Tuesday 17/10/06

Today's entry was previously published on this blog in 4 parts under the headings Blog Britain.

Awoke to a cloudy morning, with the sun peeping through the clouds. A nice chunk of salmon was left on the doorstep for us to consume for dinner tonight. Paperwork, don't we all love it. And particularly if you have to wait 3 whole months for an accountant to send it back for a very simple set-up. Sigh. And then an irate local council waiting for said paperwork, oh heavens. Jehovah's Witnesses call at the backdoor, a place that only family knock at, so they're sent back to the road. Only for them to turn up at the FRONT door at the other end of the house. No, no, no! The usual flood of emails is reduced to a trickle this morning; only 18 as opposed to the normal 65.
After midday, the laundry needs doing, and after a good soak this goes into the machine. At the same time, I'm filling up the coalbucket and the drossbucket. The bags containing said materials have been on the ground for a while and have become a hiding place for woodlice and worms. The kingsize woodlice scamper off at a canter, the worms aren't that nimble but head off for the grass. One sees a big lump of coal and thinks that that might be a nice hiding place. Oh darn, it gets lifted away! So, the worm turns round and heads for the grass as well. As I post a few letters, I catch sight of the ship that was at anchor off Arnish Lighthouse last night. It is now moored alongside pier number 3, which is undergoing refurbishment. Will be able to read its name when I go down to the shop later on. The laundry finishes at 2 o'clock, and it dries nicely on the line outside. As we only have a short line, the rest goes into the tumble-drier. It is a breezy day out there, although nice and sunny. The temperature is reported at 12 C / 54 F and the wind a northeasterly, force 4. The weatherforecast for tomorrow is poor, with rain moving up from the south. My confirmation of that comes in the highlevel cloud moving up.
At around 3.15pm, I walk down the road to Somerfields and am able to read the name of the freighter, which is docked at no 3 pier. It is the Aasheim, an Icelandic ship, delivering this winter's supply of roadsalt. Lorries scuttle back and forth from the pier, with humps of sand. My shopping activity takes less than 15 minutes, so I return not much after half past three. By four o'clock, a visitor comes to call and is given a cup of tea and some toffee cake, one of my purchases at Somerfields. He leaves just after five, but is quickly followed by anotherAfter the last visitors departed, dinner was prepared. The hunk of salmon, left at the frontdoor in the morning, was wrapped in foil and cooked in the oven with a bayleaf and a slice or two of lemon. A very generous helping came my way, accompanied by boiled potatoes. The sweet tonight consisted of a fruit corner for B, but I heated up a blackberry sponge cake in the microwave and finished it off with half a pint of custard. What more do you want. Sorting out paperwork was called for after supper, as well as a lot of on-line work. Not to mention getting the hoover out - no not for vacuum cleaning. This was a hoover that had been taken to bits by a passing electrician and declared dead, for want of a soldering iron. The latter implement could be used for sticking the mains cord back on to the machine. Someone had promised to come with a soldering iron, but as with so much, never followed it up. Anyway, it'll be taken to the electrical hardware shop in the town centre at some stage. If it really is a dodo, then a new appliance will have to be bought.