Tuesday was work. Only Ady and I this time which was far better, no being cornered by Clare talking. We had two final bunk beds to dismantle and the rooms to hoover clean afterwards so I did the beds while Ady did the hoovering. Then we went through the two kitchens and reduced the crockery, cutlery, pots and pans and utensils down to smaller numbers to reflect the reduced bed numbers.
I had plans for weeding in the afternoon but never got there as I was busy baking an army of flatbreads ready for market day the following day.
Wednesday was said Market Day. Fliss, Ali and I have agreed to take on the Wednesday teashop between us too as we are there anyway for the market day. This week all three of us were there, usually it will probably be just two of us but I am there for all of them… ah well. We took a fair bit of cash, Fliss bought soup and rolls and scones, Ali bought cakes and I bought the flat breads. We shared the tea and coffee takings. I think I made about £40. I also managed to sell 4 of Davies’ postcards by chatting to someone about them. Ali sold loads of jam and I probably would have done too except I have sold out of jam already this season despite making loads and loads last year. It has been flying out of the honesty larder at the croft gate and now I am desperately checking bramble bushes for progress despite it being a full six weeks at least away before there will be anything to pick.
Then Ali and I went off to a meeting with SNH bods. Sandy was here on Rum for a few days, it didn’t go well apparently 🙁 I didn’t actually see him but Ady did and was glad to have done. The SNH meeting went well. Got home about 6pm and was knackered from a long day.
Thursday – Sheerwater trip. We saw a few porpoises and there are slightly more seabirds around. We saw a sea eagle being mobbed by a smaller birds just off the coast of Rum but it was still far from the exciting cetacean encounters we have enjoyed in previous Julys.
When we got back to the croft I tried to do some weeding but it was too midgey really. We went down to the shop for a beer or two as various folk are over visiting (Jinty’s sister, Bad Neil’s brother) so it was nice and sociable.
Friday – Another meeting, this time the first drafting of the IRCT business plan for the coming 5 years as the current one ends at the end of 2015. A good morning thrashing stuff out and some real positive stuff came from it. Slightly tarnished later today when an email has gone round requesting an emergency meeting about housing next week. In that zone of spending too much time and energy on trust stuff again just now, need to balance it against the good crofting stuff but it’s rained non stop all day today which never helps.
Pizza and Doctor Who tonight. Despite still raining heavily (and being cold and damp enough to light the fire for an hour or so this evening) the sky is really bright and glowing above the clouds.