Norq From Ork

As I type, Storm Conor is in full swing and showing no signs of abating.  Earlier in the week it was Storm Barbara, and earlier still just windy with no name.  All in all it made me want to take Chris Rea’s jolly old Driving Home for Christmas cd and smash it against a wall.  The boats were touch and go as to whether they would even bring our precious cargo of relatives and friends across from the mainland of Scotland because of the weather, and whilst Miss Lashes and NotPhil made it to the boat, the drive up was pretty treacherous. Some friends didn’t make the boats before they were cancelled so ended up spending Christmas elsewhere. NotPhil has never been to Orkney before and it’s a bit of a welcome! Having been here over 8 years I can honestly say this is the most relentless of stormy weather I’ve known, but there was storm a few years ago with higher winds and boats sank.  But it passed a lot quicker.  For now we are choosing to stay indoors and admire photos other people have taken of the waves and kindly allowed me to use.

 

 

 

 

 

Many places had power cuts and damage to property.  Thankfully ours stayed pretty much intact though I can hear the roof creaking and the tiles rattling. These photos were taken of Westray Pier.

 

 

 

 

Christmas Eve took us on a tour of The Orkney Brewery.  An old school house which was turned into a brewery when no longer used for teaching and now exports a large selection of fine local beers.  This is only a walk away from ours but the weather was so monstrous we drove and I abstained from sampling the beers and had a hot chocolate instead.  Orkney Beef took the novel way of trying all three beers at once but be warned, it can be messy.

Santa came! but to be honest, Christmas Eve or not, I’m used to waking up to an old fat bloke in the room. 😉

My favourite time of all is Christmas Eve when the shops have closed and the world waits in anticipation of the arrival of hope.  We did our usual of going to the church carol service.  I’m often quite choked at this and love the atmosphere and tradition.  At that moment in time I love everybody and this lasts right until someone gets the Monopoly out.

I love my crazy family so much and all I asked was for one photo where we were all smiling for the camera.

 

After ten attempts we finally managed one I was happy with! Thank you family for your complete lack of  cooperation.

Christmas day was filled with presents, food, naps and games.  The announcement of the sudden and untimely death of George Michael, one of many in 2016 it seems, reminded us once again that life is precious and to be treasured above all things.

Have a great last week of 2016 everyone.