Gaan Oot!

It seemed extra dark this morning when I surfaced at 7am. I was meeting another Selkie at the slip for a pre breakfast swim at 7:45 and I did wonder if I should have had navigation lights attached to my cozzie. It did lighten up by the time I had walked along the shore and I found another 6 people there also with the intention of swimming at high tide. The sea was calm and the overnight rain had cleared leaving perfect conditions in the water .

Later I bussed through to Kirkwall to visit my 90 year old family friend but finding no one ostensibly at home I went to her daughter’s house to check if everything was ok. It seems that the State Funeral coverage had tired the 90 year old out and she was having a morning in bed.

The Viking Mars Cruise ship is berthed in Kirkwall today and both the the latter and Stromness are overrun with tourists. Sometimes I feel it’s a case of out of the frying pan into the fire.

Erlend Flett, the rescued bear with attitude, has persuaded me to buy a ticket for tonight’s concert by Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham in the town hall. Sometimes you just have to do things on your own that you might rather not do, but I’m sure I will enjoy it .

Meanwhile I’m lapping up the last of the autumn sunshine in the garden bordered by the sea wall. It’s so quiet and peaceful looking over a blue Hamnavoe to a low undulating Orphir, shadowed in places by the cotton wool clouds on the horizon. There are no tourists within at least a hundred yards .