Well a girl can dream.....

...... there have been a lot of rainbows around lately and I always make a wish upon them, of course. Anyway I awoke this morning, looked out the window and thought "Ooooh my wish has come true!" Standing in my field at the back of the house was A Man in Uniform...... but before I could rush out to see if he was also carrying chocolate, I got a phone call from my neighbour to explain. My hopes were dashed before the end of the call as it appears the chap was connected with the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) prospecting for landing sites for the Air Ambulance in case of future medical evacuations. Oh well - it was still good to see the pilot in the field - even if it was just because it means we are able to get procedures in place for medical evacuations.

I've been meaning to report our recent training as "First Responders" by the Scottish Ambulance Service. This scheme is set up to enable communities to deal with emergencies while waiting for trained paramedics or doctor to arrive. So a Community First Responder will be on call to immediately attend an emergency and provide assistance during that crucial "golden hour".

We had Day 1 of our training a couple of weeks ago (sorry been too busy to report!). About fourteen of us on the island attended the course and learned basic procedures for the recovery position, CPR as well as using a defibrillator. We are yet to have Day 2 training and then we go "live" (interesting term). We will have a rota on the island with two people being "on duty" and carrying bleepers, as well as having "First responder" uniforms (yellow reflective jackets and waterproof trousers - let's hope it's not "one size fits all" or it could be interesting!). We will also be given our medical pack with defibrillator and other equipment.

The procedure will then be that once someone on the island phones 999 or NHS24, the First Responders will be alerted and go to the scene. Now on Graemsay as soon as there is any emergency, word is passed around the island and folk turn up to lend assistance. There have been several medical evacuations in recent years, and being an island this can bring certain challenges. One evacuation was via a helicopter in a gale and so help was needed to get the stretcher into the helicopter. On another occasion a stretcher had to be taken down to the pier and put onto the boat. So, as I say, folk just turn up when word goes round to see what help may be needed.

However none of us has medical experience and as it would take a minimum of probably 45 minutes to get paramedics onto the island through the usual route (Blue flashing light ambulance from Kirkwall to the harbour (20 mins), load equipment onto boat and then sail across (probably another 20 mins) and then into car to patient) we felt we wanted to be able to do more than just hang around anxiously. So, in conjunction with our GP surgery in Stromness and the SAS (no not that one, the Scottish Ambulance Service) we've started training.

The provision of "First Responders" has been controversial in other parts of the UK, and indeed in Orkney. This is partly as it is feared that the "target response time" will now be taken as having been achieved when a First Responder arrives on the scene rather than when an ambulance/paramedic arrives on the scene. The NHS is keen on targets....... Also on other islands the fear is that their medical service will be downgraded. A number of Orkney islands still have resident GPs as well as nurses. This is a costly service to provide and there have been controversial attempts to not replace GPs when they leave, and require nurses to provide more provision. However on Graemsay we don't have *any* medical provision on the island. Our nearest GP surgery is in Stromness across the water. Now - the Stromness GP surgery is fantastic. We can't praise them highly enough for all that they do, and they have a great understanding of the needs of our community. However - they are across the water, and out of hours provision is via NHS Orkney which has a limited number of doctors "on-call" who could be on another island when there is an emergency. So one GP in particular has been helping us organise the training as "First Responders".

And back to the helicopter pilot at the beginning of this post..... he's out looking for landing sites and my field has been selected as a potential site - it's flat, no overhead power cables nearby, easily identified (there's a great big lighthouse next to it) and close to a road. So the plan is we will be issued with landing lights which we would place in the field when we are alerted that the helicopter will be needed. And that brings me to the next controversy - Orkney used to have its own "air ambulance" which was a plane stationed at Kirkwall Airport. However this service was withdrawn due to cost and instead the air ambulance is a helicopter which has to fly up from Inverness. As you can imagine this has caused concern about time delays. However on Graemsay a regular plane could not land (no landing strip) and the same is true for a couple of other islands so we have always had to rely on a helicopter, or evacuation via the ferry.

Evacuation via the ferry - I hear some of you ask why not the lifeboat? Well actually the ferry is much better geared to medical evacuation as it is more easily accessible (well apart from a stretcher needing to be winched off and on - yip really...... in the cattle box as that is the safest way) and there is more space on board for medics to be able to attend to the patient on the journey back to Stromness. And the MV Graemsay can get up speed too when it chooses! However with our interim ferry, the Golden Mariana we would need to rely on the Lifeboat as it would not be possible to get a stretcher inside on the wee boat.

Anyway we are a little nervous about the prospect of being "called out", but as someone with several chronic medical conditions, it is comforting to know there will be *some* assistance on the island!

Note: we have a "community hospital" in Kirkwall which can deal with certain emergencies, but most major emergency cases are airlifted south either to Aberdeen or specialist hospitals in either Glasgow or Edinburgh. And yes that makes patient visiting practically impossible!

