Summer? Blink and it's gone. Or was it a dream?
Posted: Wednesday, 15 August 2007 |
You know you should never take longer to cook a meal than it takes to eat it. So says my boyfriend anyway. (but then I’ve never seen anyone cook as fast.)
But this is not actually the point I’m trying to make. I’ve been sitting here at my computer wondering how to begin this blog, thinking about my summer and how it started, and it reminded me of how much I had been looking forward to the holidays. But in a few days time I go back to work, and my summer will be officially over.
So, the question is: did I spend longer anticipating my summer than experiencing it? And if I did, is it a bad thing?
Looking back, it seems like it whizzed past me in a blink. But actually it was a long and lazy summer, which started for me with the Shetland Race (see my previous blog), and has only stopped this week.
The day after school finished I set off to stay with my bloke in Norway for a while o the summer. I was supposed to be flying to Aberdeen from Sumburgh, but flights were affected by the fog so I took the ferry instead. We were treated to a great show by the Coastguard helicopter crew on board Oscar Charlie while they were on exercise, lowering their winchman and a stretcher on board the ferry.
The following day I flew to Bergen and stayed in Norway for 3 weeks. Now before you go thinking jealous thoughts, I must say that this was not really a holiday, this was sort of ‘normal living’, my bloke working most of the time, and I had to find some things to do to occupy myself. Which is actually something I find fairly difficult to do adapt to, as my life usually tends towards the frantic. I had known before I went that I would find this hard, and I did.
However, I did manage to achieve a few things during my stay. For example: we went on a few short evening trips on the peedie boat, including one to Osterøy; I discussed future youth trips with the skipper of the Dyrafjeld, a beautiful 118 year old norsk sailing boat; I shopped; we painted the boat house; I mastered the art of asking for things in shops in Norwegian; I shopped; I missed a few buses, but caught more; we painted the house; I shopped; I cooked, I gardened; I shopped; I made a few friends; I met some of my blokes family members; I shopped; I wrote an article for Shetland Life Magazine (wayhey my first ever ‘article’!!); we went sailing for a weekend and I nearly got decapitated by the boom; and oh yes, did I mention? I shopped too.
ANYhoo, heres a few pix o my 3 weeks in Norway.
Oscar Charlie on excercise, Bressay in the background.
Bergen
The sailing weekend.
We went as far south as Stord....
...and met up with a few friends!
Party time in a place called Titlesnes (I think that's the name, Dag??)
Don't know who she is but she was one of many who visited Titlesnes to go to the Vassendgutane outdoor concert. It was a lot of fun, and not so different from an Unst night oot.
I had my kids for the second half of the holidays, so I returned to the UK with my boyfriend and his son, to meet up with my bairns and spend a week in Orkney, then we all returned to Unst for the following week. The weather was ok I suppose, as it just rained a little on most days, with only one day being ‘a day o dirt’. Which would, of course, be the day we chose to spend on Hoy. Here’s the pix from the Orkney and Shetland ‘bits’ o my summer.
We did the usual tourist trail thing...
The Ring o Brodgar
Bishop's Palace.
The bairns in the fire.
Going for a dip at Skaill. (After dragging the kids round Skara Brae of course.)
After visiting the usual suspects (Maeshowe, Skara Brae, Ring o Brodgar, Tomb of the Eagles, the Cathedral, some ruined castles, etc etc) the kids couldn't take any more old stone...
So we went to Binscarth for a swing in the trees,
and they went for a swim and barbeque at Walkmill.
At the Picky Centre, here the bairns are trying to figure out how to get back into the hire car that Number 2 son had very carefully locked us out of. Thankfully the car hire company rescued us.
Warebeth beach with the Kame in the background.
Yesnaby.
Not Mac, but close enough!
The Stenness Monster!
The week at home here in Unst was more relaxing, no frantic visiting, just the occasional swim at the beach and, of course, we had MAC!
Trying the surf at Norik
What we lacked in sunshine we made up for in enthusiasm. (And of course, the boys had wetsuits, that helped a lot!)
Well. Maybe I should attempt to answer my earlier question. Did I spend longer anticipating summer than experiencing it? Maybe, yes.
And is that a bad thing? Definately not. I'm already working on Summer 2008!
But this is not actually the point I’m trying to make. I’ve been sitting here at my computer wondering how to begin this blog, thinking about my summer and how it started, and it reminded me of how much I had been looking forward to the holidays. But in a few days time I go back to work, and my summer will be officially over.
