoured) which we are supposed to apply to Surrey's gums. Quite how we are supposed to do this without sustaining serious, life-threatening injury was not explained.
We saw a heron in Whitehall harbour the other week, quite an impressive creature that did not seem bothered by the intense cold. Maureen was delighted to see a very smart looking robin in our garden on two separate occasions.
Orkney Ferries crews are still on a "work to rule" which makes visits to mainland a tricky business when ferries are cancelled or re-timed at short notice. It can also make the regular Monday trips by Michael Lee, the tutor for the evening class in singing, take well over two hours instead of the usual 90 minutes or so. Discussions between the union and Orkney Ferries are still taking place but an end to the dispute seems as far away as ever.
The Very Rev Dr Robert (Bob) Gillies, newly appointed Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney, paid a flying visit to Stronsay last week. He arrived on the morning flight and left on the afternoon flight. He spent some time with Rev David Bowen, a schoolteacher & Anglican NSM who retired up here with his wife, Ruth, (another schoolteacher) earlier this year. The bishop had lunch with David, Ruth & our minister, Jennifer, before adjourning to the church hall for an hour in the afternoon so that any of the island's inhabitants who wanted to could meet him and chat before he caught the afternoon flight back to mainland. He's a very pleasant chap, not all stuffy or stand-offish. When our minister, Rev Dr Jennifer George, showed him around the kirk, he expressed amazement at its size and architecture, which he described as "monastic". Before I forget, Jennifer held a special birthday party (to which all were invited) at the Fish Mart cafe in Whitehall village to celebrate her 40th birthday on Wed 14 Nov.
Several weeks ago I was notified that I had an appointment at Balfour hospital (Kirkwall) on 29 November at 10 am. Normally I would have asked for the appointment to be moved towards lunchtime, as it isn't possible to get into Kirkwall before 10 am. However, the car was due for its annual maintenance check so I travelled to Kirkwall the day before my hospital appointment, left the car with the garage then stayed the night in Kirkwall before going to Balfour hospital for my 10 am appointment. The ENT specialist was very helpful when I said that I'd like to take him up on his previous offer of a hearing aid for my right ear. The audiologist made a plastic mould of my ear and said I'd get a letter in January when my new hearing aid will be ready. That will mean another trip to Kirkwall and, as the ferries will then be on their refit timetable, I think I'll take the plane; a 10-minute flight is much better than a 2.5 hours boat trip.
We have heard reports on the radio and read in the newspapers that "petrol has reached one pound per litre". This made us smile wryly, as petrol on Stronsay has been at least one pound per litre for some considerable time. Last month the Orcadian newspaper reported that the average price of a litre of unleaded petrol in Orkney was 1.15 pounds (about 2.30 US dollars) with diesel at 1.18 pounds (about 2.36 US dollars). Last month, after our latest delivery of heating oil, I checked the price and was shocked to find that the cost of heating oil had gone from 22 pence per litre to 44 pence per litre since we arrived here in April 2004.

Bruce Fletcher
Claremont, Stronsay, Orkney KW17 2AR

This will be the last Fletcher Saga for 2007. Maureen and myself (not forgetting Surrey, our white cat) hope that all of our readers have a pleasant Christmas and a very happy and healthy New Year. I'd also like to thank the patient readers who have sent emails and/or comments on my ramblings. Any feedback, be it brickbats or bouquets, is always very welcome.
The 11 am service at Stronsay's kirk on 15 December was rather different. The congregation was invited to follow the children between the kirk to the church hall as they re-enacted the story of the Nativity, complete with costumes and very realistic "props". I didn't see all of the performance as I was busy preparing for each hymn but Maureen tells me that the costumes were very good indeed and that there was a rather splendid camel. The "guiding star", affixed to the top of a very long pole, entered the kirk via the main door and was passed, hand to hand, through the congregation and followed by the shepherds and the magi. As the offertory was taken at the same time people had the tricky task of passing on the "star" whilst simultaneously getting their collection money out of their pocket, handbag or wallet. The shepherd's "fire" was simple (a red electric light bulb under some foliage) but very realistic; one young shepherd had to resort to a bit of improvisation when he went to stamp out the "fire" before setting out to follow the star because there was a slight lack of synchronisation between his actions and the person responsible for turning off the red bulb.
The air ambulance for the Northern Isles used to be provided by Loganair's fixed-wing aircraft from Kirkwall, the same aircraft and crews that provide the regular daily ferry service. However, the air ambulance for the last year or two has been a helicopter which has to travel up from Inverness.This, it was claimed, is a more effective and efficient use of resources. There have been concerns that the service is not as good as it used to be so a petition was drawn up and signed by most households in the Inner and Outer Isles. It was handed to the new chairman of the Scottish Ambulance Service early Dec who has promised to pay a visit to Orkney in the New Year to discuss the concerns.
We were delighted that an agreement was been reached in December on the pay award for the crews of Orkney Ferries. It would have been dreadful to have the refit timetable commencing in January whilst still being subject to the uncertainties caused by the work to rule.
I took the car into Kirkwall for servicing a couple of weeks ago and, having some spare time, went into the Kirkwall Library's excellent and comprehensive archive to look up our house in the the valuation rolls. Claremont was built by Peter Lennie in 1914 as a "shop and house" becoming a "shop, house and bakehouse" in 1926. The name Claremont did not appear in the rolls until 1931 when it was owned by Peter Reid in 1925-39 and his widow, Robina, in 1939-46. In 1946 it became a "house and garden" owned by Mrs Elizabeth H Swanney and in 1957 has a garage that was run as a seperate entity by "Sydney Swanney, motor engineer". Unfortunately the valuation rolls are no longer useful after 1990 because they only show commercial property. When we were talking to Jimmy Allan, the builder, about the history of Claremont and the recent history of Stronsay Jimmy told us that a few years after WW2 he was a youngster living in the south of Stronsay; for him a visit to Whitehall village, only 4 or 5 miles away, was a rare event undertaken once or twice a year at most, and the journey was made in a horse and cart. How times change.
The new doors and windows for Maureen's "medieval" hall arrived a couple of weeks ago and Jimmy Allan is in the middle of fitting them. The wallpaper has arrived but we won't be able to have a Grand Christmas Opening as the wallpaper still to be hung and painted when Jimmy has finished work on the doors and windows. And we still have to order the paint and a new carpet.
We were quite concerned when the phone rang at 10:30 pm on 10 Dec. Phone calls at that time of day tend to convey bad news and the call was from Sue, Stronsay's postmistress, who lives with her mother. We were relieved to find that the phone call was not bad news but merely Sue letting us know that the Merry Dancers (Aurora Borealis) were clearly visible over Sanday. We went outside to view the display which was easily visible in a crystal-clear, moonless sky. However, we didn't think that it was quite as dramatic as some previous displays that we've seen.
Tim Barthorpe who lives in Stromness has a but I am quite sure that Surrey, our white cat, will be not be getting her very own webcam from Santa Claus this year. Although Surrey has an extensive collection of toys she has spent the last week or two ignoring them all and has spent most of her time playing with a old, scrunched-up piece of aluminium cooking foil. Now that Surrey has lost a bit of weight Maureen has noticed that Surrey's legs are somewhat "wrinkled" - perhaps we'll have to nickname her Nora after the character in "Last of the Summer Wine".
Best wishes to everyone from all of us at Claremont on Stronsay.