Krampachtig
December 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Alhoewel de UK toch ook een land van regeltjes en wetjes is, zijn ze met bepaalde dingen weer verbluffend makkelijk. Zoals bijvoorbeeld met vuurwerk. Niet dat krampachtige gedoe zoals in Nederland met geld verslindende opsporingsteams die rond december van zolder worden gehaald om eens lekker wat om zich heen te gaan meppen naar vroeg-verkopers, vroeg-koper en vroeg-afstekers.
Je kunt hier gewoon het hele jaar door vuurwerk kopen. Afsteken is alleen op bepaalde tijdstippen verboden (niet afsteken tussen 23:00 en 07:00, behalve op Oud & Nieuw) en als je wilt kopen moet je minimaal 18 jaar zijn. Uiteraard zijn retailers en handelaars gebonden aan strenge regels en voorschriften. Het blijft natuurlijk hachelijk spul….
Smoke on the village
December 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Today we went to Portree for our weekly shopping. It was a calm day without any winds. Approaching Portree you could clearly see a layer of smoke hovering over the houses. Presumably from all the wood burning stoves and cookers being used. A very pretty sight. Only a bit of snow and the picture would have been complete… Shame we didn’t bring any camera 
However I found a nice old picture of the Portree harbour around 1950 (source: www.oldukphotos.com). Compared to today, there hasn’t been too much change…
Six pack
December 27, 2007 | 1 Comment |
We have top hens, I might say. Even during cold winter days they supply us each and every day with eggs. And all are contributing, so we can pick up six fresh eggs of various sizes each morning. This is of course way above our consuming capacity, so we were starting to get a massive egg supply in the fridge. At first a bit unsure what to do with all those eggs, we now bring them to a someone down the road and trade them for meat from his livestock.
Also, when all hens finally did lay eggs they would lay them more or less during the day. So we picked up a few in the early morning, another one after an hour and then a couple in the afternoon. Now, the girls have decided to synchronize their efforts and the “six pack” is ready each morning at 8:30. Good girls!
Thinking
December 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Well, this is a picture of me contemplating world domination. This subject always gives me a very serious case of thinking wrinkles, so I probably don’t look my very best. Next time Roger pops out that cam, I’ll do my best to look a bit smarter!
And, by the way, I used one of my black bros as a pillow. He really doesn’t mind… I can’t seem to remember the outcome of my thinking as things got very blurry after 5 seconds. But hey… there’ll be another day tomorrow 
…. zzzzz….. zzzzzz….. zzzzz….
Winter wonderland
December 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
During our trip to Glasgow we came across some pretty winter views. The pictures below were taken just as we turned onto the A87 towards Fort William. The sun was only just above the horizon, hitting the hills which glowed in a beautiful orange color…
Niet de enige…
December 22, 2007 | 2 Comments |
Tjonge, wij waren kennelijk niet alleen toen we ons belazerd voelden door KHZ Verhuizers uit Alphen a/d Rijn. Bij toeval las ik de ervaringen van mensen die geemigreerd waren naar Suriname. Door KHZ… en dat ging ook al niet goed. Broddelaars!
Erm… where’s that city bypass?
December 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Today we went to Glasgow to choose our puppy Labrador. Quite a journey, with well over 450 miles there and back. All went reasonably well until we hit the Glasgow proximity. We had to be in a sub-urb of Glasgow, south of the city while we were coming down from the north.
So by now we were desperately looking for a city bypass and my guess is that Glasgow doesn’t have one (if it has, it’s very well hidden ). Nor are there any signs that help out passing-through traffic, like the ones you find around Edinburgh. So eventually we did get lost and wandered about for an hour or so.
Unfortunately my PDA with TomTom wasn’t charged (yep, not too well prepped, I agree) so we had to rely on the Google maps print out which was pretty lousy. Don’t trust them. If we’d sticked to the Google route we’d still be driving in circles somewhere in Glasgow. So we decided to backtrack and use the directions sent by the breeder. Those got us right to his front door, at about 13:30 in the afternoon.
As we were the first to buy a male, black puppy from him we got first choice out of three sturdy looking fellows in a litter of 8 pups. They were all lovely pups but our “Jingles” stole our heart immediately. Take a look here at his picture where he’s engaged in some heavy duty action….
At about 14:30 we decided to head back to Skye. The journey back went a lot smoother. By 19:45 we were back at Skinidin.
Who are they?
December 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Today I saw two nosy new people hanging over our litter, mumbling away in some strange language. After some shoving about of me and two of my black brothers, they turned their interest towards me, also pulled out this horribly flashing camera and made a couple of pictures. Just as I was about to do a nap after a strenuous session of play with my brothers and sisters… Ah well, I think they weren’t too bad after all, as the man petted me behind my ears after which I decided to lick his finger. He didn’t taste too bad…
Psssshhhhhhhh…….
December 19, 2007 | 1 Comment |
Today we left Skinidin at about 08:00 to head for Glasgow and visit the litter of Labrador puppies and to choose ours. All went well until we drove off the Skye bridge and entered Kyle of Lochalsh. The car suddenly steered heavily and began to pull to the left… Yep you guessed it! A flat tire. Grrrr…. !!!
Our car is equipped with a compact spare, with which you can drive home but not any faster than 50mph (80kmu). So I fitted the spare - this went quite smooth, very well documented in the VW manuals - and then we tried to get hold of some new tires at a garage in Kyle. Unfortunately neither garages could help us, so we decided to head back home, in stead of driving 450 miles to Glagow and back on the compact spare.
Back in Dunvegan we headed for Kenny’s Garage and the chief himself supplied us with two new front tires and also did the alignment of the front wheels. A very, very speedy service, thumbs up for Kenny’s Garage!! We’re all set and have another go at it tomorrow…
Coming soon…
December 18, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Yep, you just have to hold your breath for a wee while…
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Latest music...
Hair (1968, Original Broadway recording). Some naughty lyrics for that time!!
An Rathad a Bhatarsaigh, by the Vatersay Boys