One word? When seven would do…

Just read back quickly my last post, that all seems a long time ago!

In brief then:

Saturday & Sunday at Eden was excellent, some amazing people on the event with us, some great speakers, fab food and two fun evenings back at the hotel bar getting to know a handful of people even better. Made some good friends who I reckon we’ll at least stay in facebook contact with! Missed the kids loads, we talked at least twice a day on the phone and skyped a couple more times. Very hard not to be with them though.

Monday morning we skipped the visit to a local garden centre which I am sure would have been interesting but we decided would not have enough relevance to us right now to keep us any longer from Davies and Scarlett. Lots of goodbye hugs at breakfast to those staying at our hotel and then Ady and I nipped back to our room to have a quick last bath and pack up. Then the long drive back eastwards. We did stop at Tescos for a last few bits and pieces and then went to Chris and Julie’s for a surprise drop in visit where Davies and Scarlett and my Mum already were. Mum left us all there and it was a lovely few hours with C&J, we do miss them and it was lovely to hear them talk of how much they tell people about us and how proud of our lifestyle they are. The kids were far more interested in hanging out with their cousins which was heartening, they’d clearly not missed us that much!

Back to Mum & Dad’s for a last evening. Dad and I went to get fish and chips for dinner. It was a fairly early night and there was a slightly sombre feel to the evening . Nothing has changed in their world other than them all just feeling even less satisfied with their lives and each other. I’d hoped and expected to see Frazer, Kat and Robin again but we didn’t, I exchanged texts with Frazer who said he and Kat had rowed and were not speaking. Looks like they are just playing out my parents relationship all over again 🙁 They had spent time with the kids on Saturday and Mum has Robin every Sunday anyway so at least Davies and Scarlett had seen plenty of them. Mum had also taken all three grandchildren down to my Granny’s on Sunday so they all saw her too which made her weekend.

On Tuesday morning Scarlett and I went to the pet shop across the road to spend some of her cash stash on gifts for Humphrey, I bought some bits for Bonnie and Scarlett got a pressie for Lesley’s guinea pigs to say thankyou for Lesley Humphrey sitting. Davies and Ady got a part for our Pajero from a car spares place in the parade of shops by Mum & Dad’s and then we loaded the car up and were on our way. Glasgow was a straightforward drive but incredibly tedious and just a really long way. We stopped at services for a quick lunch and happened to be at the one where the first services pub had opened that day so Scarlett was excited about having walked past the TV camera. We stopped twice more for speedy wees but that was all and finally hit Scotland just as it got dark and started to tip down with rain. The Premier Inn felt almost like home having been there the week before! This time our room was right on the top floor though so our plan to empty the car out and repack everything didn’t happen. We’d planned a fast food feast in the room with the telly and a bath for that night so Davies and I collected KFC, Ady and Scarlett got McDonalds and we all watched Grand Designs, had very long baths and enjoyed being just the four of us again.

Wednesday was the shorter drive to Fort William. We ended up stopping at a huge retail park just outside Glasgow first where there was a B&Q, Poundland and Tesco where we picked up pretty much all of the last few things on our shopping list including cheap storage boxes, some new clothes all round and some retail opportunities for the kids. They had been playing a game with each other all week of buying small surprise gifts for each other 🙂 We’d hoped for a quick drive through gorgeous scenery but sadly it was very low cloud obscuring most of the view through Glen Coe and there was a diversion due to a closed road which took us about 50 miles and over an hour to drive around a closed stretch of about 2 miles. Very frustrating 🙁 We checked in to the Premier Inn in FW and were in Room 2 so perfect for unloading the car :). We all dashed into the small town to do various bits of shopping and then walked the kids back to the room to watch some TV while Ady and I did Lidl and Morrisons for food shopping stocking up. We had dinner in the Brewers Fayre next to the Premier Inn. By then we were all sick of chips and catered food really, we didn’t even have pudding in there but walked across to Morrisons and bought ice cream to take back to the room! Last baths and an earlyish night ready for an early start.

