When The Lord Gets Ready, You Gotta Move.....

Today is a bit of a strange day. Weather more like a Hebridean summer day than wot wun expects doon 'ere!  Clouds scudding around, windy but - and here's the difference twixt Scotland and France - no rain. Well, not yet. I expect it to fall later; invariably, if it comes, it comes just after I've watered the bleeding garden! Like it did yesterday evening. I'd just come back in, poured a glass of rouge when the thunder rolled, the lightening (again) flashed and the heavens opened.

Truth be told, the Lettuces are finding it hard going and I doubt many will survive the recent stormy weather. It is a common pattern hereabouts, and one we were well aware of. It begins by becoming (suddenly) very, oppressively hot, sultry and thick, and then cools a bit (significantly, at times)  prior to the wind picking up and giving us a bit of a blow!  Not a 'blow' in Hebridean terms, as Tony might dismissively say, in comparison with the Isle of Lewis: http://azgiles.blogspot.com/ .  But enough to count!

Back up in Fun City, our old stomping ground, they are still struggling with sub-zeros overnight, though it is appreciably warmer during daylight now:

Here's the current prognosis:

Idag 07 maj		Imorgon 08 maj		Måndag 09 maj		Tisdag 10 maj		Onsdag 11 maj		Torsdag 12 maj		Fredag 13 maj		Lördag 14 maj		Söndag 15 maj		Måndag 16 maj		Tisdag 17 maj		Onsdag 18 maj		Torsdag 19 maj		Fredag 20 maj
Max	Min													Max	Min
13°	-4°	19°	2°	22°	7°	21°	4°	19°	5°	17°	4°	11°	3°	8°	2°	13°	2°	13°	1°	10°	3°	14°	6°	15°	6°	15°	6°
Maxvind		Maxvind		Maxvind		Maxvind		Maxvind		Maxvind		Maxvind		Maxvind		Maxvind		Maxvind		Maxvind		Maxvind		Maxvind		Maxvind
4 m/s V		5 m/s S		5 m/s SV		5 m/s SO		4 m/s S		4 m/s NO		8 m/s O		5 m/s SO		5 m/s NO		6 m/s SV		5 m/s SO		5 m/s SO		4 m/s SV		5 m/s NV
Nederbörd		Nederbörd		Nederbörd		Nederbörd		Nederbörd		Nederbörd		Nederbörd		Nederbörd		Nederbörd		Nederbörd		Nederbörd		Nederbörd		Nederbörd		Nederbörd
0 mm		0 mm		0 mm		0 mm		0,2 mm		3,1 mm		1,7 mm		3,7 mm		7,9 mm		5,1 mm		4,5 mm		5,8 mm		0 mm		0 mm
Prognos		Prognos		Prognos		Prognos		Prognos		Prognos		Prognos		Prognos		Prognos		Prognos		Prognos		Prognos		Prognos		Prognos
08:00		08:00		08:00		08:00		08:00		08:00		08:00		08:00		08:00		08:00		14:00		14:00		14:00		14:00
4° Mest klart		9° Molnigt Känns som 7°		13° Mest klart		14° Klart		13° Mulet		10° Mulet och lätt regn		8° Mulet Känns som 6°		2° Mulet och regnskurar Känns som -2°		5° Mulet och regnskurar Känns som 2°		6° Växlande molnighet och någon lätt regnskur		Molnigt och lätt regn		Molnigt och regnskurar		Växlande molnighet		Mest klart
14:00		14:00		14:00		14:00		14:00		14:00		14:00		14:00		14:00		14:00		Solen 03:35 22:02		Solen 03:32 22:05		Solen 03:29 22:08		Solen 03:26 22:11
10° Mulet		19° Mulet		22° Mest klart		21° Mulet		19° Mulet		17° Växlande molnighet och någon lätt regnskur		10° Mulet och lätt regn Känns som 7°		6° Mulet och lätt regn Känns som 2°		7° Mulet och regnskurar Känns som 4°		11° Mulet och regnskurar
20:00		20:00		20:00		20:00		20:00		20:00		20:00		20:00		20:00		20:00
12° Växlande molnighet		16° Mulet Känns som 15°		18° Växlande molnighet		15° Mest klart		15° Mulet och lätt regn		14° Växlande molnighet och någon lätt regnskur		7° Mulet och lätt regn Känns som 5°		7° Mulet Känns som 4°		8° Molnigt och lätt regn		10° Växlande molnighet och regnskurar
Solen 04:07 21:30		Solen 04:03 21:33		Solen 04:00 21:37		Solen 03:57 21:40		Solen 03:54 21:43		Solen 03:50 21:46		Solen 03:47 21:49

