I hate conflict. I find it so draining that I feel physically exhausted by it. This week I have dealt with the lead up to, execution of, and aftermath of a discplinary hearing, been copied in on a really stroppy email about not moving things in the hall and finally today heard two sides (always know there is the third side to every story – ie the truth!) of an incident last night which led to the police being called and an assault reported which will probably mean a visit from the police to the island and will still probably not go away.
Sadly every single one of the above involved Mike the ranger 🙁 He has been such a good friend to us, Davies and Scarlett adore him and Ady and I think the world of him too but he needs to leave now. He is out of his house but clinging to his job which he is not even doing properly any more, just kicking around carrying out what he obviously feels is unfinished business with various people and becoming daily more paranoid, bitter and frankly unhinged. I wish he’d just leave. Just go to where Casey is waiting for him to start their new life together on the mainland and put his time here on Rum into perspective so he can be proud of all he’s achieved, remember the great and good bits and forget all the little niggly things which is all he seems to have left to focus on now.
After I got into bed last night having taken my contact lenses out and everything I remembered I had promised to make cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Sunday, way back on about Tuesday. So I got back up, found a pair of glasses so I could see (I have about 3 pairs, all different prescriptions, all unworn and only kept incase we need to evacuate at night so I can shove a pair of glasses on and see rather than stumble around trying to find lenses) and made the dough.
This morning I read in bed for a while – a Jodi Picoult about the Holocaust which is very haunting and probably has not helped my frame of mind as it’s been my bedtime reading matter all week. Then got up and made the cinnamon rolls. We all had breakfast and then Ady and I loaded up the wagon and headed down to the pier with our recycling. We met Mel and Vikki and then Gav and Laura along the way and learnt that Gav and Mike had had an altercation last night. At the pier we learnt from various other people that the version of events Mike was telling was rather different to what Gav had told us and then we bumped into Mike on the way back from the pier and indeed his version is different. Sigh.
We came home via the shop where some parcels had arrived for us. Back home for some lunch and then I did a load of laundry and Ady and I walked along to Gav & Laura’s to look at the new path Gav has been building.
Ady cooked a lovely roast dinner and we watched a couple of episodes of Friends. We have a good long job list for this week and only a couple of things which will take us away from the croft and down to the village – Wednesday, Friday and Sunday should be all day long up here which will be great, particularly if the forecast weather holds true and we have some sunshine.