Saturday 10 January 2009

I like weekends.
Weekends for me are a time to relax probably have a bit of a lie in, nice easy start and then depending on the weather, a trip out somewhere and just generally having a good time with the family.
Well today didn't quite go to the "normal" plan..
Our youngest boy was victim of a bit of a bug in the night, so not much sleep and no lie in either.
I woke feeling quite groggy and not too good myself.
I had to postpone the golf that I had planned for the morning until at least I felt better and really needed to see how the little one was going to be.
So an easy morning was in order...
No problem there, I managed to do more or less nothing all morning and by the time lunch came around I was feeling a whole lot better and decided to face the world and go for the game of golf.
The little one was also perking up a bit too, which put all our minds at rest.
He seemed perfectly happy lying on the couch watching "his" TV programmes.

The weather is certainly on the change and the cold is now long gone, replaced by a strong southerly wind and increasing cloud..was going to make for a tricky game of golf!

The golf started well with a par on the first hole, I seem to always start well, normally the wind helps on this hole..
It all went downhill from there with poor shot after poor shot...bogey, triple bogey and not sure what 6 shots over par for the hole is called!
On the other hand my brother in law had started much better as if to rub my nose in how bad I was doing.
I don't take it too seriously though to be honest and the view from the golf course has to be one of the finest on offer from any golf course in the world..
So I took a minute to take in the views and calmed myself down for the second half of my round..
And things started to look up, I was hitting long drives making good approaches and putting well too.
I think I may have evened things up a bit by the time the round finished, but didn't find out what my actual score was and whether I shot less the my brother in law, I will need to find out....
So with golf done and dusted it was now near 4p.m
I dropped off my bro and thought I'd better go to the quay to see if my delivery of carpets had arrived.
Sure enough there they were a great bundle of work to be done next week, just needed to check they were all in one piece and well wrapped as they are spending the weekend under a lean to on the quay, and with high winds and rain forecast it always good to see how things are looking.

While down the quay I noticed one of the ladies gig crews out practising for the new gig racing season in the practise gig "Tearaway".
Tearaway is a fibreglass replica gig that is used entirely for training alone.
She is lighter than a traditional gig and also by using her for training it saves wear and tear on the old wooden gigs.
The girls seemed to sticking inside the harbour due to the fresh wind, much easier to work on fitness and timing with a calmer sea....
It was pretty lumpy out between the island by this stage..
With the checking done, it just left one job left to do.
A quick measure up to do a quote for a local whose water tank had leaked its entire contents from the loft, through the ceiling and ruining the carpet below.
Unfortunately for them, they were not home while the tank failed and returned home from a trip away to find a watery mess.
With that done it was time for home and back to my nice warm house to sit down and relax again and settle back down into "weekend" mode.
With the high winds and high tides predicted I'm hoping to see some decent rough weather tomorrow, nothing better for testing the new camera..I hope it gets rough enough and dry enough to get some good pics.

Friday 9 January 2009



Today started well with a good walk to school with the boys,there was a beautiful sunrise as I walked across Old Town bay, I will upload some pics to SWC soon..
Felt a bit bleak though with an icy southerly breeze that made it feel colder than yesterday even though the temps are up today.
So went off to work, just a simple job or so I thought.
A fairly standard utility room with the usual washing machine tumble drier and freezer to take out, shouldn't have taken more than a hour or so.
Well after a whole load of problems I finally left the job somewhere about 12.30 for lunch,it was just one of those fiddly buggers! Even the vinyl that I was fitting didn't want to play ball and was trying to rip itself at every opportunity.
Then it was off to the new headmasters house to measure up for some vinyl..and then home for a quick sandwich before heading off to the tip to throw away all the rubbish accumulated from this mornings and yesterday afternoon work.
A quick trip into town to the bank and then off to a little job at Trinity Cottages.

I love the view from these houses and think the residents are very lucky to have such good views to enjoy. See pic above.
I was supposed to get a job done at Wingletang but had run out of time so that will be a Monday morning job now instead.
With that job postponed I picked up my middle boy from school and headed back into town to get a few bits and pieces for my dad who is struggling to get about at the moment, he is in need of a double hip operation...Ouch..bless him he is only 65 but a hard life of farming and building has taken its toll on his poor body..
Finally a couple of orders to phone through and my work was done for the day just in time to catch the sunset, didn't manage to get a pic though...
So the weekend is here with not too much planned, I have a game of golf in the morning with my brother in law and I'm sure I'll come home to a small to do list that darling wifey will have compiled in my absence.
I'll see if I can get some golfing pics for tomorrows post...
Just to add that I think I will try to get a pic of the best view from whatever house I maybe working in on the day that I am working there.
This will depend on whose house it is...

Thursday 8 January 2009

Well being new to all this its hard to know where to start but basically I get the impression that bloggers tend just to write about what they did in the day.
So for me my day was a quiet one.
The structure of my day rarely varies too much and on a week day will always start with me taking my boys to school.
They are 8 and 10 and really don't need to be walked or driven, but I enjoy the walk and they like me to go, so why not?
So my working day normally starts after school drop off.
Then I will work through to 5 stopping for an hour for lunch at a loose lunchtime.
Scilly for me is paradise and I see little point in living here working every second a hard as you can just to make ends meet.
Fortunately I am lucky enough to be flexible with my work so I am able to have a fair bit of spare time, which I mostly like to spend with my family.

On the work side,I am presently waiting for a whole batch of carpets and vinyl to arrive on Saturday so I spent the day catching up with a few jobs and measures.
January is traditionally the time when those who are organised are sorting out all their properties for letting,or B&B's having a touch of paint.
Normally a very busy time for me, this year is not too different only I don't have any one BIG job to do, seemingly lots of smaller ones.
Work is work and its all good as far as I am concerned.

We have been experiencing our coldest weather in the past few years over the last week.
Today was a little warmer after yesterdays sub zero nighttime temps and the first ice that I have seen here for years.
All in all a good day,lovely and calm if a little grey.
Take a peek at Scillywebcam for the days best views.
Well that will be it for the first post.
I'll have another go at this tomorrow and we will see how it goes............
I have been following a blog just recently, written by a man on the Isle of Raasay, which is just off the Isle of Skye.
Blogs can be quite compelling viewing with the reader becoming interested in the life of the blogger.
In particular this blog http://lifeattheendoftheroad.wordpress.com/ has quite a few comparisons to our island life here on the Isles of Scilly.
So I have decided to give "blogging" a go, to see if anyone would be interested in what I get up to on a daily basis...
So I guess watch this space to see what happen next........