One word? When seven would do…

When we arrived back on Rum on Monday we were met at the pier by Emily with Bonnie which always heightens the level of crazy.

Stepping off the ferry with us were the first half of the TV crew and our first 2 volunteers of the year – Jen and Ivan.  Jen found us through the blog, Ivan is a WWOOFer mid way through a year long WWOOFing adventure around the UK from France. I really tried to put him off coming when he first approached us but am glad he was so insistent as he is great, really interesting and spent a month at Bryn Mawr, our crazy Welsh mountain hosts from our travels.

I walked back with Jen and her bike, the kids walked with Bonnie, Ady drove with Ivan. We all kept catching up with each other and the crew so did the walking tour along the way. We stopped at the bunkhouse where the crew were staying and arranged to catch up with them again later after we’d settled the WWOOFers. We had a a cup of tea and some food with them and chatted about expectations, working hours, food arrangements and stuff, gave them a tour of the croft and then left them to set up their tents. Davies and Scarlett stayed home to catch their breath back a bit after the madness. Ady and I went down to fetch the crew up to the croft.

We did the walk of the caravan for them, well actually Ady did that with Jo and Niamh while Kate and I walked ahead and chatted about life in general. Her and her wife have a 16 month old daughter and Kate was talking about finding it hard to be away from them. We chatted about parenting stuff in general and bonded a bit over shared ideas. We walked down to the village with them and had a beer before going back with them to the bunkhouse for dinner.

Tuesday was a bit of a mish mash day. The crew were up with us by 10ish while we had set Ivan and Jen off with the house plot digging. They have done an amazing job of it this week and finished the whole footprint dig out. I am so pleased that my calculation of a week was right for that, also that while Ady and I have been so utterly consumed with the filming this week we have been replaced with two other people digging in our places so have not actually lost time on the house plot. There was lots of chatting with the crew, scouting locations and looking around the croft. We had lunch with the volunteers and then Ady and I went down to see the crew for schedule info for the following day. We called in for a cup of tea with Fliss on the way back to the croft.

Wednesday morning we were both working at the hostel. After work we came home for lunch and I started making pies as the crew had ordered 14 from me plus we thought we could have pie for dinner ourselves that evening. While I was still in the process of baking them all and Scarlett was doing a fine job of egg washing them the crew turned up, along with the sound man, camera man and camera assistant who had all arrived on the ferry. We all introduced ourselves, some more scoping of locations was done and then we joined them for a beer at the shop.

Thursday was the start of filming. The morning was spent feeding the birds up and down the croft hill getting all the shots of them flying down and following Ady back up. I was filmed digging over a raised bed and talking to the camera, Ady was filmed with the pigs and then I did a tour of the caravan inside.

Friday morning was Ady talking about where we used to get our water from, checking the burn and water filter, the kids giving the tour of their bedrooms and me chopping firewood. Up til that point I think they had all assumed I was a bit girly with my painted nails and my action hero husband doing everything while I baked bread and ‘home schooled’ the children. I did warn them to stand back but they did all take another step back when I started swinging the axe 😉  We went to meet the boat and Ady was filmed down at the pier. In the evening we went for a beer at the shop in the sunshine and then I went to help Fliss as she had the entire crew for dinner at her house and wanted some assistance and company. Had a really nice couple of hours with her / them before walking home for a late dinner.

Saturday was work in the morning for me at the shop  / post office and Ady at the hostel and we were both filmed in our various locations. I met Ady from work and we came home for some lunch just before the crew followed us up. I had my big solo back story interview.

Today was Ady’s back story which I got sent away from because he kept looking at me rather than Kate the producer! They then filmed Ady and I bringing in some firewood and chatting, all four of us walking around the croft, me fixing a fence and checking the fruit trees, the kids playing with Bonnie and in the river, Ady walking across the croft.

It’s all been really disruptive in terms of food, knowing what is happening when and there has been a bit of hostility towards the crew from some people in the village although more to do with media generally than them as individuals. Sigh. It has also been a really interesting thing to do, we have all learned loads about how TV is made, the kids have got loads out of that side of it. The crew are all really nice and a pleasure to have around chatting. Mostly though it will be a great momento of this adventure and this part of our lives which is why we have done it. Tomorrow Ben arrives…

Can’t even recall what happened last week… I know Ady & I worked on Wednesday morning at the castle / hostel. I know there was lots of rain. That might be about it.