So, the question is: did I spend longer anticipating my summer than experiencing it? And if I did, is it a bad thing?
Looking back, it seems like it whizzed past me in a blink. But actually it was a long and lazy summer, which started for me with the Shetland Race (see my previous blog), and has only stopped this week.
The day after school finished I set off to stay with my bloke in Norway for a while o the summer. I was supposed to be flying to Aberdeen from Sumburgh, but flights were affected by the fog so I took the ferry instead. We were treated to a great show by the Coastguard helicopter crew on board Oscar Charlie while they were on exercise, lowering their winchman and a stretcher on board the ferry.
The following day I flew to Bergen and stayed in Norway for 3 weeks. Now before you go thinking jealous thoughts, I must say that this was not really a holiday, this was sort of ‘normal living’, my bloke working most of the time, and I had to find some things to do to occupy myself. Which is actually something I find fairly difficult to do adapt to, as my life usually tends towards the frantic. I had known before I went that I would find this hard, and I did.
However, I did manage to achieve a few things during my stay. For example: we went on a few short evening trips on the peedie boat, including one to Osterøy; I discussed future youth trips with the skipper of the Dyrafjeld, a beautiful 118 year old norsk sailing boat; I shopped; we painted the boat house; I mastered the art of asking for things in shops in Norwegian; I shopped; I missed a few buses, but caught more; we painted the house; I shopped; I cooked, I gardened; I shopped; I made a few friends; I met some of my blokes family members; I shopped; I wrote an article for Shetland Life Magazine (wayhey my first ever ‘article’!!); we went sailing for a weekend and I nearly got decapitated by the boom; and oh yes, did I mention? I shopped too.
ANYhoo, heres a few pix o my 3 weeks in Norway.
Oscar Charlie on excercise, Bressay in the background.
Bergen
The sailing weekend.
We went as far south as Stord....
...and met up with a few friends!
Party time in a place called Titlesnes (I think that's the name, Dag??)
Don't know who she is but she was one of many who visited Titlesnes to go to the Vassendgutane outdoor concert. It was a lot of fun, and not so different from an Unst night oot.
I had my kids for the second half of the holidays, so I returned to the UK with my boyfriend and his son, to meet up with my bairns and spend a week in Orkney, then we all returned to Unst for the following week. The weather was ok I suppose, as it just rained a little on most days, with only one day being ‘a day o dirt’. Which would, of course, be the day we chose to spend on Hoy. Here’s the pix from the Orkney and Shetland ‘bits’ o my summer.
We did the usual tourist trail thing...
The Ring o Brodgar
Bishop's Palace.
The bairns in the fire.
Going for a dip at Skaill. (After dragging the kids round Skara Brae of course.)
After visiting the usual suspects (Maeshowe, Skara Brae, Ring o Brodgar, Tomb of the Eagles, the Cathedral, some ruined castles, etc etc) the kids couldn't take any more old stone...
So we went to Binscarth for a swing in the trees,
and they went for a swim and barbeque at Walkmill.
At the Picky Centre, here the bairns are trying to figure out how to get back into the hire car that Number 2 son had very carefully locked us out of. Thankfully the car hire company rescued us.
Warebeth beach with the Kame in the background.
Yesnaby.
Not Mac, but close enough!
The Stenness Monster!
The week at home here in Unst was more relaxing, no frantic visiting, just the occasional swim at the beach and, of course, we had MAC!
Trying the surf at Norik
What we lacked in sunshine we made up for in enthusiasm. (And of course, the boys had wetsuits, that helped a lot!)
Well. Maybe I should attempt to answer my earlier question. Did I spend longer anticipating summer than experiencing it? Maybe, yes.
And is that a bad thing? Definately not. I'm already working on Summer 2008!
Comments
Welcome back sounds like a good summer and the pictures prove it wasn't all like today. No yole sailing tonight I suspect, F8 and rain at present.
Hyper-Borean from Wet & windy where else.
I looks as though you all had a wonderful time , we often think that the weather stops us doing things but to be honest you can have fun whatever. Love the picture of the reflection in the glasses
Barebraes from Shapinsay
Yes, well I suppose it was worth waiting for, the photo's are very good too. I'm trying to watch what I put in here, nice to see your back again Ruthodanort. kids come in handy, when you need someone to blame for locking you out of the car, don't they??
