Fleur : New Year and lots to do

Well it’s been a little while since I last did the blog so I thought it was about time that I had another go! I think it’s safe to say that all though we are out of season and quiet on the guest front there has been lots and lots of things going on around the Obs! Kevin, Alison and the kids have finally moved into their new house which is great news! Although it is not quite finished they managed to spend Christmas Day with their family in there – although it was a close run thing as the new cooker didn’t turn up until the day before Christmas Eve!!

Mark, Pumpkin and I were lucky enough to go home to Cornwall for a month over the Christmas Period. While we enjoy Island life it was fantastic to get away for a while and noticeably warmer in Penzance although Pumpkin was definitely not feeling on festive on Christmas Day when we put her in her Mrs Claus outfit. Mark got to go to KFC, although for those of you driving up or down the M6 our research has shown that if you don’t stop at the Gretna services, there isn’t another one until Preston! It was great to go out with many of our friends and family we hadn’t seen for nearly nine months and to try and sort out some wedding things. The boys got their suits sorted out which was the one of the main things, but they’ll have to lay off the pasties until December.

Pumpkin auditioning for an ITV2 programme!

Mark’s Christmas Dinner courtesy of my brother-it was bigger than Pumpkin!

After a month off it was a little shock to the system to come back to the Island and the Obs. Mainly because the temperature was so much colder! I’m still struggling to get used to it. Having said that in North Ronaldsay terms its actually been quite reasonable since we got back. There have been plenty of rain free days and recently we have even had 3 or 4 days of hardly any wind at all, which as anyone who has visited us will know is very rare.

Some beautiful snow drops have started flowering in little patches at Holland House and daffodils are sprouting at the side of the roads so it gives hope that spring is on the way.

Now as I said there has been a huge ‘to do’ list made for things to be done around the Obs, so it’s just as well that Rael has rejoined us back on the island! He and Mark wasted no time getting started and began by dismantling the old burning pit and relocating it further away from the Obs. As I write this they’re putting together a wooden fence in its place and we will soon have a giant compost heap instead. We have also spent time redecorating all the rooms in the guesthouse so that they are all fresh for the new season – although for some reason we seem to get more paint on ourselves that goes on the walls and we’ve still got the hostel and bar to do!

We were lucky enough to be back on the island for Burns night this year. Now this was our first experience of this night so we were a little unsure of what to expect. It has to be said we were pleasantly surprised. The entire hall had been beautifully decorated and we enjoyed the traditional piping in of the haggis (and we enjoyed eating it even more!), as well as some cultural poetry and music and the usual dancing. Although a bit different from a Penzance Friday night we really enjoyed ourselves – although I may have to do some homework on Burns poetry for next year as some of it was quite hard to understand.

Walls need painting, see you soon..