Snowy Christmas

Yes, I know it was over a month ago - but here's some photos I took in Arran at Christmas.

Sunrise over Holy Isle

It was quite strange actually - when I arrived Holy Isle was all white, but due to the angle of the sun at this time of year, the snow on Holy Isle was nearly all gone within a day while the rest of the village was still white. It felt slightly surreal standing in a white winter wonderland looking out at sunshine and very little snow on Holy Isle.

 Looking towards Goatfell.

 The fisherman's walk - where the going was slightly easier than at this time last year, when we'd have been better wearing ice skates!

 Baby Christmas trees.

I did find it sad, though, that the Foresty Commission found it necessary to have signs prominently displayed about having CCTV in this spot!

I wonder how many places in Scotland have Christmas lights on palm trees?

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all my readers!

Another 2 Uppie victories today. A much longer - and colder - game than on Christmas Day, with a collapsed wall to add to the drama! More photos to follow tomorrow.

Christmas Day Sunset

With the Ba being a bit shorter than usual, we got home in time to catch the last rays of light across Mill Sands.

Christmas Day Men's Ba - part 2

The Ba moved relatively quickly off Broad Street and headed up Victoria Street. I spent a while taking videos - then moved back to some photos as it crossed the bottom of the Clay Loan and started moving along Main Street.

By this time there was a big crowd watching. I think it was maybe bigger than the usual Christmas Day crowd (the New Year's Day Ba generally has more spectators) - perhaps the dry and relatively mild weather brought more people than usual out to watch.

The Ba went over this wall - then back again. Kye was on the wall taking photos for a while before the Ba suddenly got put over - rapidly followed by a number of players!

The Ba soon came back over the wall.

It moved along Main Street towards the Uppie Goal, then back towards the Clay Loan. At this point I was on the balcony of the West End Hotel - this photo is looking back towards Clay Loan.

People who have houses (or hotels) along the Ba's route get a bird's eye view.

The Ba then moved back 'up' - here it's almost opposite the West End Hotel. The clouds of steam generally let you see where the Ba is in the tight pack!

The Ba finally reaches the Uppie goal at Mackinson's corner.

And touches the wall, to cheers from the Uppies and their supporters.

The fight to crown the winner of the Ba then begins.

Finally, the winner arises from the pack - holding the Ba aloft in victory.

Christmas Day Mens' Ba - part 1

The teams have gathered - and there's almost a party atmosphere at the start.

Almost 1pm, and ready for the throw up.

A good crowd has gathered to watch.

Almost 1pm, and the hands go up in readiness - a bit of jostling for position begins.

The Ba is thrown ...

Hands make a grab for it, and it soon disappears into the mass of players.

Play swirls around on Broad Street - seeming to move more rapidly than it has in recent games. The Doonies look like they have more stregth this year.

More play on Broad Street.

The Ba moves doon from the Mercat Cross - I think that's the furthest 'doon the gates' that we've seen the mens' ba go in the past few years.

A sad day

Yesterday saw the closure of the most northerly Woolworths store in the UK - in Kirkwall.

It's the end of an era for Woolies in Orkney - it had been open here for 50 years. 34 people have lost their jobs - a huge loss for a small community. A sad day indeed - leaving a big hole in the heart of the town. Hopefully someone will take over the vacant space and open a new store there soon - not only creating jobs, but also it's such a large space to be lying empty in the middle of the town.

The barriers in the photo are the Ba barriers - they go up a few days before the Christmas Day Ba and stay up until after the New year's Day Ba.

Christmas Day Boys' Ba

Christmas Day seals

It was such a gorgeous morning, we headed off down to the beach.

P.S. It doesn't matter how many times I arrange the photos and the spacing between them - this sortware has a mind of its own and just does its own thing no matter what I do, so I'm going to give up on trying to arrange the photos nicely on the page!

Orkney at Christmas

I've been enjoying listening to Radio Orkney again since I've been home. I've missed it, I have to admit. There can't be many radio stations which have a regular spot for lost and "fund" (found) cats!!

