Rain on Dundas Street, Stromness

When I was a child on holiday with my family in the Highlands, I liked to have a day of rain when I could have an indoors day curled up with a book while the weather did its worst outside. Forward 75 years and today was my indoors day when the rain continued unabated from dawn. 
It was fairly light rain at 9am allowing us Selkies a pleasant swim amongst the raindrops and the seaweed, but no sooner was I home than the rain gained renewed vigour forcing me to abandon plans to sit in Flori’s with a coffee and in fact abandon any plans other than to ply the dark art of crochet listen to music and watch the sea and sky converge behind a cloying mist.

By early afternoon cabin fever took over and I put on my wet weather gear and walked to the Coop at the end of town. People were out and about and it’s amazing what adversity does to folk. As we sploshed and splashed, evading the puddles and the spray from passing cars and with our all enveloping anorak hoods cocooning ourselves from the rain, we pedestrians smiled as we passed each other rolling our eyes as if we were in a conspiracy together to endure the weather.

I don’t think in all the years I’ve been coming to Orkney have I experienced a whole day of rain here. Usually the weather is rather fickle and changeable with several seasons in one day but it’s very still outside today with no breeze. What we need is a brisk wind to push the rain clouds  over to Norway.