Kitty-Kats....

"Cat among the Silage"

...... can someone please explain to me how a cat can devour unsavoury parts of a mouse or bird (sorry - were you eating when you started reading this post?) and yet can turn her nose up at Whiska's meaty chunks and give a look of utter disgust that would curdle milk?? Button, of course, thinks she is a "Princess" and expects to be treated as such, and I, fool that I am, pander to this.......

Anyway dear Button is doing her best to eradicate mice from the fields and byres around the house..... I find various "presents" on the doorstep after successful hunting sessions. And I won't mention the *live* presents she also brings in......! It's a race to the cat flap for both of us sometimes!

Meanwhile in the barn, Charlie Boy, another rescue cat, is becoming more friendly each day. He arrived on the island some months ago having been rescued by the local Cat Protection organisation from a home on Mainland Orkney along with over 30 other cats. Charlie was quite traumatised by being "rescued", neutered and rehomed and was very wild when he came here (who can blame him...). I kept him in a room of his own for a few days but at the first opportunity he escaped and took up residence in the barn. He's been very shy ever since, but was quite happy to accept food, under certain conditions. I would go into the barn and call him and I would hear a "kerthud" from the hay loft above and a little face would peer through the loft hatch and meow.... but he wouldn't come near the food till I retreated. Anyway over the last two weeks he has decided I am acceptable company and comes for a short fuss before tucking into his meal for the day. Bless....... He must come into contact with Button but they have (hopefully) signed some sort of treaty and give each other a wide berth.

Charlie-Boy, clearly stating "Thanks for dinner, now please GO AWAY and leave me to eat it in peace!" I love the rings round his tail.

A day of rainbows....

Today has been a day of rainbows! Lots of heavy rain showers interspersed by sunshine. This morning though there was a slight frost and some mist. So.... "changeable" is an understatement for the weather today!

I've been over to town for my H1N1 vaccination. Lots of folk lining up for their injections. One wee lass who went in before me screamed loudly at one point (presumably, literally at one very painful point!). The rest of us waiting agreed that sometimes it would be nice to just be able to scream that loudly without any loss of dignity but once one gets beyond 6 or 7 years it seems unacceptable!

I took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping in town and drop in on some friends. The weather is due to get a bit wild at the end of the week so I shall be hunkering down again for a few days.

Below is a photo of a rainbow over Stromness Harbour, with two dive boats in the foreground.



Below is a photo of the "Golden Marianna" our interim ferry, taken the other day as it startled a flock of lapwings.

New chickens!

This week saw additions to my flock of hens. Well if the three remaining hens I had constitute a "flock"? Three new hens arrived from a local breeder. They are "Light Sussex" (the large variety not bantams). They are very pretty, young and just on the point of lay. I also got a cockerel, having said "never again" only a few months ago. But I found even the regular brown hens going "broody" and sitting on clutches of eggs this summer so thought we all might as well get something out of their efforts! Hopefully in the summer there will be some chicks running around again - but I may need to rig up a pen till the chicks get bigger as I fear for their lives with Button on the loose. However she has the sense to be very wary of the hens anyway, and in the past I found hens to be very protective of chicks so fingers crossed.

The cockeral is quite a handsome chap but I have yet to hear him crow. He went AWOL the first day I let all the hens out together. I think perhaps he'd been hen-pecked by the old hens and the new ones and did the chicken equivalent of going and sleeping in the spare room for a day or two! However clearly the testerostone has kicked in and I saw him trying vainly to get old and new groups of hens together. I have no doubt he will succeed - I think he's the George Clooney of the feathered world..... Hmmm think I've just found a name for him.... Gorgeous George!

And the new girls have wasted no time and are settling in to laying eggs - but I think maybe only one of them is producing at the moment. However nest boxes have been inspected and will hopefully be found "acceptable"!


The hens can be completely free range as there are no foxes on the island. I do tend to shut them in at night and drop the "escape hatch" to reduce draughts, and also to encourage the girls to lay in the henny hoose rather than on the top of the hay bales in the barn! So far the new hens haven't ventured far from the corner of the hen house but I'm sure they will soon be following Georgous George and the other hens and exploring the beach, fields and garden, not to mention playing "chicken" by sitting on the corner of the road just below the house.Fortunately there isn't *that* much traffic about, but when it's the ferry run the road can get a bit busy..... sigh.

November already???

No haven't gone into premature hibernation, just been extremely busy with work and not a lot of time for much else.

Today is a beautiful autumnal day with blue skies, blue sea, low sun and just a bit of a chill in the air. Yesterday was exactly the same. Which was fortunate as it was our "Harvest Home" (non religious celebration of the end of the harvest). This event takes place annually at the beginning of November in our island community hall.

