One word? When seven would do…

So, so many challenges.

The tough bits:

We bought some dog food that appeared not to agree with Bonnie. Lots of poo to clear up 🙁 Then realised that getting more was going to be very non straightforward. We will get the idea of ordering stuff across and ensuring we have enough time but dog food for a new puppy was not a great way to learn! She is now okay on that food though and we have two more sacks on the way so dog food won’t be an issue for a while…

When we were here last time we had fast internet access in the castle so I’d stupidly assumed the same would happen again. Wrong! There is a monthly limit which had already been used up so no access. Phone signal is patchy (ironically the best place so far has been up on our croft land, so good for us long term, not straightforward while we’re staying down in the village). That meant all the tidying up loose ends stuff like cancelling car insurance, sorting out SORN for the Pajero, ordering groceries etc has been really challenging. My phone battery does not last when it is constantly searching for signal so we’ll have to get used to switching it on for a bit each day when we know exactly where signal is and not having it the rest of the time. We have 2 sets of walkie talkies which I think will work fine almost all over the island so the four of will carry those instead and can at least stay in touch with each other.

The fucking politics! I know we were warned, I knew it would be the case but it is probably still worse than I’d expected. There are so many divides and issues. Between SNH and IRCT, between islanders, between directors and non directors. There are people here who used to be couples and are not any more. It’s just such a small amount of people, with so many different priorities and loyalities and history and nothing is straightforward. This has been really hard for Ady and I to get to grips with – everyone has been friendly but some are slightly distant and we are not used to be taken as anything other than ourselves. If someone hates me because of me then I can cope just fine with that (Ady not so much but at least he can understand it and frankly I don’t think anyone has ever hated him anyway!) but to come up against people not wanting to even try and get to know you is really tough. I understand their reticience and the fragility of this place but it’s still not a great atmosphere to arrive to. Vikki, the development officer has been off island (she came back yesterday on the ferry with our static) so I suppose she would have been the one to show us round, introduce us to everyone, give us the lowdown on who everyone is and what they do and just help us find our feet. As it is no one picked up on that job so we have done a fair bit of aimless wandering, unsure where to go or what to do.

On Monday we were told that everyone on the island thought we’d never get the static on to the croft but no one had thought to share that knowledge with us. We also learnt that even bringing a static at all is a bit politically sensitive as others have had permission turned down and that if the driver could not get it to the croft then we’d need to seek formal permission for it to be anywhere else and no one seemed to have any idea where that might be. I started off fairly upset and then just got really hacked off. On Tuesday we went off searching for Sean, the director who interviewed us and wrote the letter giving permission for us to site the static beside the river and got some monosyllabic answers and stuff like ‘well we knew you wouldn’t get it on to the croft, we’ve been waiting for you to realise and come and see us’. Well thanks a lot!!!

On Tuesday evening we went to the shop, where certain people hang out of an evening with a beer and chat stuff over and it all suddenly clicked into place. Norman (older guy, delivers the post, been here years) took us under his wing and talked to Chainsaw Dave for us who has the other static on the island. Dave is now our new best friend and hero and champion and is basically getting us down the hill.

I’m really cross that the scale of the challenges was not made clearer to us in advance. We knew there would be tricky times ahead with developing the croft, building a house, keeping livestock, just living on an island but these are skills we have enough of to make it work and logistics we are able to overcome. The not being made fully aware of how fragile the place is people-wise or quite how much work there is to do in forming a cohesive commmunity has made what would have always been a tough first week a *really* tough first week.

All that aside we did indeed spend our first night in the static. The 12v lighting works well, the pump works, the heater works, the fridge and oven work. The beds are comfortable and we’ll move it one step at a time until it is where it is supposed to be. The fact it is now somewhere we don’t have permission for it to be will have to be dealt with by someone else if it is an issue as I have already run out of patience for nonsense!

Good stuff – there has been loads 🙂

It has not really rained at all yet, it’s been blue skies, sunshine and gorgeousness. This remains the most beautiful place and that is enough to keep us calm, positive and retain belief in our adventure.

We managed to get a food shop sent over from Co-Op, same price as usual, done by email with more or less everything we wanted on it. That was beautifully straightforward and we’ve decided to ensure we place an order in time for the Friday ferry each week with supplies of nice stuff arriving for the weekend. The shop here stocks almost everything food and drink wise we could need and we do intend to use it but I think one bigger food delivery each week (ferry permitting) from the mainland will keep our budget in check with top ups from Jinty (along with stuff like milk, we won’t have space in our little fridge for a whole week’s worth at a time).

Davies and Scarlett are having a ball. They are spending hours outside playing in the river, walking Bonnie and spotting wildlife. The people here are lovely to them and I came into the tearoom on Tuesday night to find Scarlett sitting on Claire’s knee drawing wildlife pictures with her and talking about the time Claire swam with a basking shark in the harbour. We went to a talk by the ranger on Tuesday night about the wildlife on Rum where the kids sat for the whole 90 minutes rapt with attention. Davies told me afterwards he started to drift off in the middle but then realised he lives here and the wildlife being talked about is outside his window every day so he started listening with excitement again. The stars are amazing, the moon is a tiny sliver this week with Venus shining brightly. With no light pollution and clear skies.

When people are lovely, they are so, so, so, so lovely. We got our castle stay half price (that’s £160 off!!), we’ve had hugs and reassurances, offers of hospitality and meals and stuff and I feel we will make some real friends here given time. I remain, as ever hopeful, optimistic and positive. I don’t really know how to be any other way. I just hope it is not a folly that I’ve dragged others into along with me!