On Thursday we all went off to Muck for the day. It was a lovely day out. the weather was fab and we went on the Orion which on a good day is a fab boat trip. We met at the pier and going from Rum  was the four of us, Fliss, Sean and Eve. While waiting for the boat to come we stood on the pier watching starfish. Already on the boat were Steve the Man, Allan our councillor and chair of IRCT, Stewart from SNH and a whole load of fish farm folk. The purpose of the trip was to take us to see the Marine Harvest fish farm which has been installed just off the Isle of Muck. In exchange for this happening the island has had load of help and support from MH including building 3 new houses, creating new jobs, a cash injection each year to their community funds and loads of practical help with stuff like loaning use of MH big machines like manitou and fork lift, help with stuff like getting diesel and gas bottles brought across on the MH boat and even lifts to and from the mainland for people from Muck. I began the day fairly anti fish farms but learnt loads, was shown the high tech barge which controls the feeding, saw first hand the difference it has made to Muck and talked to the people there about it and left feeling rather different.

We had a tour of the farm, saw the barge which controls the nets and the feed, actually walked out onto one of the farms to feed the fish and then went onto Muck for lunch and a meet and greet with some of the people there. We stayed for a few hours before heading back to Rum seeing our first manx shearwaters of the year and just having a great day out.

In the evening it was the monthly community meeting.

On Saturday we were off to MainlandLand for the weekend. A super secret surprise to celebrate Jenna’s birthday = Jenna being the friend that Davies and Scarlett made at Outward Bound and have been skyping with pretty much every night since. Her mum, Alison, contacted me to say it would be a great birthday surprise if we could come over and stay so we did. A feat of logistics and poor timing given the craziness of our coming week but a lovely thing to do nonetheless. So off for the 5 hour cruise of all the islands on the Calmac, which thanks to it being a glorious day was actually a very nice way to spend a Saturday morning. Chips, chats with people, some porpoise spotting and then meeting Alison, Iona and Jenna off the boat and seeing Jenna’s surprise 🙂 We popped to the cashpoint and then all loaded into Alison’s people carrier and went back to their’s.

Having settled in we went for a walk to the beach and met up with Leon, Jenna & Iona’s dad who was running a bushcraft survival course on a tiny island off the coast. He canoed back to shore to meet us for birthday cake on the beach before canoeing back again. The beach is adjacent to a graveyard and just as the candles were lit and we were about to start singing Happy Birthday to you we heard bagpipes and a funeral march came into view!!!

Leon headed back to his bushcraft and the rest of us headed back to the house for G&Ts and dinner prep before we went out to a concert , a band called Shooglenifty who are pretty well known and Glenuig is their hometown so a big gig in the village hall. It was funny to realise that Ady & I knew more people there than Alison did! We had a really good time although didn’t stay really late, leaving just after 11. Back for a cup of tea or two before bed.

Sunday was a slower start and Alison made waffles for breakfast. A friend of the girls’ came over to join the kids gang and we all had a long walk out to the beach with a picnic lunch before heading back. It was sunny and gorgeous for the whole weekend which helped a lot and it was so lovely looking at Rum’s imposing skyline in the distance. Leon came back from his course and we had a really good afternoon and evening together with a lovely roast dinner. Early-ish nights all round as Monday was to be an early start.

We joined Jenna on the school bus to Mallaig which got us in with a good hour to spare. That meant time for a CoOp shop and then heading to the Calmac office where we met Jen, our first volunteer. Ady and I left the kids there with all the bags while we headed back into Mallaig for a few more bits and met up with Jo, Kate and Niamh from Renegade Pictures, the TV company doing our filming. We all boarded the ferry together and found Ivan, our French WWOOFer. An uneventful journey across to Rum.

Which is where I leave this post as I am too tired and have an early start in the morning….

I’ve been sleeping really badly the last few nights. A quick mental tally of all the stuff that’s been going on the last week or so had me feeling fairly justified in minor wobbles though. We needed bread and I had exchanged emails with yesterdays visitors who had said they may call in again on their way from Kilmory to the 3pm boat if they had time and I’d promised a fresh supply of cookies if so, so I spent the morning baking. Wraps for lunch, bread dough for later, pastry for a pie for dinner and two sorts of cookies.

We had just sat down to lunch and Beppie and David arrived. To be honest we could have done without that today but we dashed around and made them welcome for the half hour or so they were here. We had been trying to finish the Hell & High Water dvd with Ben Fogle that we have been watching so D&S know who he is. We finally watched the end tonight, I think we have the measure of him and plenty of material with which to rib him when he arrives here which is the important thing 😉

It started to rain while B& D were here and has not actually stopped since. I had arranged to see Fliss at the shop for a beer but could not face the walk down in the wind and rain so we’ll collect the veg tomorrow and have opened a carton of long life milk to see us through til we get some fresh stuff tomorrow.

