Monday – In the morning Scarlett and I walked down to the village to buy butter and margarine for baking cookies as she had requested. Ady came part way with us to sort out a sign which had been put up a bit wonky and possibly could lead visitors the wrong way to the croft. We got back and did the cookie baking then had lunch while they cooled. We left Scarlett icing them and Davies chatting to friends online while we met the boat – diesel going off and Big Dave and Faye arriving. We helped load the shop delivery into Jinty’s van and then brought BD and F back to the croft. We helped them up to the cabin with their stuff and stayed for a cup of tea and chat.
There was a community meal in the evening at the Bunkhouse to give people the opportunity to talk to a company who are putting together a report on next possible steps for energy provision on Rum (at the moment it is a hydro powered grid which is owned and run by SNH and also provides water to the village. We are obviously not hooked up to it and further expanding the reach could prove costly for other new builds on the island in the future. SNH currently subsidise the price per unit for electric too and this is not a situation that will continue in the long term). Davies and Scarlett went down to the village ahead of us, we followed having fed the animals and had a couple of beers at the shop before heading along to the bunkhouse. It was a nice evening with a good turn out but obviously the power stuff is something we are more interested observers on that something which directly affects us so we didn’t really engage much in conversations.
Home by midnight and we were all still hungry (food had been provided, venison stew and cheese and nice bread but none of us had eaten much) so Scarlett made everyone tea and toast before bed.
Today – Ady was working at the hostel this morning so he had gone off before we were all up. I left the kids in bed and went out in the sunshine to pull up the carrots and parsnips from last year, dig over those beds and plant out garlic. It was a gorgeous morning, if still quite cold. Just lovely to be outside though.
I came back up around midday in need of more tea and Ady was not long behind me, so we had lunch. Davies stayed in chatting to friends online (making the most of good solar power), Scarlett climbed trees and played with Waddles and Bonnie – Waddles was down at the riverside and roaming the croft, her and Bonnie seem to play together or at the very least both try and herd each other, it’s very funny to watch. Ady and I moved the bikes into the new bike shed and started sorting out the shed shop. We now have some rails to hang scarves, a fixed shelf unit for jams, a big branch to display midge jewellery, baskets for displaying Scarlett’s candles and plans for more stuff, signs have been put up and it’s all looking really good. Tonight we ordered a couple of postcard display units. It should all be ready by the end of next week I reckon, perfectly in time for spring and the grand unveiling 🙂
The kids walked down to the shop to get some cheese for dinner and were gone forever. Eventually it was getting dark and they had gone without torches or coats. We rang the shop and got no reply so Ady went off with coats and torches to find them. They missed each other so he rang me from the village to say they were not there shortly before they appeared home. Eventually everyone was back here at the same time. I cooked dinner which none of us really enjoyed – spaghetti bolognaise which was the meal we had the night Ady was helicoptered off so always feels somehow symbolic. I think we may stop eating it for a while. It’s a bit like Southern Comfort which I had an unfortunate teenage experience with and cannot face at all any more…