Back to Reality

Had a wonderful time up in sunny Shetland. Sun stroke can have some strange effects, don't you know?
To the casual observer the symptoms can look as if the poor sufferer has been partaking of the odd alcoholic beverage. Perish the thought! To be fair the odd drinky-poo was consumed, and they went down very well indeed. It must have been all those even numbered ones that caused the ground to keep rushing up at me.
Trip back was fine until we reached Aberdeen. When I went down to get the dog I found he'd escaped from the kennel and was out on the car deck. Goodness knows how he managed to get out of a bolted cage and sea-tight hatch. Rowan you are the canine Houdini. Then it was clear that the car was waaay too packed full to allow even a little-un like me in for the long haul back to Strath. So train back to Inverness for me, followed by a bit of a squish in the jalopy for the last twenty miles home.
Last few days have been spent normalising again, and settling in the latest member of the viking enclave.
You know, I think there has been a lot of nonsense written about why the viking menfolk of old set out on lengthy, arduous voyages into the unknown. Braving hostile seas and natives for what? Discovery? Wealth? Power? Conquest? I'm not so sure it was any of these.
After spending a week with the Viking Queen and TWO Viking Princesses I'm willing to bet that those guys just thought that it might have been a bloody good excuse to get out for a bit!
Only joking of course. Anyway, can't stop. Just off to place an order with the local longship builder.

To ganzy or not to ganzy?

Ganzy - Shetlandica word for pullover, jumper, jersey and source of much dithering when packing for the holidays. Do I want to take a wooly pully with me on my summer hols? Well it is the northern isles, but damn it, it's supposed to be summer. T-shirts and cold beer time, not winter warmers.
Quick look out the window, sun beating down on Strath. That's it decided then, going ganzyless!
This was a good decicion right up to Elgin, where it was decidedly hot. From Keith to Aberdeen mist, haar and chilly.
The boat was shrouded in fog all the way up.
By morning I knew Lerwick was out there somewhere, but only a wall of white was to be seen from the deck.
I've always been pretty lucky with the weather in Shetland. By 11 am the sun broke through, by midday it was hot, and it's stayed than way for six days now. Whoopee.
Other things that I should have packed for the hols but didn't;
Elastic waisted breeks - Ah the Happy Haddock, best chip shop anywhere.
Walking stick - for those wobbly walks home. Eight pubs between the market cross and the house. Nine if you take precisely the sort of wobbly detour that visiting the first eight gives you.
Collapsable stool - to sit on whenever the Viking Queen bumps into an aquaintance on the way in o'er. This usually happens every six steps or so.