Everyone on the island turned out for the evening and a few visitors added to the number. The meal was prepared by various of the ladies on the island and brought to the hall where everyone was seated among the traditional decorations of neaps (swede) and greenery. A three course meal with wine was served followed by tea, coffee and homebakes. Our guest speaker was Willie Tulloch from Stromness and he recalled memories of coming to Graemsay as a wee boy in a yole (traditional small, wide but low sail boat) before raising a toast to Graemsay.

As Halloween was also recently the children dressed up in costume, along with a few adults, and paraded round the hall before doing a small party piece and then collecting sweeties from everyone. I tried persuading people that sweets are bad for children and as a community service *I* would take all the sweets - but as usual everyone ignored me.....sigh.

Music was provided by Fran and Ruby, our visiting musicians, who play the accordion and fiddle, and folk danced the remainder of the night away to traditional Scottish tunes. Tea and home bakes were served later and some of us headed off home about 1am, while the remainder with more stamina stayed until about 5.30am!

It's a little quiet on the island now........ I've just taken delivery of some of the dishes from last night to put through the dishwasher, have some laundry out on the line, and been for a walk with Button on the beach, and now I think I need a lie down!

Cloudscape:

Here's a sparrow enjoying the autumn fruits from the rosa rugosa:


This is Button on the beach - sometimes she comes home smelling of seaweed! My little SeaCat...

Computer problems

Started having problems with anti-virus software earlier this week (it kept freezing during a scan). After consultation with IT guru who lives on Orkney Mainland, I downloaded and ran various software to ensure it wasn’t a nasty virus infecting my computer. All clear – phew. So went onto manufacturer's website to see if I could sort out problem and saw a newer version of anti-virus software available. Downloaded this….. BIG mistake……

What is it with the latest products from large corporations that makes them want to take over my entire computer…….? The programme suddenly morphed into the kind of security guys you see at large venues: built like a brick wall, wearing a sharp suit, shades, and ear/microphone. So these guys clearly decided the greatest security risk to my computer was ME…….. “Code Red – she’s approaching her email!” I got the computer equivalent of “STEP AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD, MADAM”…… complete lockout.

Anyway I managed to sneak under the radar and email IT guru –but it’s 10.30 pm and I know I won’t get a reply till the morning. This doesn’t stop me sending five more emails with increasing desperation ….. nor does it help my impatience to get things sorted so start “uninstalling” World Domination Software. I’ve done this before and know what to do….. “My name is Bond, Jane Bond, I like my martini shaken but not stirred”. Meanwhile “Gold Finger” makes one last attempt at World Domination and crashed my computer. I’m not beaten that easily and rebooted – only to find my email software trashed, leaving my inbox which was formerly full of vibrant friendly messages, completely empty…… I drained the martini in one gulp.

And the uninstall, having crashed, had left traces of World Domination on my computer, which was clashing with my existing firewall software. Existing software does not go in for flashy World Domination, but is more the type of security you would have seen in a 1970’s London Disco: very low key, blokes in open necked shirts, who silently appeared en masse to surround any trouble and discretely removed it. Which meant if you were singing along to the latest Glam Rock hit by Sweet (remember them?) while dancing around your handbag, you barely noticed anything……..

So – there was a bit of a battle between discrete security and the Sharp Suit guys and my web browser bit the dust. However this time it had been protected by discrete security and once I’d finally despatched the Sharp Suit guys I was rewarded with the return of my web browser…..

And during all this my IT guru was sending me calming emails with things like “Today you are going to edit the registry” and while I hyperventilated he would calmly give me step by step instructions to forever rid myself of World Domination software and install something more helpful …… I wanted a functioning computer…. I followed instructions…..

So – I now have installed sensible functioning security which doesn’t try to dominate The World or my computer and if anyone suggests I need to upgrade I will not be responsible for my actions……..

Busy day at the pier....

As I've mentioned before, our regular ferry is away having work done to it and not due to return till the end of the year. In the meantime we have the "Golden Mariana" for passenger traffic, and another vessel, the "Hoy Head" to deliver large cargo every couple of weeks.

As the weather has been poor the last couple of days (with our passenger ferry cancelled on several occasions), we weren't sure whether the cargo would be delivered today. But sure enough out of the mist and spray appeared the "Hoy Head" bearing goods for the island.


First to be unloaded was a shiny new tractor

Then a neighbour's car


Followed by my heating oil

This big chap (the one on the right)

And to be transported from Graemsay to Kirkwall mart were some cattle - winched onto the deck of the vessel singly in this box.



And just as the events were drawing to a close on the pier, the "Golden Marianna" arrived with groceries from the town. Including a large box for me - the weather does not look good over the coming week so I'm stocking up on essentials - like cat food and milk!