We’re not WWOOFing anymore!
I’m not really ready to reflect on the end of the WWOOFing adventure yet although to all intents and purposes we have actually WWOOFed our last days work today. I think if I’ve learnt anything this year it is never say never and you just don’t know what the future may hold. So there is every chance that despite best laid plans we may end up WWOOFing again sooner or later. I think a sentimental post is in order but I’m not in the mood for that right now and I think a bit of distance is essential to even start trying to sum up this year so far.
So I’ll write an account of today for todays sake and come back to the rest of it at some point, probably in the not too distant future.
This morning we were clearing more bramble in preparation for fencing, this time next to the pigs. Ady and I have not actually spent that much time working together at this host so it was quite nice to have a second day of that; talking, planning for the future and generally being silly. I’ve long considered Ady and I one of the happiest couples I know anyway but this year has certainly been lovely spending so much time together.
We finished that just before lunchtime so went down to catch up with the kids who were in the byre making birthday cards for the boy who’s party they will miss tomorrow. The party has a pirate theme so they had made treasure map style cards using tea bags to age the paper and screwing it up to make it look tatty. I was really impressed J
Neil was back for lunch which was all very sociable and then we were tasked with putting in the corner posts for the fencing in the holes we’d dug yesterday. This involved baling out water with a bucket, lifting the posts into place and then mixing up a dry mix of sand and cement to pack in around the posts – the water will rise up again to set the mix. It also involved driving around the very boggy, bumpy field in the 4wd pick up which I got to do and was lots of fun J And very muddy J
After work we hung out with Neil in the kitchen chatting. He’d looked out loads of crofting literature for us to look over and spent ages talking to us about business plans, crofting ideas, grants and subsidies and more. The kids were off playing with Struan. We started planning a route back to Sussex and have hopefully got a campsite earmarked for Thursday night and a stay at Lynda’s on Friday night before arriving on Saturday at my parents. I’ve emailed Jill an update on our plans and to check we’re still on for heading there January & February.
This evening has been really nice – a really long chat with both Neil and Sue about our plans, whether our Home Ed status and insistence we stay that way will harm our chances of getting the croft on Rum. The fact that various islanders have expressed an interest in us staying on Eigg and we have been encouraged to add our names to the list of interested potential crofters here too if we decide Rum is not for us or we don’t get in, which is always nice to be told.
It’s been a really good WWOOF experience here – quite aside from falling in love with Eigg and the island life, Neil & Sue have been kind and caring hosts, the accommodation is fab, the food has been nice, the kids have loved playing with Struan and meeting the other island kids, the firework night and games room evenings were ace and the work has been varied and we have learnt new stuff. If it ends up being the stepping stone to our eventual next big move and we become crofters on an island ourselves it will become our most influential host too but even taken on the time we’ve spent here alone it’s still been a real favourite host for us all.
Tomorrow morning will be tidying up the byre and packing, then heading down to the pier to get the boat back to Mallaig. It all feels a bit unreal really.