One word? When seven would do…

Friday and Saturday

Friday

After breakfast we fed the chickens, ducks and pigs and then were given our direction for the day. This involved Ady going off with Neil for bonfire wood collecting while I was issued with a job list. Davies and Scarlett ticked the first couple of items off it for me by harvesting beans and the last few raspberries while I got cracking with bread making. Inbetween first and second risings of bread I pulled up and weeded the last of the beans, pulled down some netting that the pumpkin and squash had been growing on in the polytunnel, did some weeding in the greenhouse and some more pruning of the brambles. I also dealt with laundry from us and Neil & Sue as the washing machine did it’s thing. I really enjoy playing house here as it is pretty close to how we would like to be living.

Everyone reconvened for lunch which was a loaf of my bread fresh from the oven, then Ady and Neil headed off for a last hour on the wood collecting while I did a bit more weeding and pruning. The others were back by about 3pm and we all stopped to drink tea and chat. Ady and Neil had been to the shop and procured alcohol and fizzy drink supplies for the evening.

Dinner was omelette and chips cooked by Neil after which we walked next door to Mick’s. Mick runs a B&B and camping pod in the season and has set up a sort of micro pub / games room for his punters which he has opened out to all Eigg residents complete with darts board, music, circular pool table etc. We walked over carrying our beers and firewood supply and were joined by Mick and his wife for a riotous evening playing pool, darts, singing along to music and generally hanging out. It was ace J

We returned to our byre at gone midnight, all fullly replete of things we had been missing 😉

Saturday is one of our official days off but as fairly experienced WWOOFers we know no good can come of such things so after breakfast Ady went off with Neil for the ‘Rodeo’ which was all the islanders cows getting rounded up to be checked over, wormed, ear tagged and generally accounted for before many of them go off to the mainland to market.

I stayed behind to help the kids make the guy for tonight which we did with old clothes, baler twine, sawdust and lots of rags. I then decided to head to the beach for a walk and ended up bringing Rosie the dog and all the kids with me. It was great actually, watching Davies and Scarlett on the beach with Struan and the dog while I did plenty of pacing back and forth agonising and cogitating what to do next in life.

We headed back and I left them all to it for half an hour or so while I vomited out a load of words and thoughts that were in my head into a word document before Ady and Neil got home for lunch. Sue had made a very delicious soup for lunch and then we all left for Craft Club which is held in the school house. Davies and Scarlett had been up for going but had hoped Ady and I would stay which I felt would be a pointless exercise for all concerned. In the end Davies bottled out so we left Struan there and the rest of us headed to the pier. Ady helped Neil finish off the bonfire and get the guy to the top while we went to the shop and spent a fortune buying sweetie supplies for the week along with alcohol for tonight and later in the week.

The shop is a real experience, everyone has an account and there is loads of banter and ribbing. There is pretty much nothing you can’t buy in there at sensible prices although the tobacco and alcohol section is by far the largest area. We collected Struan from the school and then Ady, Davies, Scarlett, Rosie, Struan and I got dropped off at the Swap Shop, which is the islands equivalent of freecycle – the old shop now kitted out with hanging rails and tables where anything you don’t want any more gets put ready for someone else who might want it. There was all sorts there; clothes and shoes, books and toys, kitchen stuff and more. We said the kids have one small thing each and Davies found a Rolf Harris cartoon book (with a name of the previous owner in it who we met later in the day and is now grown up with children of his own J ) and Scarlett a little brass duck.

A nice walk back to the house (about a mile and a half) via the other half of the Swap Shop which is a mini museum all about Eigg, the green stuff on the island, the wildlife and a potted history of how people have lived here with pictures, memorabilia and loads of stuff to read written by older inhabitants. It was excellent.

Back at the house we had cups of tea and chats and then an early dinner before heading off back to the pier for the bonfire and fireworks. Everyone went with pockets stuffed with tins of drink, although the tea room which serves as a pub was open. The fire was lit just after 7pm and pretty much the whole community was there gathered round. Someone brought out mulled wine for adults and someone else was taking sweets round for all the kids. We waited for the fire to be roaring and the guy to fall before the fireworks started.

Davies and Scarlett were straight into the gang of kids (there are 12 on the island, so it was 14 with our two – aged from toddlers to 14 year olds) and made friends with them so we barely saw them all evening. The fireworks were excellent and lasted for ages and ages. The kids all roamed off with torches on to the beach and some adults retreated back into the tea room while others stayed around the fire chatting. Someone had brought an old sofa down which started off as seating but got lobbed on the fire at the end. We were introduced to various people and spent time chatting and getting to grips with how everything works on the isles, what people think of Rum, the inevitable discussions about Home Education and our WWOOFing adventure this year. Some really nice, interesting people.

We eventually went in to the tea room where a full scale jamming session was in progress including a banjo, drums, spoons (the guy played spoons at Madonna’s wedding!) and bagpipes. There was plenty of hard drinking going on and after lots more being introduced to people and chatting Sue challenged me to another game of pool. Which I won J We then played couples – Ady and I against Neil and Sue and we won that too J. Much drink was drunk and a good time had by all before heading for home around midnight. The four of us sat up for about an hour talking about whether we want to apply for the croft on Rum and working out what to do next. Loads to think about and discuss…

This morning we walked along to the Singing Sands, about 20 minutes from here, well it should be 20 minute but was more like half an hour there as we had to navigate cows and some very boggy fields, and then nearly an hour on the way back including Struan getting soaked to waist height in a bog!

They are more squeaking than singing but very pretty and we scooped up a bottle full to bring home. I doubt such a small amount will sing much but it’s a nice momento! The kids played and the dog chased waves while Ady and I walked along the sands and talked more. We knew coming here might just change our direction again and indeed it has but we need to leave to get some retrospective perspective and have proper time to talk things through between the four of us. That’s the trouble with getting on rollercoaster rides – you can’t get off until the end and you don’t ever really know where or when that might be.

Back for lunch and then Neil and Sue have taken all the kids off to one of the other islanders which feels a bit strange. Ady and I were not actually invited and it’s been nice to have a couple of hours to have a bath, catch up online a bit and now we need to start cooking dinner.