Gales

Interesting week weather wise, mostly sunny and dry but Monday and Tuesday gale force winds forced the cancellation of the Northlink ferry Hjaltland on both days. Even the inter island ferry to Yell only ran once.

Even flights at Sumburgh were delayed with debris on the runway. Our friends in Sandwick had to have their basement pumped out by the fire brigade as did several others. Again we were concerned that the boarded up window wouldn't hold as it was flexing quite a bit but it did. We will be glad to get some prices in, its been six weeks now.

On the 17 October we have been in Shetland for six months, its past really quick and we are really happy. We think we have been really lucky that we managed to buy a house and had nearly all the work done in this short space of time. We have been very thankful to a number of friends which have recommended workmen, who have come out very quickly.

Last week the music continued with the Accordion and Fiddle Festival, we managed to get tickets for the events at Cunningsburgh and Gulberwick . It was great entertainment, starting at 7.30 and ending around 1 am and even included supper. Some great musicians including many Shetland players but also others from Norway, Orkney, Scotland and Ireland.

We ventured into Lerwick on  last Saturday and fell lucky as the Dim Riv was being loaded up from the sea over to a dry site at Grimista. The whole thing weighs in at 2.5 ton and it will stay under cover for the winter months.

The whole lamb we bought the other week is going down well and is very tasty, possibly not the best thing to eat as sheep peer through our window. Must get some more before the end of the month.

People are telling us to make sure that we are well stocked up for the winter, just in case Tesco doesn't have any food on there shelves. The other Christmas this happened and Tesco hire a Hercules transporter to fly the food in to Shetland as the ferry was unable to operate for several days due to the gales. We don't see any need to panic if this happens, unlike some people that seem to buy everything just before Christmas, even though the shop is only closed one day.

In Sheffield last year we did our normal shop for Christmas and found that a couple had three trolleys full of food. They had loaded the car but couldn't fit most of the food from the third trolley, so he had to leave his wife and drive for 1/2 hour to get home, unload and get back so well over an hours wait for his wife, luckily it wasn't raining. I bet after Christmas more than half the food would have been thrown out.