Tws from Summertime Sensation
Nice to have you back! :)
Anne from IBHQ
Aw, thanks guys. And the praise for that reflection pic must go to the norski bloke. Obvious I suppose, I couldn't have taken it seeins as it's my mug in the shot. He took a few of the other ones too. And tws, it's a long story about the car thing, but yes, No 2 son was responsible. (Well, I guess as he's only 10 I guess I have to take the ultimate responsability.) (How do you spell responsable-ible?) But he very carefully pressed the up button on the window from the outside, after also very carefully locking all the other doors. (He thought he was being helpful.)
Ruthodanort from Unst
Now I know what the inside of Gerri's looks like...scary! Great pics, esp the Stord one...a painted ship upon a painted ocean...
Flying Cat from hoorayruth'sback!
welcome back ruth! I'm glad you had a good summer-the pics are great and you all look so nice and HAPPY!! getting locked out of the car makes me think of stopping to shop in Hamilton(nz) putting the shopping in the boot alon with the cars keys,and when i shut the boot all other doors locked at the same time!! phoned pascal -in auckland 80kms away-he was very calm he said he'd phone the car hire firm,only as it was a saturday morning they were closed-so he said he would drive down and rescue me-my night in shining armour ha ha! well a lady next to me asked what was wrong so she went home came back with her hubby,who opened the car for me and took me back to her place for lunch(in between times i buzzed pascal and told him not to bother coming for me) that was the first time i'd ever locked myself out of the car and hope it will be the last!
tws's weather girl from where its hot and thundery
Nice to have you "online" again, Ruth. Since you asks, I think the place is called Tittelnes, it is close to Valevåg and the vestlands highway passes nearby. There is a Norwegian song: " En sommer er over, men minnene om den består". In English, summer is over ,but the memories remain. What a pity we didn't meet, but since you are already planning next summer, please put in a meeting in 2008.
Dag from Norway
What a terrible English in my last comment. I should have written . Since you ask,......... Sorry about that.
Dag from Norway
Dag, not only is English a foreign language for you, the quality of your English puts many English speakers to shame. It is excellent. Ruth, lovely pics, it doesn't half look cold once you got back from Norway, though!
Jill from EK
Dag, thanks for the correction, Tittelnes soonds right I think, is there a military something there? Tellnes Fort maybe? And jepp din engelsk er veldig bra.
Ruthodanort from Unst
Thank you Jill and Ruth for the nice words. You are so kind. In fact I enjoy writing and reading English. It gives me pleasure to be able to communicate with you islenders. I think more people in Norway should look west and travel west over the North Sea, just like the old times.
Dag from Norway
Maybe a career in journalism awaits you Ruthodanort. PS Mum bought one o' your pics fae da Final Checkout. Sneaky!
Muness from Fetlar
Is it the Shetland crematorium? Another wonderful idea brought to you by
Flying Cat from Initiative at The Edge
Lovely photos Ruthie, really reminds me of the island life. Looks like a fabulous summer!! I'll be getting some of that this week in Orkney. Journalism might be a good idea! I think you've got it.
Kittster from Festival city
Monica who met you last week(?) says hello to you and has arrived in Whalsay for a few days. Met her this morning bythe jetty.
aquaerial from whalsay
Coool. Monica is exactly the kindo person I want to be at her age. Think I might do a peedie blog aboot her.
Ruthodanort from Unst
...and?...
Flying Cat from Inn Anticipation
Had on tae your socks FC, I'm gettin there. Did you ken that Friday's International Blog Day? Or at least that's what Muness telt me today in the staffroom. (Yes occasionally we allow him to use a superior staffroom.) So I'll try n blog Friday.
Ruthodanort from Unst
International Blog Day? Whatever next? International Question Mark Day? Can You Hear Me Mother ? Day? Flying Cat Day? I'm going to regret putting that last one in, I just somehow know.
Tws from The Stuffed Room
If any of us are going to blog on a Friday we'll ahve to get up pretty early to be sure it's posted before the weekend.
Flying Cat from what am I going to blog aboot?
its not fair!! you lot are allowed to blog but not me!!!so i am going to bed to read a boring book and on friday will not click on to IB!! hm hm!!!
tws's weather girl from ready to go to bed
C'mon Carol, stop the pootsin. You are one o wur most valued commentors. IB widno be the same withoot you.
Ruthodanort from Unst
You don't want the heavy responsibility of having a blog of your own Carol. It's putting grey hares on me. Which day is Flying Cat Day Tws? Just so I know...
Flying Cat from Oh Happy Day
Blogs fae a thirty-something mum of 4 born in Fife, brought up in Orkney, and living in Unst.
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