Friday, August 22, 2025

Five cruise ships.

The rising sun outlines the offshore wind farms turbines.  Further out to sea there's another, even bigger one, being built. One thing Scotland doesn't lack is wind. Construction vessels plough their way backwards and forwards across the horizon day and night. Recently cruise ships have started to detour so that their passengers can get a close up look at these 600 foot high leviathans. Five ships passed by yesterday on their way to the Orkneys. When we first arrived here three years ago Princess or Holland America rarely if ever ventured into these parts. Now the cooler air lures hoardes of passengers to the north. How quickly times change .


In the other direction the farmer is busy bailing up the remaining straw. The largest hare either of us has ever seen stands and watches.


In town work on the Tiger Woods/Justin Timberlake sports bar has burst into life. After being deserted for much of the summer the workmen have reappeared. Overnight new Portakabins have been installed and this morning they've started digging a trench for upgraded electrical cables. Digging the trench requires the installation of temporary traffic lights. There are now two sets of traffic lights within a hundred metres of each other. This confuses the local drivers and what passes ( in these parts ) for a traffic jam soon builds up .

Further down the road the surveyors have found asbestos in the roof space of the old 16th century building next to the chapel. Mere mention of the word asbestos and the university health and safety team have sprung into overdrive. Scaffolding now covers the building and the cafe on the ground floor has been closed.

We find a parking spot down by the cathedral and watch a woman spend five whole minutes taking selfies of herself in front of the cafe where William met Kate ... allegedly. She is completely  oblivious to the fact she's standing on a busy road. After a car hoots she repositions herself closer to the pavement where she continues to snap away.

Life here ( as you may be able to tell ) before the students arrive is very, very quiet.


Good news for Bees :https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c776kynn771o

Computer myths :https://www.popsci.com/diy/computer-myths/



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have missed you. I walked the East Sands yesterday and the West Sands today. I hoped you might spot my boy in his flash new tweed collar.

Thank you for writing this blog. I read it daily.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
There is the sense of the pregnant pause about this post today... or the calm before the storm (of students)... YAM xx

Lisa in France said...

The arrival of the big cruise ships must come as a shock to the Orkneys.

Tigger's Mum said...

That's great news on the bee food supplement.

jabblog said...

Excellent news for the honeybees.

waterdog said...

There’s been a huge push on planting bee-favored flowers in our area. I hope the bee supplement catches on.
The students will arrive soon enough.
JoAnn in Maryland

Travel said...

The cruise ship we took across the Atlantic last spring was scheduled for the summer in Scotland and Scandinavia, as far west as Iceland over this summer. It will go back to Florida in October.