Radio Orkney also has a regular spot in the run up to Christmas where they try to reunite Christmas cards with their owners. I don't suppose there are that many Royal Mail sorting offices which have dedicated and caring enough staff to bother with that! What hapens is someone from the sorting office will be interviewed by a Radio Orkney reporter and they describe all the cards they have not been able to deliver - and usually tell all the places they've tried without success too. It can be something like "This one is addressed to 'Auntie Jean, the House above the Bay, Orkney' and we've not found an owner for it yet". Or "This one is addressed to the Mansons at Hoymansquoy in Stromness but they've moved from there and we haven't been able to find out their new address". People then phone in if they think they know who it is - and amazingly almost every card finds its righful owner this way.

Christmas Day was a lovely day - the best weather we've had since I got back - by quite a long way! We spent a lot of the morning down on the beach (photos of the seals will follow, as will many other photos taken over the past 2 days, be prepared ...) then didn't have time for a proper lunch as we'd lost track of the time and had to dash off to catch the start of the Ba. The Uppies won both Boys' and Mens' Bas - for once the Boys' ba was longer than the Mens' - it took about an hour longer and we had the strange experience of the men's ba stuck on Victoria Street when the boys' ba went past at some speed - confusing several of the men who raced off after it as the crowd yelled at them to tell them it was the boys ba which had gone past. We also had the strange experience of seeing the sunset after the Ba had finished - that must surely be one of the quickest Ba games I've seen.

Today we went in to Scapa beach to watch the "Dip wi' a Nip" in aid of CLIC Sargent. 180 people (ranging in age from 3 to 68) took to the water. I don't know yet how much was raised - but it'll be several thousands I would think. It was a colder day than yesterday - with a definite edge to the breeze - but still dry and the sun was out a bit. I didn't envy the dippers though - some of them looked very cold even before they had got into the water. The water temperature in Orkney is fairly constant all year round - but the wind chill was definitely a factor today. There was a huge crowd of spectators there too, all wondering whether the 180 participants were brave or mad.

Photos of the seals, both Bas and the Dip with a Nip will follow soon. The nip was, of course, Highland Park, who sponsored the event, along with the Scottish Co-op who provided food for the dippers.

Christmas Lights

Ayr Santa Dash - part 1

I'm just back in from Ayr Santa Dash. It's a fundraiser for the Ayrshire Hospice - and also part of the Christmas Light Switch-on party in Ayr. I was so intrigued by the idea of the Santa Dash that I had to go - even though it's not a very nice day (cold wind, sleety rain ...). I'm really glad I went though - I've had a great afternoon. Got well kitted up - thermals, waterproofs, hat .... and camera. There were about 300 Santas doing the 5km run/walk. They've raised in the region of £8000. I got lots of photos (will upload some when I get time) - there was a lovely, friendly atmosphere at it and adults, children & dogs alike were all dressed as Santa!

The fun run went along the esplanade, so I went along there for a bit and then went a walk along the beach. Cold, but my back was to the wind luckily, and the light was lovely. Lots of oystercatchers about too. Then I headed off to Wellington Square to the big stage - the Santa Dash finishes just by Wellington Square and there is entertainment laid on - and the Red Hot Chilli Pipers were part of it - so I stayed to see them. The act before them was pretty good and warmed the crowd up a bit - but the party really got going when the Chillies came on. They were fantastic - that's the first time I've heard AC/DC played on the bagpipes, let alone jazz and Hey Jude!!! They also did some fantastic traditional tunes and really got the crowd dancing and clapping along.

The event was building up to the 'climax' when I left - well, the switching on of the Christmas lights by 2 guys who were, I think, from Big Brother may have been the climax for some - but certainly wasn't for me, especially after the Red Hot Chilli Pipers had finished their set, so I headed off home for a hot drink and more lesson planning and making of resources.

I can't believe it

The Christmas lights are up in Ayr. Thankfully they're not on (yet!) - but it seems so early to put them up. Haven't they realised it's still October???!!!!!!!!!