Viking traces
Traces of the Vikings are everywhere in Orkney; from the runes carved in the Neolithic chambered cairn at Maeshowe to the Viking …
Traces of the Vikings are everywhere in Orkney; from the runes carved in the Neolithic chambered cairn at Maeshowe to the Viking …
Curtain tie-backs.
So this is what happens to visitors? Spotted in a glass cabinet of curiosities at the Museum in Kirkwall.
Noltland Castle is a wonderful castle with panoramic views of Pierowall and its bay. Here’s a 360 panorama taken with a Spinner …
Rubber gloves.
How am I going to look alluring now?
Shammy leather.
Thanks to the mice my car windows will remain dirty – they’ve eaten my chamois leather. I wasn’t going to clean the windows anyway, but now at least I’ve got an excuse.
Ear defenders.
What will defend my ears now that the mice have got at them? What will defend me from the mice eating everything I own?
…I really must trim my beard.
Draught Excluder. Surely that’s a little self defeating of my mice? I’m not going to be able to make the house a little less breezy for them now.
Bicycle Innertubes. I should have known by the names of the other houses. Musland is my nearest neighbour. That’s Mouseland to the …
Slippers Just when I was thinking I’d like to get my cold feet into some snug slippers in this Orkney Summer I …
… that’s what Westray is made of. Slugs and snails. That’s what my house is made of. Here’s an adventurous slug who …
Airbeds The house is damp and full of mice in the winter so a traditional mattress isn’t an option for two reasons: …
In art classes when I was a teenager I used to love using blue with red, orange and yellow. It is a stunning combination. No more so than in nature, and there’s nothing that my dirty, broken windows can do to dull the spectacle. In Orkney, just a sunrise is so spectacular it’s as exciting as an eclipse.
It’s sunset on Westray and the sun is sending me burning orange messages, It is speaking to me. It is writing messages …
Is that fly on the inside or the outside of the window? I really can’t tell. If it’s on the inside, then …
Sleeping bags. Mice really do knock the stuffing out of you.
I’m up early because it’s dawn at 6:07 and I want to see the sun appear on the horizon. It’s ten minutes …
It’s light in my window and it’s not yet 6 am . The sky is bright and the walls reflect the early …
Living on a small island gives people a different mentality. Living on Westray ranks somewhere between living on the main islands of …
Cycling in the breeze I hold the camera and press the shutter button. One two-thousandth of a second of light and life …
There are so many blogs and discussions about the number of fingers you should keep on your bicycle brakes and the number …
I’ve run out of milk so I’m off to Peter Miller’s Shop in Skelwick by bicycle with rucksack. It’s in such a …
Mmmm… Megrim is on the menu at Helgi’s tonight: Megrim Vierge – steamed Megrim fillets on crushed new tatties with herby citrus …
Cockles on the shell-sand beach in Pierowall.
In dazzling sunshine I step off the grassy bank and onto the beach, ending sock-deep in something black and congealed. It’s the …
A chap with an attitude problem… and a bull. A quick cycle to the Bay of Swartmill in the sunshine with my …
A trek to Noup Head Lighthouse and time to rest and use my Spinner 360 camera to capture the scene. “Lay me …
It’s time for a trip to see Westray Potter, Martin Terrell at his studio and I’m grateful that he’s agreed to throw …