Barebraes

Well as you can see from various Blogs it has arrived. Yes the fluffy white stuff has landed in the garden and is sitting there waiting to be eaten by Large Dog. Yes Hooch loves eating snow !!! Hes a strange dog but today he was  taking large mouthfulls of the stuff and munching it merrily.

I took a walk up the track as the firefighters Van just couldnt make it up the brae and where the water had melted a little the day before and now frozen there were 2 slippery channels either side of the track and me the cats and the dog (yes when Hooch goes so does the 3 cats) had a job keeping on our feet.

The day was still and sunny and looking across to Hoy I could see the tallest peaks above Wideford Hill all white and crisp.

What a glorious day

Snowy Images

Well progress has reached Shapinsay……

For years the Local shop have relied on the hand pumped  petrol dispenser that has stood on the corner as you exit the village to provide petrol to the island.  There are a  further 2 automatic pumps (although age wise they are ancient) at Astley which are still in use,  and they are avaliable on certain days. 

For the past few months the forecourt of our sole shop has been excavated and retarmaced and there stands a single sparkling brand new fangled derv and petrol pump fully automatic so that the staff of the shop don’t have to go out in howling gales and stand pumping the petrol.

Progress?

Maybe!

Will these new pumps still be standing there in 20 or 30 years and still work as well as the old one

I have added a seperate Page to the blog where I will post all pictures from now on

I might even get a few Videos on there too

I would like to thanks Fc for planting the seed of curiosity.  Could I emulate the Great FC !!!!

We shall see …………

Hooch

Well this is what all the fuss is about

Robbie

More Robbie

Just an update on the fund raising efforts In Shapinsay

As you all know we had a Christmas Panto in aid of the Clan and we managed to raise £487 towards the cause.

This was one of the many events held on Shapinsay to raise funds for different Charities.  Another fund raiser on the island also took part in the Boxing Day Nip N Dip at Scapa and she also raised a large amount of cash for the Clic Sargent fund.  Tonight we are holding a Ceilidh for the RNLI and hope to get a good response for the Lifebaoat Institute a cause which is paramount to our island.

Mr B and Me am off at 2pm to start help prepare the neeps and tatties for this evenings event and hope to have a good time tonight  rocking to the Chair

Fairy Nuff

You can always catch the ferry over and Join in the Burns Celebrations

Update:

Just returned from the Ceilidh at a respectable hour and Im still sober !!

The evening went well and the Chair definately were the best!!

here are some pics

The Chair

Clapshot

Haggis

The Piper

I am sitting here writing this blog with matchsticks propping open my eyelids !!!

Last night both Mr B and meself retired to bed at around 11pm. In deep sleep and dreaming of various strange things the silence was broken by the faint noise of a vibrating beeping tune rattling around on the  bedside table. Blearily opening my eyes and  turning on the bedside light I caught a glance at the clock …..2.00am…. The noise had stopped …. looking around the bedroom I noticed Mr B was stirring but not wide awake.  Again the shrill beeping vibrating  noise startled me and Mr B into semi conciousness. ‘Its your Pager !!!!’ … silence …. Mr B grabbed the pager  …. got out of bed …. answered the call of nature and still in semi conciousnees lifted the covers to get back into bed.  ‘Its the Fire Alarm not a test’ I cried.  This did the trick he leapt into action pulling on his clothes and boots before running out into the dark. I heard the van pull off and dissapear into the night.   

Thoughts were running through my head…. what would it be a false alarm like the other day when the pager went off in the early hours for No reason?

An Accident , A fire ….. hoping that it was not a serious incident I got up and made a cuppa.  Sitting in bed drinking the tea and thinking about all the possibilities was giving me a headache.

A further 2 hours went by and no sign of Mr B , I must have drifted off to sleep and dont remember much apart from the sliding Barn door noise. Looking at the clock It read 8.30 am, Mr B entered the bedroom looking very wet and extremely tired. 

There had been a House fire in the Village the Shapinsay Crew battled with the fire having to wear the breathing aparatus .  Backup from Kirkwall took an Hour to get to the  island and both crews fought the blaze together.

The occupant managed to escape the fire, woken by his dog.

No one was injured and the fire was finally put out in the early hours. All that is left of the house are the outside walls and a small part of the roof.  It looks so strange driving past it this afternoon on our way to the shop but at least thankfully no one was hurt.

The community  rallied round with soup and sandwiches for the fire crew and thisafternoon  local builders have been securing the house in readiness for this evenings Gales.  Its 8.30pm now and the wind is steadily increasing with  some gusts rattling the house already, the main thrust of the Gale is expected at 3.00am so I guess that Mr B might very well be called out yet again if the Hydro goes off.  I just hope we get some sleep before that happens

Note: The evening passed off uneventful no call outs , nothing falling over , off or in anywhere. I hope that you all managed to keep safe last night

Breaking News

The Shapinsay branch of the RNLI have secured a TOP act for the up and coming Burns Night Ceilidh.

Can you imagine !!!

THE CHAIR

Yes THE CHAIR

What a scoop

The Chair

More  details to follow

Well the Holiday is over and we must get back to the task in hand… Gosh its such an effort to get out of bed in the morning that both Me and Mr B have lost all enthusiasm for anything (hence my blogs and comments being more profuse than in the Summer)

We have the Roof  pretty much finished and will need to be ordering more wood, plasterboard etc to  turn the inside into the finished article. I have been trying to finish an internal wall all winter and have set a target of Thursday for completion.  Once that is done then we can start plasterboarding the ceilings etc. I am sure that with the OIC Building  Warrants due to run out in November it will spur us onto finishing this project, money permitting!!!

The Shapinsay Lunch Club meets again after the  Christmas break and it will be nice to see all the members back again.  As for the programme for the Summer I will have to get my Coordinators head on again to find interesting things and places to visit… Another Challenge.

 The Development Trust is going to take up a lot more time than of late with the Turbine project heating up , but If we dont have challenges in our life then I guess we would all take to our beds and hibernate.

What a Nice thought …

Well thats it for another year…. what will this new one bring?

The bathroom

The Lounge floor

The kitchen

The Upstairs Bedrooms

New Years Resolutions

1. Try to be more motivated

2. Be Positive

3. Eat Less Junk

4. Spend Less time on the computer and more time working on the house.

All good intentions but easily forgotten once the week is out !!!!!

What were your resolutions?

And How long did they last!!!!