Scarlett rang Maisie who was not home but I then talked to Julie for a catch up chat, it’s been weeks and weeks. Steak pie for dinner which was lovely and we finally watched the end of the Fogle thing.

Erm… Can’t recall at all the first couple of days but on Good Friday 3rd it was a mad busy Calmac for the first day of the summer timetable. 2pm arrival, it’s always late on the summer Friday boat and this was no exception. There were a fair few of us gathered at the pier waiting for people – and when the ramp came down everyone drew in a breath as there were about 100 people getting off! The most people we have seen in months and months! You forget just how few of us are here for most of the time.

Off came Lesley & Ross who had been off island along with their mum, younger brother and nephew. Off came friends to stay with Sorcha (Fliss’ daughter) who’s 18th birthday it was that very day, off came the band playing a ceilidh that night, a bunkhouse full of guests, a load more for the hostel, the first walkers and campers laden with tents, off came Big Dave and his new girlfriend (not at that point actually his girlfriend yet…) and off came my parents.

There was also a stack of stuff, deliveries for the shop, a load of stuff my parents had loaded on, our animal feed delivery and more. We had driven to the pier in both vehicles so as to let Big Dave drive one with him, Faye (new GF) and everyone’s stuff while we loaded the Jeep up with all of us. We followed him along, and just about managed to get everything up in one trip. We got Mum & Dad unpacked and settled in and then BD and Faye came over for hot cross buns. We had all been debating the ceilidh but the weather was changeable, Mum & Dad were tired from the 2 days travelling and Ady and I were working in the morning. In the end after much discussion we didn’t go down and it turned out neither did BD and Faye.

Saturday morning the weather continued to be poor so Mum & Dad did not have their planned walk down to the village to meet me from work. Instead I had a very quiet morning with Ross & Lesley’s brother reporting on some of the goings on from the night before, Trudi who was on clear up the hall duty, Norman who had not been out, BD and Faye. I walked along to meet Ady and we were home for late lunch. BD and Faye took the Rangerover to Kilmory and arranged to come and call for us for an evening beer.

We all went down for a drink and it was a nice evening with only a few folk out and guitars brought out for some singing. Home for a curry.

Easter Sunday – the kids had chocolate eggs aplenty and then eventually we headed over to the cabin for a late shared breakfast. We all sat on the decking for hours in the sunshine just chatting and soaking up the sun while drinking lots of tea. It was lovely 🙂 We arranged to meet for a beer at the shop before roast pork for dinner back at ours. It was a fab hour or so at the shop in the late afternoon sunshine and everyone was in a great mood. Mum & Dad chatted to Norman for ages and Dad bought him a beer, everyone was on good form. We wandered back to the croft and finished off dinner which I had put on low.

BD and Faye joined us which had seemed like a great idea until I’d realised we didn’t actually have 8 plates or sets of cutlery so hastily Ady fetched some from the horsebox. Dinner was lovely, much fizz was consumed and BD and Faye were by now obviously a couple.

Monday – All the days are merging together but this was the day BD and Faye headed off so Ady and I took them to the pier to wave them off. Ooh it was also the day that Ady fed the animals over at Harris and took Mum and I along for the ride. It was bumpy and I was feeling a little overserved on fizz from the night before but the views were worth it and Mum loved visiting as they have only been to Kilmory previously.

Tuesday – Ady and I worked on  building a new birdhouse, Mum walked lots, Dad ‘helped’ with the birdhouse. It was nice having them here all the time the weather was so lovely and we could all get on with our own stuff outside.

Wednesday – Ady and I both worked in the morning – Ady in the hostel, me doing my first castle tour of the season with Nicola. We had been anticipating up to 60 but in the end it was just 5. Mel was happy for us to still do the tour together and it worked really well. Before the tour we did some sucking flood water out of the castle tower and had a good old chinwag about stuff generally too.  The tour was fun, I do like chatting to tourist and these were a really nice group.

Back home to the croft for lunch and Mum and Dad had decided they would leave that day – the weather was looking iffy for later in the week. We had lunch and then headed down to the pier to wave them off.  As always it’s good to see them, it’s good to wave them goodbye. We had more than the usual share of drama with them this time and indeed their drama continued with all sorts of shenanigans on their way home but I am utterly exhausted by their behaviour and really disinclined to share it all here. Suffice to say some things never change with them and the issues which have mellowed with age have been exacerbated by their growing years in others. Argh!

