The holiday starts now :-)

WooHoo, that’s it I’m officially on holiday 🙂 A full three weeks on the croft to look forward to and a mountain of tasks to complete 🙂 The forecast looks good and I’ve even got ‘a plan’, the only ‘fly in the ointment’ being that we won’t be going to Rockness, or anywhere else for that matter.

Still there is always this http://www.waverleyexcursions.co.uk/index.htm on Thursday the 7th of June.

Last year the PS Waverley’s visit to Raasay provided a welcome distraction to the oil wedding https://lifeattheendoftheroad.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/a-grand-day-out/ and this year it will be a sight better than being stuck behind the friggin Olympic torch on the A9 🙂 Call me miserable  but when Coke Cola, their sugary drinks being responsible for a generation of blobbies with bad teeth are sponsoring the games, and some plonker has just paid £153K a bit of aluminium

on eBay, I’m a little cynical of the whole affair http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/London-2012-Olympic-Torch-/330735828718?pt=UK_Sports_Memorabilia_ET 🙂

 

Especially when I have this on my doorstep

and this in my CD player

right now 🙂 A surprise gift that the post lady delivered toady from one of the band members.

A ‘Strangeland’ indeed Richard, a great album http://www.keanemusic.com/ and if you are reading this that’s a Grumman Avenger.

 

‘Strangeland’ being my favourite track but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disconnected_(Keane_song) probably being the most appropriate “ the blind leading the blind” 🙂

 

Released on my birthday too 🙂

The first midge 😦

Anyway there was no posting last night due to trawling the internet for windows for the new house. The fact that http://www.dynamight-internorm.co.uk/ had gone ‘tits up’ had pushed me into looking for alternatives to the ‘Rolls Royce’ Austrian windows. Even though it it was just one of their dealers that had gone to the wall and not the manufacturer I thought I’d have a look elsewhere, but to be quite honest I’ve not seen anything yet that comes close in quality and U values http://www.builddeskonline.com/sw56126.asp for the whole window. Many manufacturers claim values below  1.0 W/(m²K). but closer inspection usually reveals that that is just for the pane and not the whole window 😦 Internorm’s thick foam sandwich between the aluminium cladding and wood helps achieve phenomenal ‘real world’ insulation.

 

I’m 56 now and my ROI (return on investment) may be pants but I don’t want to be changing windows in my seventies and I’d rather have decent windows for a lifetime than a new car every few years 🙂

Monday

After the beautiful day that was Sunday, Monday arrived bright, clear and several degrees warmer 🙂 it also saw a rise in traffic and a lift in everyone’s mood. Molly, as has become normal, insisted in following me to work.

Although she is now quite happy to wait in the Land Rover for me until lunchtime when we go and visit Jessie Nicolson or, as we did today, Willie Eyre.

The day was one of painting up the mast and cleaning the sea water strainers on the ‘in service’ generator,

‘making tides’ and warming seas encouraging growth and debris to accumulate in the strainers.

Though nothing that a power washing on a broom handle couldn’t sort 🙂 The ‘milestone’ of the day being the first midge bite 😦

Tuesday

Another fine day this morning had me up early and off to work full of ‘vim’

and rushing around like a madman painting.

Traffic was heavy

with another skip for Raasay house and a big ‘changeover’ for http://www.raasayoutdoorcentre.co.uk/

The High School of Glasgow’s pupils getting a great view of four large dolphins hanging around the ferry terminal.

This will be the ferry terminal that was going to ruin all the wildlife in the area 🙂

I’m sure that the pupils enjoyed the spectacle

on their departure

 

and I hope the next batch get as good a show 🙂