So on the plus side this week I have thus far (and it only Wednesday so I may be speaking too soon...) not spent any time on my hands and knees in salty water chipping my nails gathering winkles. I have sustained no bruises and have come into contact with no flappy flat fish or pinchy crabs.
I have infact been mostly sitting indoors wielding a crochet hook or pair of knitting needles and making Christmassy things. I have crocheted mini Christmas trees, snowflakes and a few circles of brown, white and red which may or may not turn into either a robin or a reindeer. I even had a go with my new rhinestone setter tool and put twinkly things on some of them. And I hand stitched a little bag as a present for a little girl who had a birthday this week. This was due to my sewing machine having lost a vital bit or itself and the results were rather painfully handstitched looking, full of rustic handmade charm rather like my cutlery organiser... I've also been knitting scarves. Gorgeous scarves inspired by the weather, landscapes and moods of Rum. All of this is for selling at the Christmas Fayre in a couple of weeks. Anything not sold will be adorning our own Christmas tree (location still under discussion - we don't exactly have an empty corner in the static!) or being gifted to friends and family - I won't know a single person with a cold neck this festive season!
Meanwhile the logistics of island life have been hitting hard. Deliveries going astray all over the place to the point where car hire and a road trip of a collection run to gather all the things we need is looking attractive. My log burner is somewhere between here and Scunthorpe with an unidentified courier. Our oilskins may well be testing their waterproof qualities and floating across the sea to us, my book order is in Llandudno which is certainly inbetween Sussex where I accidentally sent it and the west coast of Scotland where it is supposed to be but appears to be taking a rather more scenic route than I'd have recommended, we finally got a refund for the faulty powerpack but it is less than I paid for it and I haven't even started thinking about ordering stuff for the kids for Christmas. See this space for wailing about having to postpone Christmas until February due to lack of presents sometime in the next month or so. See also how we reach March before our waterproofs and log burner arrive by which point spring will have sprung and we won't need them anyway!
On the plus side a friend brought back a bottle of advocaar for me yesterday so we can still drink snowballs. Christmas will come to Rum yet!
Do you mind if I ask another two very stupid questions?
ReplyDelete1. How will the log burner be vented in the static? Does it (the static) have a flue the burner can be "plugged into"?
2. Where will the logs come from? Is there enough surplus wood coming from management of the trees round the castle? Do SNH give that away or do you have to pay for it?
And as regards the chore of having to lug gas bottles and batteries and stuff up to the static, why not a wheelbarrow? Would even one of these ones with a sort of squashy ball instead of a wheel not cope with the terrain?
That's more than two questions. But when I read your blog and the challenges you face, I always find myself asking "What would I be thinking about as a solution and why might it not work?"
Hello :) Questions not stupid at all. The static came with a gas fire so the log burner will be vented through the existing flue. SNH don't really manage the woodland and certainly don't give wood away but lots of woodland on Rum is within the community owned area and fallen wood is fine to take. One of the islanders makes money from chopping wood so we will combine buying a little from him with gathering and chopping our own. The log burner takes fairly small bits so we should be fine with various off cuts, little sticks etc.
ReplyDeleteWe do have a wheelbarrow and use it as much as possible but the croft is currently so muddy and waterlogged and soft ground that the wheel just sinks in the mud, which means it's very tough to push up hill. A squashy ball one would be better but even that would get pushed in if we were carrying very heavy loads. The best approach will be an improved footpath up the croft which will make it easier to walk up the hill and push a barrow and maybe a quadbike and tractor which will probably be our next big investment.