A lovely evening all to ourselves. 🙂

Thursday – we had a skype call arranged with the producer and director of this Ben Fogle show at 11am. After various internet and tech related messing about we finally had audio and visual contact and had a very long chat with Kate who is lovely. Ady took a phone call in the middle of the skype chat which had him looking rather shocked but we carried on and made some good arrangements for their visit next week. Once we had said goodbye Ady shared with us the news that Norman had been found dead in his house. We were all pretty shocked, although he was not well and had a very poor lifestyle in terms of self care. We had lunch but none of us were really hungry and all felt rather shell shocked. Ady had the doctor and I had semi-organised a meeting with Steve the development officer so I walked down with him. The mood in the village was very strange with lots of residents sat around looking shocked. Lots of cuddling, some tears and inevitably a fair bit of drinking too – island life…. The doctor who had been coming on a routine visit for appointments was taken to Norm’s house to do the death certificate (which he was happy to do, citing no suspicious circumstances and diagnosing a fatal heart attack). The wheels of the after life procedures were all set in motion in official channels, meanwhile islanders started working out the more pressing logistics such as who would take Norman’s dog and thinking about the people we needed to inform from here. Norm has a brother down in Newcastle who the police would inform as next of kin and were very clear they needed to be the ones to do that rather than anyone from here ringing. Until we had heard that had been done we were all a little cautious about spreading the news too far but there are lots of ex residents, regular visitors, friends of Rum and others in the wider local community who knew Norman well so that grapevine started to hum with the news.

Ady saw the doctor and then we came home. Steve followed us up the hill and came in for a cup of tea and chat with me. After some debate Ady and I decided we should all go down for a beer and gathering at the shop which felt fairly inevitable. We were glad we did as when we arrived at the shop there was only Ross, Jinty (the two people who found Norm) and a WPC at the shop, everyone else had gone to the pier as the police boat had brought the funeral directors across to take the body away. Everyone had gathered at the pier, with cans of T (Norm’s drink of choice) to wave him off. We got a lift with Jinty and went to join them. It was very surreal. We went back to the shop, as did lots of others to have a few more drinks and talk about the days events. Sylvia who had a real love hate relationship with Norman either best friends or fallen out with each other in spectacular fashion decided to send a packet of tarragon up attached to a rocket as that had been Norman’s least favourite herb. We stayed until about 10pm and then came home for a stupidly late dinner.

Friday – we were supposed to have a volunteer arriving but she never came off the boat. I have heard from her tonight that she had last minute plan changes and had not got my email address with her to let me know. As it goes it was a bit of a relief really as it’s been an odd few days. We helped Jinty with her delivery which was HUGE, waited for the post and then came home.

I rang my parents for the proper catch up on their epic adventures home and while on the phone to them saw two of our cockerels fighting. They were really going for it and I latterly wished I had tried to break them up as the following morning they were both covered in blood. One was clearly the victor though and the other one knows it, running from him when he comes near which is good as they can just fight to the death with neither giving in. Scarlett found the loser and caged him over night with food and water and he seems ok, just way down the pecking order.

Saturday – work in the morning for us both. Odd to not have Norman in, he was my most regular post office customer. I can’t quite believe he’s dead and I’ll never see him again with his various affectations…

We were home for lunch earlier than usual as Ady had finished earlier. We started watching Hell and High Water, a Ben Fogle documentary so that the kids at least know who he is.  It’s actually pretty good and we’ve all gotten quite into it. Claire came up for a chat and cup of tea. Ady did some work on  the chicken house and I cleaned out the wardrobes in our bedroom, de-moulded them, gathered all of the clothes which stank and put all the stuff which was ok back in again tidily.  Curry for dinner.

Today – I hung all the nasty smelly stuff out on the line to air / rinse. I then took all the netting off the herb spiral and weeded that and the bed which had borage and nasturtian in ready for this year. Ady did more work on the chicken house putting perches and nesting boxes. It was intermittent hail and sunshine so we kept ducking back in and out of the caravan. Finally we called lunch at about 1ish. Just as we sat down and started getting into the Hell & High Water dvd again Bonnie barked and there were Beppie and David. An Australian couple who have been reading the blog for about 2 years, travel a lot and decided to come to Rum to meet us. They have donated to our Masterplan fund and wanted the croft tour. They spent the afternoon with us chatting, drinking tea, had the grand tour of the croft and met the animals, Beppie got bitten by  a goose and they took loads of photos. Always lovely to meet with someone like that, coupled with a bit odd that they know so much about you while you know very little about them. They are just here overnight and seem lovely people though.

It did rather take up all our afternoon though. When they left I got dinner on,  Ady did some more chicken house stuff and then we fed the pigs together before coming in for the evening. I want to create a mini greenhouse so I can at least get a few seedlings started off so we have been debating ideas for that and think we have a plan to have a go with tomorrow. I also want to put a geodesic dome somewhere on the croft in lieu of the ill fated polytunnel, maybe something to do while Ben is here filming…

And that’s me – all caught up, yay!