The Blue Box

I drove home tonight, late, having got caught up again with late problems at work. However, the sun was still fairly high in the sky and so I was looking forward to take a wander up into town to shoot in some proper light. Ah, the best laid plans...

For the past fortnight I've been hounded by workmen banging, sawing, drilling, hammering and other assorted power tooling their way through renovations to the flat above me. From 7am to 10pm (tonight was a new late record)! Apparently (as I found out tonight) it's being done as a homer, hence the frickin' annoying hours. It's been a bloody nightmare! Tonight was a new low though.

I walked into the living room to drop off the keys before getting changed to find the floor and coffee table covered in water with more dripping from the main light fitting in the ceiling and the place stinking with the musty smell only decades old wet sound deadening can give off. Noooooooo... I'd been dreading something going wrong for the past week as I was in the middle of changing my household insurance. The new policy came into effect last Thursday though, so all good. Anyhoo, I rushed upstairs and someone eventually answered the door.

"Oh yeah, we had a slight weep from the pipes but it didn't last long and it's all sorted now."

Hah! A weep! Bloody hell, that was some... weep! As I write, I'm looking up at my water stained ceiling. Fortunately it looks as though staining is as far as the damage goes. Bit worried about how long the pools of water were lying on the laminate floor for, although it seemed to be held on the surface ok and there doesn't appear to be any weeping (yeah, proper weeping) from the joints so far so fingers crossed it hasn't seeped through. Fortunately I had decided to store my laptop in one of the dookets under the coffee table. If it had been in its normal position it would have been soaked. As it was, only a few letters (including my new insurance policy - pah!) and magazines suffered.

Think I was lucky!

So, tonight's offering was the result of a half hearted wander which was to take me to Portobello Beach but only got as far as an old Police Box on Sleigh Drive.

To make up for it a little I've finally managed to put up some of the shots from last year's holiday. They've been on Facebook for a while, but never got round to posting them all on Flickr.

Day 1 - Loch's Laggan and Lochy and Brodgar on Orkney

Day 2 - Dwarfie Stane and Rackwick on Hoy and Maeshowe on Orkney

Day 3 - Skara Brae and the road from Orkney to Durness

Days 4 to 6 next time...