Scot47 - you have been thru the ringer! Hope you are feeling better..

OMG Scot Nine Toes.

No half measures for you.

Hope you have a speedy recovery.

Wishing you all the best for a speedy recovery

Planning my birthday bash now. Considering possibilities for the venue and wondering which of my harem to invite.

Take a leaf out of my Scottish godmother's book. She planned her 90th birthday party - well actually, make that parties. She had one during the day for what she described as "the old people" and then the "real party" in the evening for the young and the dancing of reels, and she counted herself in the second group rather than the first. Even at 90 she always had men fluttering round her willing to do her bidding.

Enjoy. You deserve it after all that has happened

After my THIRD visit to hospital for an angiogram, followed by kidney malfunction, I vowed to do a few things I have been putting off. In the footsteps of Saint Columba I travelled to Iona via the isle of Mull. Columba used a coracle. I used Caledonian Macbrayne steamers and West Coast Motors ! Mull was interesting. Quite wild and undeveloped in comparison to where I live on the Isle ofBute.

In the Telegraph today I read an article about the Syrian refugees that are now living on the Isle of Bute. Some really like it, and are happy to be there. Mostly though, they say they are bored, there is nothing to do, and they feel that most of the Bute residents are old retired people, waiting to die!

Have you been chatting to them Scot47?

I know some of them in the sense that I smile and say hello when I see them. A couple of times I helped out in local shops when they had communication problems. I have not discussed the newspaper article with them. The usual biased reporting that we get in newspapers.

I love Bute, my great aunt lived there (Rothesay) till her last day (passed in 2009 at the age of 88) she had a lovely little cottage at the end of Wyndham Park, I could go there and stare out the window all day long and be happy.

I'm not surprised that some people are complaining about the lack of things to do in Bute, but I'm sure its much better than other circumstances individuals could find themselves in.

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...lies-resettled


Ian Jack who wrote the piece has a holiday home here. His piece is a bit more positive than the vitriolic reports in the Mail and Telegraph. I liked especially the story about the local Greengrocer, Jessmay, and the Oregano !

Incidentally, if you find Bute boring then go and live on Mull, Colonsay or Barra for a few weeks !

I love Bute, its definitely the Island with the most going on

isle of Lewis is also okay - but for some the use of Gaelic is an obstacle.


My news for today is that I am to get hemodialysis soon. They told me I should stop drinking coffee !! I am away to look for a rope to hang myself with. No coffee !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She suggested that I could use CAMP COFFEE !

Housing - we still have empty houses on Bute. So too does the Pentland Housing Association in Thurso ! Far away from the rat race. Since the closure of the power station at Dounreay, population has fallen drastically.


Your chance to escape from London !
NB Weather is afew degrees cooler in Caithness.