By Bernie Bell
Pics by McB
January the Fifteenth…….Friday night………. is chippy tea night! Yay!!!!!
January the Sixteenth……..and it rained. ‘Rain rain go away, come again another day, little Bernie wants to play.’
Young Christopher (the Reporting Scotland weather man) forecast “showers”. Showers?!!!! Howling wind and thrashing rain most of the night, and carrying on into the morning. They’ll probably call it ‘Storm Frogmella’ or whatever…….
What to do with yourself on a day like this? Mike went to do the weekly shop, while I thought of something useful to do indoors – ironing. I dislike ironing, it’s dull and repetitive – but, I put on some bellow-along-to-music, and went for it – suitabley Viking related…….
“We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow
The hammer of the gods
Will drive our ships to new lands
To fight the horde, sing and cry
Valhalla, I am coming”
Immigrant Song – Led Zeppelin
Then, of course, being Orkney – out came the sun, and dried up all the rain. Still a freezing wind, but not thrashing rain with it.
Is it a road, or is it a river? It’s a road.
Writing that, reminded me of a very encouraging children’s rhyme, relevant to these times…..
‘Incy Wincy spider
Climbing up the spout.
Down came the rain
And washed Incy out.
Out came the sun
And dried up all the rain.
So Incy Wincy spider
Climbed up the spout again.’
And then – it rained again. So it goes.
January the Seventeenth……We went to Marwick Bay – mad stuff – rain showers and strong winds which meant that the sea was wild – waves like mountains on the sky-line and beating against the cliffs – sea-foam like snow, blowing about off the rocks – spectacular rainbows – hard to choose a pic of the day, but this is the one that Mike chose……
January the Eighteenth…..Sometimes…on-line Conferences…can be a bit….yawn-making……………
BAD BELL!
January the Nineteenth…………Just after mid-month…..daffodil shoots and bluebell shoots under the trees…….new growth pushing through last year’s dead leaves……
January the Twentieth…………….Ice – ice – baby……glad to not have to drive to work…..
January the Twenty-first………What a difference a day makes…..yesterday, frozen……today, raining so hard – can’t see out the window! There’s been a lot of weather this week.
Hello and good morning from Austria!!!!
We like to read Orkney News🤩!!
I have just read a few days of your diary entry, soi great, thanks.
Bernie, in which region on Orkney do you live?
Luckily we managed to come to Orkney last Christmas and New Year.Just no Corona at that time still…..just startig in the world…🤭🤔
It was wonderful, but no snow this time….❄❄❄❄
It was the sixth time then, that we had stayed on the isle.🏠🏡💯💫👌
2 times in summer and 4 times in winter for x mas!
We also had all different types of weather….the best winter with snow was 2010/11…we lived at Odin in that beautiful house at Loch Harray/Stenness…but now Corona….what a pity!!
Great photos, great lunch….
Kind regards Lizzie
….written from my husband’s account!
P.S.: Is there Lockdown on Orkney, too??
Good morning Lizzie from a very cold, snowy Orkney!
Mike and I live in a part of Rendall Parish called Gorseness – above the Bay of Hinderayre – I’ve mentioned it a few times in pieces in TON! https://theorkneynews.scot/2018/10/07/the-old-kirks-of-orkney-part-one/
2010 was a good year for snow here, and also 2018….. https://theorkneynews.scot/2018/02/10/living-in-a-box-then-and-now/
I’m very impressed that you stayed in Odin – what a position to be in, for your visit! If you have a look at some of my pieces in TON, you’ll see that I’m very, very interested in the archaeology of Orkney, and the Ness of Brodgar is just along the road from ‘Odin’.
https://theorkneynews.scot/?s=Ness+of+Brodgar
Not forgetting the Ring……
https://theorkneynews.scot/?s=Ring+of+Brodgar
https://theorkneynews.scot/?s=Archaeology
As you stayed near the Stenness/Harray lochs, you might like to see some of the photos of the wildlife there by Nick Card ( and others) on the Orkney Wildlife Facebook page……. https://en-gb.facebook.com/groups/133013273445588/
The photos in the ’One Day At A Time’ pieces, are by Mike, my husband – I write the words – words are my ‘thing’!
We’re not in lockdown in Orkney, but have good, strong, sensible restrictions in place. TON also covers the Covid situation here – TON covers a lot of things! And credit to Fiona and her team for setting it up.
It’s always good to hear of folk who appreciate Orkney, and I very much hope that you and yours can come back before too long.
Meanwhile – Stay Warm. Stay Well!
B
Thanks, lovely pics too. Nice to see, miss getting out of the city so much. Lucky that Edinburgh is quite good for green spaces though..
I went with ‘leave the leaves’ this winter, advice to allow critters to thrive and so food for the birds in spring. Looking forward more than ever to seeing the spring flowers this year.
I was clearing up a bit under those trees – dead-heading the herbaceous perennials which I’d left ’til now, when the new shoots will start to appear – and got bitten by something – so, the critters are definitely still there – and they like to bite me. My Mum used to say I must have sweet blood!
Hello Bernie, I got a vivid picture of you ironing to led zepelin! One way of making the job tolerable for sure. A nice read with nice pictures, thanks Sally