Blustery day....

Just to show that not every day is a glorious day, today was decidedly grey.... and breezy. 

The hens still like to get out to "take the air" and as it was a Southerly wind they sought shelter in the shrubbery with the garden dyke protecting them from the wind...

As you can see in this out of focus shot, it's pretty windy, with the Cordyline being blasted.

Tomorrow the first gale of the new year is due.  Winds of up to 50mph with gusts greater than that.  So I have been and given the hens plenty of food tonight to tide them over tomorrow, and piled food on Charlies feeding barrel so if he ventures out he can get breakfast.  I shall stay firmly indoors and hope the electricity stays on!  The winds hopefully drop tomorrow evening.

In the Winter months most of us in Orkney keep an eye on the Orkney Harbours forecast as that is the most accurate locally.  Tomorrow there are warnings of ferries being cancelled, with some already so.  Hopefully only for the day though.

Our usual ferry, the MV Graemsay has been out of service for the last couple of weeks with engine trouble.  It may be some weeks before she is back on service.

Instead we have the Golden Marianna, which is usually runs the service between Papay Westray and Westray in the summer (they also have a plane link which is more popular in Winter so hopefully we aren't depriving them of their service).  But it's not an easily accessible boat for getting on and off, and once on you have to hurry through the wheelhouse part to the passsenger cabin below and sit down quickly so you don't fall over!  It's obviously sea worthy!  But has no bow thruster and so is a challenge to get aligned with the pier when the tide, swell or wind are working against it.

It cannot take cargo either, only small boxes.  So the heating oil and diesel tank, rubbish bins, animal feed and anything else has to come over on a work boat with a crane. Here our rubbish bins are being taken off the island over to Stromness for onward delivery to landfill or recycling.

Can't wait for our "proper" ferry to return!  But at least we have our usual ferry service, and I have the luxury of choosing whether to go to town or not.  I think the school children are hoping for lots of cancellations in January so they get the day off school! Haha!