the HALL of EINAR – Page 5 – David at the HALL of EINAR

Mice nibble… #7

Rubber gloves.

How am I going to look alluring now?

Mice nibble… #6

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.

Mice nibble… #5

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?

Mice nibble… #4

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.

Mice nibble… #3

Bicycle Innertubes. I should have known by the names of the other houses. Musland is my nearest neighbour. That’s Mouseland to the …

Mice nibble… #2

Slippers Just when I was thinking I’d like to get my cold feet into some snug slippers in this Orkney Summer I …

Mice nibble… #1

Airbeds The house is damp and full of mice in the winter so a traditional mattress isn’t an option for two reasons: …

Sunset through broken windows - photograph (c) 2016 David Bailey (not the)

Sunrise through broken windows

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.

Messages from the sun

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 on the inside or the outside?

Is that fly on the inside or the outside of the window? I really can’t tell. If it’s on the inside, then …

Happy horses grazing

Mice nibble… #8

Sleeping bags. Mice really do knock the stuffing out of you.

10 minutes after dawn

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 …

School in again all this week. As usual, lessons given in usual order but progress not so satisfactory. Seemingly the scholars are longing for the vacation.

→ 29 August, 2011

Tiny, ginger and blonde

She’s tiny, ginger and blonde and everyone refers to her as ‘Lady.’ Yes, it’s the new Shetland pony in the field at …

Remembering schooldays and a bucket with a wooden lid

Nancy remembers the Hall as it used to be; a school. So does Catherine. “It’s the first time I’ve been in here …

Einar in the mist

Cycling home and Einar is enveloped in mist.

Slate

On the roof two slates have cracked and fallen. I have a box of replacements ready, because on Westray one slate missing …

Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride…

… is the early plastic, better known as Bakelite. It’s all the rage for people to use Bakelite light fittings in their …

The view from my window…

… is of nothing but fields and clouds and ocean.

Summer Visitors

It’s wonderful to see that the Swallows who visit Orkney in the Summer to breed have done so well. There are at …

According to the Orkneyinga Saga, detailing the lives of the Earls of Orkney from the 9th to 12th Centuries, King Harald’s sons were real troublemakers. Gudron Gleam and Halfdan Long-Leg caused lots of trouble in Norway … → 30 August, 2010

Einar. It’s a great name. It’s an Old Norse name for ‘One Warrior’. It’s a fantastic name for our house. As soon as I saw Einar advertised in the Solicitor’s window I was fascinated by the … → 29 August, 2010