Back of Beyond

Happy New Year to all at Island Blogging and beyond!  My new year resolution is to re-start this blog but to do that I will have learn how it all works again, so please bear with me…

All the best for 2011!

BoB

Oh dear, oh dear

It’s nearly a year

Since I blogged in this sphere

But please - do not fear

‘Cos I am still here

I’ll try harder next year…

Promise!

Here are some pics from a trip back to Rum in October.  At least, I hope there are, I’ve forgotten how to do it!

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Hello there all you fellow Island Bloggers - how exciting to find you all over here!  This does feel a bit strange but no doubt I will get used to it in time - a bit of a challenge for someone who doesn’t know one end of a keyboard from the other.  Well done to all those involved in setting this up, isn’t it great that we can all stay together?

<![CDATA[ With the pound in freefall and a strong Euro I urge those thinking of travelling to Europe to think again. Take Paris for example - what do they have that we don't have here in good old Lewis?

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<![CDATA[ It's National Poetry Day today and a grand day we have for it too...

Autumn

I'm sitting in my office in the eaves
Watching as the leaves fly past. They writhe and spin
Wrenched from their branches
By the howling banshee that is the wind.
My computer screen shakes as each gust hits the house
And I am gripped by the desire to run outside
To scream and dance and be a banshee too.
But tomorrow I am 40, so instead
I click Reply and start to type.

Autumn Haiku

It's a good thing I
Am keen on wind and rain as
Winter is long here.
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<![CDATA[ I thought I'd better post something after almost a year, before my blog disappears altogether. I haven't got time to write much but here's a medley of summer photos, to remind us of glorious weeks gone by...

Ahh - didn't we just have a fantastic summer?
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<![CDATA[ I know, I know, long time no hear and all that. It's been a busy summer (albeit that it seems long gone already), with chances to go to lots of fabulous places. Here's two of them - Mingulay and Pabbay off Barra. One of the best days of 2007!

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<![CDATA[ I'm recently back from the holiday of a lifetime - on Taransay! Unlikely I know, and it certainly seemed so when standing on a wind and rainswept Horgabost beach waiting for the RIB to come and pick us up, but as soon as we landed on Taransay we knew we'd done the right thing. We'd been worrying for days about what 3 children were going to do for a week on an uninhabited island in the rain, and had even gone out and bought emergency Tamagotchis just in case of mutiny. An hour into the holiday I realised with a sinking feeling that I'd left them behind. I decided to keep this to myself - the right strategy as it turned out, as no-one even mentioned electronic games of any description, instead turning to drawing, reading and charging around outside getting covered in sand and sheep poo. My oldest son read more in that week than in his previous 7 years. In the evenings they were so tired they couldn't stay awake long enough to have a carry on in the bedroom they were all sharing. We had wonderfully relaxing evenings sitting gazing out of the floor to ceiling windows, watching the light change over the hills and the sea with ringed plovers, dunlin and oystercatchers bustling on the shoreline and gannets plunging headlong into the waves.

It's hard to explain just why it was such a great holiday - the island is undoubtedly a magical place which takes a hold of people's imaginations, as the visitor's book testifies. But I think the really special thing about it is that there is nothing to do there. Of course, there's plenty to keep you occupied, but nothing that actually has to be done. It was liberating, inspiring and relaxing - and we'll be going back agian next year!

Here's a few photos for you.....

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<![CDATA[ The rain is battering on the veluxes and it's beginning to feel like a long winter, what with weather and colds and all. Still, picnicing on the beach is an all season activity here in Lewis. How they must laugh at us in Australia. Builds character though. These pictures were taken at Bosta beach on Great Bernera two weeks ago. The weather looks lovely, but it was so cold we had our picnic in the car. What a bunch of southern softy shandypants' we are.

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