Norq From Ork

Raise your hand if you live in the UK and have complained it’s too hot this week?  Now take that raised hand and put it in front of your face in a facepalm gesture like this. 🤦  I mean really? Did you actually say out loud it’s too hot?

I was enjoying some of the glorious not-too-hot sunshine during my lunch hour. Working in an office for much of my day means I have to grab some rays whenever I can and I was walking down the street doing that very thing. A woman behind me commented on the heat. ‘Yes isn’t lovely?’ I smiled. ‘I hope it doesn’t last’ she replied.  ‘I hope it doesn’t last?’  It took all my strength not to burst or crying right there and then in the street. We pretty much know in Orkney it WON’T last. So please, when it’s a rare and beautiful day, could you suffer in silence and buy a lolly or something? Winter will come soon enough and you can be happy again.

That said, Orkney Beef registered 43o in his car which I will admit, would require the window being down when driving. It was stationary at the time I hasten to add.

Enjoying a few minutes of sunshine.

The weather can be hugely varied too as well as changing quickly.  After enjoying a beautiful not-too-hot day in Kirkwall I headed home in a much cooler evening.  The mist had come down and I planned to cancel the planned BBQ.  However when I arrived home, my part of the island was still bathed in glorious sunshine and we could still eat outside.  If you look at the horizon you should be able to see the clouds over the east mainland. Strange.

Many liners visit the Orkney islands and they are quite a sight.  I’ll leave the lengthy discussion of the volume of tourists to others. It has been a divisive subject for quite a time, but they are now very much part of Orkney life in the summer, and that’s unlikely to change. Part of Orkney’s charm is that many ancient historical sites are so accessible such as the Ring of Brodgar. Naturally people want to visit these ancient stones and sites. Here’s hoping that people can continue to enjoy them for many years to come and we can ALL give these amazing historical sites the respect they deserve. I have friends coming to visit this week from my time living in Cambridge. I must admit I’m looking forward to seeing the island through a tourists eyes again. I don’t take these beautiful islands for granted but it’s natural to get stuck into work mode and miss some of the wonder people first experience when they arrive here.

I’ve been complaining about how tired I am recently.  It’s true, I’m exhausted.  It would help if I wasn’t out photographing the night sky at midnight.  After ten years I still find it amazing at how light it is through the night in the summer months.  These photos were taken at midnight or just past. My apologies in that it’s just a  phone camera.

As June slipped into July I was out past midnight again taking a photo of the silhouetted sky and simmer dim.  Taken from Orkney Jar this quote describes what’s known as ”simmer dim”

”When the summer sun finally sets, it remains just below the horizon so there is no true darkness – simply a period of extended twilight, known in dialect as the “simmer dim”.

Other news in brief

Best thing said to me all week ‘I can’t believe you’re 48!  You don’t act 48’

also this week I nearly choked to death on a marshmallow. As I lay there dying all I could think was what an embarrassing way to go. I felt my life ebbing away, it was touch and go for a while* My son just looked at me and said ‘you ok Mum?’

(*some of this story may be slightly exaggerated)

 

Have great week everyone! I’m off to be a tourist for a while.