Sat, May 18th 2019
It’s a grey rainy day so we’re spending the morning knitting and drawing and then as the weather clears a bit we walk into town checking out a few stores, some of which we had never been in before.
After lunch, Jason Scott, Rosemary’s right hand man, renovation carpenter, fixer-upper and general manager, stops around so we invite him in for tea. We had met him two years ago during the clogged water pipe, drainage, no hot water crisis when he had twice performed miracles to get us back on track. He told us all about his trip last winter to stay with the Andersons at their home in South Africa and we learn a bit more about Rex (Orcadian) and Rosemary (Africaans, I think). He shows us photos and then tells us that Rosemary has bought another Stromness house that he will be re-doing. Although from the outside it looks very substantial and well-preserved he says it will take a lot of work to restore. No one has lived in it for years and before that it had suffered from neglect. Then he pulls out photos of the cottage we’re staying in so we can see what it had been like before the renovation. He’s definitely a talented guy!
Here’s a photo of the new house Jason will be redoing this year
At 3 o’clock we walk down to the little restaurant near the ferry terminal, Julia’s, to meet Jen and Jill’s friends from Vermont, another Anderson couple–no relation–Rosamund and Julius. We had met them at Jen’s for lunch before our first trip in 2014 when they had given us much information about places to go, where to buy supplies, good restaurants. They have owned for a number of years, maybe 20 or so, a house and forty acres on Egilsay where they spend a good portion of the year. Now they have finally acquired an old pick-up which they leave in Tingwall so they have transportation for Mainland shopping. We could actually see (we think!) their house when we took the ferry to Rousay. We discuss the persistence of the Pictish body and facial type in Scotland and even on Orkney while we drink our coffees and enjoy the pastries.
It’s too early when we leave Julia’s to pick up our dinner of fish and chips from the Peedie Chippie van parked right next door on Saturdays (Fridays it’s in Finston where we had bought our dinners on our last trip) so we head back to the cottage for a bit of knitting, then drive back to pick up our dinners later. It’s official, at least to me, that we are now on the downhill slide toward the end of our adventure. I’m trying not to indulge in premature nostalgia! I finish the scaruffle I’ve been knitting, we watch Bucket List with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicolson…and so ends the evening.