Some welcome home!

The sea had a bit of a swell till Fair Isle which we went close to - nice to see. The boat was very busy as apparently there were Logan Air foot passengers as well as everyone else. The plane must have not gone due to fog and when we docked in Aberdeen it was announced that the boat had been unable to get the airline to respond to the request to get transport for their passengers. It must be hard living up there and depending on flights.

The swell dropped and we had a good sleep till woken by tannoy at 6am. That Stugeron is powerful stuff. Our journey home was delayed while we waited for Asda to open so that we could top up LPG. Mr C and another customer couldn’t get it to work. He advised us to go to a place near Stonehaven. It had run out so we eventually got it in Dundee.

On the way we called in to the Lewis Grassic Gibbon centre where there was a small exhibition. We had to wait till it opened at 10. I loved the Scots Quair from being introduced to it by Mr C’s mother and must re-read it, though did seem depressing when I read it in the 70s. It was voted the best Scottish novel. I also popped in to pay respects to the author who is buried at the 12th century kirk at Arbuthnot. It had a lovely austere interior.

We decided we’d take a detour and call at Falkland Palace and have a picnic there, as we’d not been. It looked a pretty little town but there was nowhere to park as the car park was full so it was a wasted journey. Street parking was limited to 30 minutes.

Our welcome home was the worst bit of the day. We found our hall and back bedroom flooded and a horrible smell of damp, resulting from a happening in the upstairs bathroom. The water was dripping through the ceiling. (Our friends who call to check things last did so 10 days ago as they have since had Covid.). Luckily Kevin the plumber who has done work putting it the upstairs shower etc came within 5 minutes. The culprit was a washer in the loo cistern. He advised us to poke a hole in the ceiling plaster to let the water away. We have had to isolate the electricity as the lights were fizzing. Our neighbour electrician Chris is going to call round at 7 to make things safe. I hope we can get it all sorted soon as we have the children staying at the weekend and a Suffolk friend next week. Already Shetland seems a distant memory!