Oops, sorry. Don't know how to make this fit!!!

They had glorious weather over the Easter break, so much of the snow will have gone by now, I expect. It usually disappears around now, bringing with it soggy, muddy tracks and incoming, immigrant birdlife - Black-Throated Divers, Curlews, Canada Geese, Golden Plovers, Golden-Eye Duck, Slavonian Grebe, Greenfinch, Chafinch, Brambling, Fieldfare, Crossbill, and any number of other small summer migrants. The bears also begin to frolic with the young cubs and are most frequently seen locally around this time. Best not to disturb them. They're still a tad peckish after a winter holed up under the snow, deep in the forest.

Next month, they (the Sweedles, not the bears) go wild over the summer solstice. Well, as wild as Swede's can get. Pretty tame in reality. But they do celebrate the longest day as a major holiday and in many ways it is the most significant day on their otherwise at times sunless calendar. They have outdoor parties, get very drunk, eat too many Kottbuller (meatballs) and the Sweedle holiday standard/favourite, Ham. The seasons change so quickly up there once the snow has gone and above Zero temps set in. With almost 24 hours of daylight, everything grows incredibly fast, flowers bloom almost overnight. Trees green-up and the fishing season starts in ernest.

It will soon be like this at one of the nearby lakes:

This one is just below our house. The Daughter, JVP, is here admiring the view.

Much  although I do like France, and love its foods and, yes....even, its wines, it seems incredibly tame after living in the frozen North for so long!  Even Spain, in the Sierra Nevadas/Alpujarra, was more challenging - though I do find Spanish wines in general a bit too heavy for my refined Scottish palate.
(They do make a great local Morzilla/Black Pudding, though!)

In Sweden over winter, each day was a bit of a challenge, interesting and strikingly different. Certainly from the Herefordshire/Welsh Marches region where we had previously been based for many years/decades.

We are now thinking it might be a bit more interesting if we moved back North - to my birthplace, Scotland, not Sweden. I just couldn't cope or want to take those extreme temps again. We lived in Trotternish, near Duntulm, on the Isle of Skye for a while. This was way back in the mid-1970s when Slade were still popular and men knew how to dress sensibly:

Our daughter, LVP, was actually born while we were up there, though they were so paranoid about Island births, J was ferried off to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness for the delivery itself. A five hour, tortous drive. As J is a midwife, she knows this to have been unnecessary, and stupid as a policy. Hopefully, things have changed by now!

We lived in a small croft house,  in a place - what else could it be called? - a hamlet - named, Connista. Here's a house that was recently for sale there:





This was, in fact, our neighbours croft, we lived in the next-door house, out of picture to its right.  It would be a bit of an irony to return to the Isles after so many years away. Though my family is originally from Inverness-shire, The Black Isle region. Indeed there's a small town/village, Avoch, where almost everyone bears our surname. I'm probably related to many of 'em though we've never made contact!

At the moment, we're toying with the idea of a move to either Lewis, Harris or North Uist. I favour Lewis. It has a decent infrastructure with hospitals, medics, shops, libraries, schools etc. Almost everything one needs to survive, in fact.

Having discussed it in theory with LVP, she's also interested in maybe making a move up there with her family too. She would like to have a small tour/holiday visit first though. So a trip to the region might be on the cards in the nearish future!

Now I see the clouds have moved on and the sun is once more shining brightly, though the wind remains. So I'd best get a move on and get out to check the Chooks for eggs and the garden in general. A bientot!