The Tuesday ferry home had been cancelled and the weather was not great for Thursday but the ferry was still running. We were up and on the road super early and got to Mallaig with loads of time to load all the shopping onto the van for Rum and pay freight, then drive back to the garage to drop the car back and have one of the mechanics run us back along to the ferry port. Davies and Scarlett sat in the Calmac office while Ady and I did one last shopping run to the CoOp in Mallaig. We did really well in there and have stocked up our freezer with some bargains. Finally on to the ferry, along with Allan our local councillor and chair of the IRCT, Sean who had come off for an overnight trip to the dentist but been stuck on the mainland when Tuesdays boat didn’t run. Derek who has been off for over a month, Mr Rhys who had been off since just after Christmas and Gav, Laura and baby Maggie, coming home. It was so lovely to see Gav and Laura and finally meet Maggie :). We all sat together in a little Rum corner on the boat and chatted away. It was a very rough crossing, easily the worst we’ve done and both Davies and Scarlett fell asleep which was probably for the best. Gav and Laura both felt really sick but Ady and I were both fine.

We were met off the boat by Casey and a hugely over excited Bonnie who was beside herself to see us after 9 days. Mel & Em who met us with hugs and kisses, Dave who called out Welcome Home as we got off the boat. We loaded the car up with all our shopping, all our stuff, the four of us and Bonnie – I had both kids and the dog on my lap! We dropped stuff off at the freezer and then headed back to the croft. We’d bought crumpets in the CoOp so came and inspected the static for damage (the only thing wrong was my clock taken off the wall and put on our bed to keep it safe, sadly underneath the bit of ceiling that leaks in heavy rain so the face has some water staining 🙁 I guess it just tells the continuing adventures of the clock along with us…), got the fire lit as it was FREEZING in the static, had lunch and Bonnie spent a delirious couple of hours rounding up all the birds. Ady carried everything up the hill, I think it was nine journeys, while I sorted it out and put it all away. We finally finished just before dark. Davies stayed home with Bonnie to keep the fire going while Ady, Scarlett and I went down to collect Humphrey, check for any post at the shop, get Bonnie’s crate and bowls from Mike and Casey and that was us back home and reinstalled.

We all slept really, really well. I had a feeling of utter peace when I opened one eye the next morning and realised I was home in my own bed.

On Friday it rained all day. The kids were just happy to be home and relaxed so had a pj day. Ady wanted to dodge the showers and mess about on the croft so I took myself off to the village with the various thank you gifts we had for people and spent a couple of hours each drinking tea with Em, Vikki and Debs. Catching up on the gossip, talking about our trip, eating different snacks at every house (shop bought biscuits, breadmaker toast, home made flapjacks) and very much enjoying the big sociable element to being home and just going house to house. Mike arrived home soaking wet from a day out on the reserve and offered me a lift part way home which I accepted as Bayview Cottage is almost the furthest house from the croft. We had pizza for dinner and enjoyed having such a full snack cupboard!

On Saturday morning I worked and it was a nice busy post office shift, good to catch up with more folk but sad to learn the news that Mike and Casey are leaving.

Home for lunch, showers and Burns Night preparation. Back down to the village for a fantastic Burns Supper, top food, excellent company, poems, plenty to drink and then live music from various Rum folk who are starting to play together. Davies joined in with guitar and has been invited to come down every Saturday night to carry on doing so. Scarlett had a go on the drums and I got to do some singing. I do love singing 🙂

A very late night and a rather late start to the following day too…. Sunday was gorgeous roast pork, a walk down to the freezer with Ady to blow away cobwebs and more pj wearing all day for the kids.

Yesterday was rainy. I walked down to the shop in the morning to put our veg order in and then spent most of the day online doing stuff like buying seeds, catching up on emails and generally being efficient. In the evening Mike and Casey came up for dinner and catching up. We played Lego Creationary and they stayed til 2am.

Today has been gorgeous and sunny and bright all day (it started raining at about 930pm and still is but I don’t care!). Ady and I met up with Gav and we walked some of the perimeter of the proposed Common Grazings land for the 3 crofts. Amazing views of the sea, the mainland and across to Croft 2 and Croft 3. That done we headed to the boat via Norman’s to collect some of his rubbish for him. Sent our jerry cans off for more diesel and picked up our animal feed from the boat shed. Then home for lunch.

This afternoon was two loads of laundry, emptying the car of the animal feed, lots of being outside for everyone – Davies and Scarlett spent some time being chased up the croft and then the hill beyond by the setting sun and then a load more time hanging out down by the river. Bonnie mostly herded birds, Ady and I walked lots and plotted lots.

And so caught up. There is stuff to say about nissen huts, cob building courses, the potential of a house to rent and more but that can wait, at least I am up to date with the blog back on Rum again rather than stuck down in Cornwall last week!