The joy of jammy donuts……

The weather has calmed down today. Very blustery showers and high wind last night, but peace is restored for a short time anyway. Sun breaking through clouds and only a bit of a breeze, though the temperature is lower so it feels chilly.

I’ve just been down to the mid-day boat to collect my “messages” (shopping) that I’d ordered by phone from Argo’s the bakery this morning. Some fresh bread (my breadmaker is broken…), fresh milk, and ooooh some fresh jammy donuts (jelly donuts to my US friends).

Oh the joy of all that sugariness, and the oozing jam of a FRESH jammy donut. MMmmmmm. Quite made my morning!

We can get the baker’s (and other local shops) to deliver almost to our door via the ferry. There is something quite decadent about picking up the phone and ordering jammy donuts to be delivered. OK I know those of you in cities can probably have a vanload delivered to your door whenever you want – but for me it’s a treat!

We have no shops on Graemsay so have to rely on shops in Stromness and Kirkwall. The smaller shops still provide deliveries to the boat. Unfortunately the larger supermarkets like the Co-op and Tesco don’t. But then that’s all to the good as it means we still support the individual shops because they are a lifeline for us – and not just for jammy donuts!

There are no dairy cows on Graemsay so we are dependent on external supplies of dairy products too. Lots of folk in Orkney (and other rural areas) use UHT milk but I have never got used to the taste of it – though I can take it in coffee. But it seems a sin to put into tea! So I usually buy individual pints of low-fat regular pasteurised milk and freeze it. It doesn’t work with full-cream milk as that separates too much, but low-fat (semi-skimmed) milk comes out of the freezer OK. And once shaken (but not stirred) it’s fine for use on cereal or tea (and I drink copious cups of tea when I’m working!).

Flett’s the butcher is another supplier providing regular delivery to the boat. I just love Flett’s sausages – pork and apricot were delicious last time I had them. And fresh fruit and vegetables are also available from them. Today I must email my order to the Frozen Food shop in Kirkwall and stock up on some basic supplies – these get delivered on Friday.

So you see we can get regular fresh supplies delivered to the island – one just has to be well organised to make sure the cupboard isn't bare the weekends in the winter we have no boats!

However sadly our local newsagent is about to stop deliveries as it is up for sale. So we are not quite sure how we are going to get our weekly copies of “Orkney Today” or “The Orcadian” (local newspapers), nor get Sunday papers delivered (which arrived on the Monday evening boat anyway!). Hopefully a new owner will be found soon and we can get a regular supply of papers again.

Hmmmmmm now back to my jammy donut……..