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It’s gone a bit quiet again, if you don’t count the rain. Work is happening at the pier, but the boys went away yesterday to do their Christmas shopping. They caught the first boat, just in case. We are getting a new sea wall. It may not be the best weather to build a sea wall, but there is so much stuff it could only be done when the ferry is quiet. The car park is full of steel cages. These are the reinforcings for the walls, great long lengths all welded and wired together. Around the seaward side of the car park is a big hole. I gather this wasn’t that straight forward; something to do with granite not being ordinary rock. Then there are the deliveries of aggregate, and these heaps have to go somewhere where there isn’t already something else. Safely up the hill at the burger van it is all very entertaining!

We had another rock driller in. He went through the granite very easily. The new green energy is geo-thermal. He drills pairs of holes straight down (in this case, two pairs, but one doubled up as a water bore-hole), and then a fancy liquid is pumped down one, up the other, through a heat pump (back to front fridge), through the pipes forming the under floor heating circuit, and then back into the ground to warm up again. Apparently one and a half metres down there is a constant temperature of 15 degrees C. Seems too good to be true. In Scotland there is a 30% grant, but it is still a lot of money, about £7000. In 50 years time, when every house has one there will probably be scare stories about the Earth’s core cooling down too fast.

PS Maverick beer on tonight.

I went to my first auction of promises on Friday. Normally I’m working, making money instead of spending it. It raised over £2000 for the school, I think it mostly goes on their trips to the mainland, with a bit of luck we could lose the kids for a fortnight. I think the first rule should be only one half of a couple attends as there seemed to be a few disputes about how much and what to bid for. I expect Relate to blame these auctions for a lot of their work. As an example there was a coat, allegedly worth £100, so bidding started at £40, and stopped. The initial bidder obviously didn’t want the coat (it was the wrong shape) but wanted to keep the money rolling in. The auctioneer decided to re-offer the coat, starting at £10, so the £40 bidder stuck his arm up again! (Eventually the coat made £15 and went to someone who will wear it) It is difficult to have a domestic argument with a third of the population listening in. I’ve bought two hours of gaelic lessons, I’m wondering if I’ll get away with having them in the pub.
Saturday night I was working so I missed the comedians but everyone who invaded the bar after the show said they were very funny. Wednesday is Paella night and I’m going to my first Christmas dinner of the season next Saturday. Don’t believe anyone who tells you the winter is boring on Coll!

More action at the pier today. Three lorries came in between boats. One had more aggregate so it was easily tipped out. The other two lorries were flatbeds, with plenty of space for water tanks, septic tanks, or anything bulky but light. If only we had known. The crane was needed to unload these, so they carefully reversed in to the car park. A complicated beam system was attached to the hook on the crane, and then it lifted up a giant set of ‘tiles-on-a-backing-roll’. I say giant because they were a foot thick and the width and length of the lorry. On closer inspection they turned out to be lumps of concrete with little rocks set into the top, and each lump was joined to its neighbours with stainless steel wires. I thought they were for facing the walls, but they are to go below, on the rocks and should take the force out of the waves before they reach the wall. I’m not convinced yet. I was then entertained by some interesting manoeuvring of the lorries, until it became clear one of the trailers was being put on the other to save ferry fares.

The paella was excellent. I know we should have been drinking rioja, but Pipers Gold is so good. Strange to realise real ale has only been here 5 weeks. The main casualty is Guinness. We were last out of the pub again.

It almost happened last week. Broadband! We got, well not me, I’m not the bill-payer, he got a letter from BT. It started well. ‘Go fast. Go wireless. Get BT broadband’ It went on ‘You wanted it and now it is available in your area’ I’ve been envious of John on Jura for ages, in spite of the teething troubles. The internet is getting slower, the pictures are getting bigger and the waiting for loading is getting a bit more irritating. The letter promised we could sign up in only 8 minutes. I can’t decide if that is fast or slow, but it is beautifully precise. I hot-footed it over to join, only to be told it will be available by 31 Dec, which is what it says every time I check. Depending on the route the cables take we are 2-3 miles from the exchange so should be OK, but anyone living more out in the sticks may not be. Peering at the small print on the back it is clear the 2 Mb download speed is pie in the sky, and the special price is only valid if taken up before Jan 8. I think it took over 3 weeks on Jura to get going after the official start date so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for another offer, but I really don’t understand why they target postcodes with stuff that can’t work.

I’m going away tomorrow for three weeks. It’s a bit scary, we haven’t left the place for that long before. I think everything is under control but something is bound to go wrong; the pigs will escape, there will be an outbreak of avian flu, the cat will die and the roof will get blown off! I worry now, but as soon as I get on the ferry I stop, there is nothing more I can do. Actually I jinx the ferry, I wouldn’t be surprised if it breaks down tomorrow.
The boys at the pier have been really busy this week, the wall looks very good, in a reinforced cement kind of way. It will definitely be improved with some graffiti, remember you need to bring your own paint, there are no spray cans for sale here.
Last night was the hotel’s staff Christmas party. I wore a skirt, I haven’t worn one since my brother-in-law got married ages before we moved up here. The skirt was mine but I had to borrow a blouse and waistcoat, and apparently I should have had better shoes! We didn’t have turkey because that was served the night before at the party for the school, surgery, pier and shop. Monday is Project’s do. Several people are going to two Christmas parties but no-one has managed to qualify for all three! Anyway we had beef, I think there was almost as much wine in the gravy as on the tables (and there was plenty there). It didn’t rain and there wasn’t much wind so the fireworks looked great. And there was real ale, Holly Daze, so I stayed off the malt and feel fine today.
So my biggest worry is how long it is going to take to catch up with all the blogs. There must be very little to do in the Northern Isles, they’ve gone blog crazy, and I’m going to miss Calumannabel and Arnish lighthouse.