Monday – TV day. Having heard we would not be getting a disc of the show in advance we, well I, spent most of the day in a state of heightened anticipation. I was worried about the general reaction, worried about what the show would actually contain and most worried that everyone else would see it and we would not.
In the morning Ady and I went down to the shop to send some post and get various bits. We had lunch and then because I had a bit of an inkling that it all might get a bit mad after the show aired we went for a walk out into the island. The idea was to get some perspective, to be able to walk far enough inland to look back at the croft and see the sum of our years here, to see it all in perspective to the rest of the island, to see how small the village really is and that what often feels like our whole world is small even by Rum standards, let alone the world. I also felt it would help to be away from phones and internet and the obsessive need to keep checking both.
It was a lovely couple of hours. We talked and laughed and teased and were just us five (Bonnie was with us obviously). We took our perspective photos, walked past a couple of visitors (one going and one coming), had a moment looking at the croft discussing whether it had all been worth it, walked in various configurations of twos, threes and fours and enjoyed just being us.
Back at the croft the kids and I gathered rucksacks and headed down to collect the veg while Ady fed the animals. Except our veg order had not been put in – Jinty found it today actually, lost in the pet food section of the shop :rolls: So all that walk down for nothing. And no veg or fruit this week. Poor children will have rickets along with no friends 😉
So home, for an early dinner ready to be sitting down at 9pm. Renegade TV had refused to send us a disc but agreed to send a link pre the show actually being aired, it came through about half eight but I didn’t check emails til just before 9pm. So we ended up watching at pretty much the same time as everyone else. We didn’t have adverts on our link but it buffered several times due to super slow internet which meant we actually finished watching around 10pm too, the same as on TV. Within 20 minutes my email had gone crazy with loads of messages from people who had found a way to email us including friends from school days. Facebook was mad with load of messages and tags and comments, about 8 friend requests and loads of messages in the others folder. Â We rang my parents and then everyone else went to bed. I stupidly checked twitter after someone had mentioned the hashtag for the show and so slept badly mentally composing retorts in 140 characters to the handful of people who had said mean things.
Tuesday – woke to more emails and friend requests but ignored it all and went off to work. We were doing the final move of the SNH office but a boss from the mainland was over so it was far more efficient that usual :). Lots of chatter about the TV show as everyone had seen it and then home for lunch. I spent the afternoon baking, the kids played outside and Ady did loads of outdoors stuff to sort out the pig fence for a pig enclosure expansion we are waiting on some fence components for. Â In the evening I replied to all the messages and emails and friend requests.
Wednesday – Teashop – My penultimate one and financially my best so far with over £100 taken. Woohoo! It’s not massively lucrative given the amount of hours of baking the day before and being in the teashop on the day, not to mention ingredients and gas usages at the caravan but it’s cash nonetheless. Ady went and did some work on the bridge and then went home, the kids came down to hang out in the hall. We had a mini tea party afterwards with leftover cake before heading for home. In the rain.
Our new caravan curtains had arrived so once we were dried off we took down all the old curtains, organised the pelmets and while Ady cleaned and bleached away all the mould Scarlett and I cleaned up the curtain hooks and threaded them on all the new curtains. Davies sort of helped but mostly played on his tablet. He did organise the music though, which is a pretty key role to such things ;). It all looks so much nicer and more homely now 🙂 And less moldy.
I ended up starting dinner prep while Ady fed the animals and we watched lots of Eureka. Final disc still to come and that’s us done with that series – an excellent recommendation.
Thursday – debate on whether to Sheerwater or not, there are only about 4 left I think. Stuff has been seen, a basking shark just last weekend, pods of whales and dolphins, just never on a Thursday afternoon it seems. Ah well. This week was no different although there were lots of rafting shearwaters and diving gannets which are always a delight to see, particularly when that’s all there is. Ronnie didn’t charge us either, so a free ride at least. Ady and I had been playing mechanics before and after trying to fix the terminals on the battery of the Jeep which were worn and corroded away. It’s not entirely sorted but neither did we break it irrepairably ether which felt like a victory.
Today – Adys first day of being a ghillie. He’s doing it tomorrow too and then will be again in the coming weeks. He wanted to do it if only to say he’s done it as it seems to be a bit of a Rum rite of passage. I’d have a go myself if I were not scared of the ponies. He headed off, leaving the kids and I home alone. This happens so infrequently it felt quite retro and old skool and we almost fell into old dynamics which was sort of nice if just for one day. I made some flapjacks and cheese scones and we had lunch together, then I headed off to meet the boat. When I got up the littlest piglet, Wattles, had beenout roaming and I’d woken Scarlett to help round her up but she’d gone back in to the pen by herself. She is slowly winning me over to the idea that we may not kill her for meat, which is what everyone else on Rum – and Croft 3 – is campaigning for. She does a fine line in Wilbur-ing 😉
The Jeep didnt start so I took the Rangerover and collected the meat from the ferry, dropped that off in the freezer and then went to the shop to collect animal feed from the van as it had been driven round there. I stayed and helped unload the van too and Derek & Jinty helped load the animal feed into the car for me. I drove back, across the river and unloaded it all, loaded some of the delivery of loo rolls into the Pajero and then took the car back across the river. I left two sacks of pig feed out to bring up to the feed bin next to the pigs (over 50kg in weight- a harsh barrow-load to get up the croft hill) and brought the other stuff up the hill. The kids helped put stuff away and then got the kettle on while I went to take the wheelbarrow down to load up. When I got back to the top of the hill it was to discover that Barbara Pig was now out. Argh!
The kids managed to sneak down to the pig pen and rattle the feed bin and she legged it back in. I bought the feed over and put it in the bin while they checked the fence for damage. Then back to the caravan for my cup of tea. I unwrapped the post which was new crocs for Scarlett, new wellies and trousers for Ady and some hanging shelves for the kids wardrobes. Then Barbara got out again. I was fed up by then and just wanted to make pizza dough for dinner and have my cup of tea so Scarlett, wonderful girl, went and dealt with Barbara while I did that. I love that girl 🙂 And it worked, she didn’t come out again this evening.
I spent some time organising another trip off for a check up for Davies which is on a Wednesday so annoyingly means four nights off! One of them we can stay at friends but 3 will need to be in a hotel in FW, we should get some of the costs back though.
Finally Ady came home, covered in blood and knackered but having had a really good day. So glad he enjoyed it 🙂 Pizza and Doctor Who to round off the ‘working week’.