Mid Summer's Day

                            "The Boat" outside the kitchen window - coming into full bloom.......

Mid summer's day in Plockton - strong wind, rather a wicked sky and yachts in for shelter......

June 9th, 2016.

Let's get the weather topic out of the way!

Since days before my last post on May 11, it has been sunny and warm. It just got sunnier and warmer as May progressed into June.....

Twice Plockton was named on the national weather forecast as being the warmest place in Britain! I am sure we have before been named as the most windy and certainly the wettest – but warmest – unheard of!!!

We have had a succession of happy guests, wondering where the catch in the north west coast is – well, on or two evenings they found out – midges!!! But they have not been annoying or often enough to spoil our enjoyment. A bottle of anti-midge spray, from the hall table selection, is taken and returned, just in case!

We have had family visitors from South Island, New Zealand. Marilyn and her daughter Mandy were joined in Plockton by son Stewart, a geologist in South Africa. Janet and John from Inverness came too and the New Zealand trio, en route to Heathrow airport, were to visit John and Janet's elder sister Alice and her family. It was a lovely time here – with the perfect weather mentioned before! And the visitors left winter weather in New Zealand!

The colleges and universities are breaking up at the end of the year and students will be home for the long summer holiday – most of them will work in the local hotels, which are hectically busy this summer. The schools finish at the end of the month and then I hope some or all of my grandchildren will be up here! Sam is finishing off his first year of two in hospitals and his next placement will be in the Royal Infirmary in the south side of Edinburgh – easily got to and a lovely (if hospitals can be called that!) relatively new hospital. Hopefully he'll get a few days here too.....

Sailing has started for the season, with local and centreboard races weekly, while juniors have club nights on Tuesday and their races will begin this week, I think. The bay is filling up with yachts and the Gordonstoun Yacht is moored too. Gordonstoun is the school that Prince Charles was sent to – and I do not think he liked the discipline! The old yacht used to anchor just off our house and we have watched an errant pupil swimming round the hull once – twice – as a punishment for some misdemeanour on-board!

Gone are those days I'm sure.

I have enjoyed the company of all my visitors and tomorrow I'll say cheerio to Raymond and Denise, who have returned for years. It has been lovely having you to stay again......

Thank you for helping me try to curb Ruah's appetite!

Denise and Dave, thank you for your recent visit too – I look forward to seeing you again in early August!

Harbour Street, in the village, has been being patched this week – it was not the worst bit of road by any means – but now you'll glide through the street, avoiding the many pedestrians who do not like walking on the pavement, to Heron's Flight – do come!

Ann

 I thought you might like to see the "Forecasting Stone" , held in the blue rope, at the Blue Shed Cafe, at Torrin, on the Isle.of Skye.  I was there yesterday and the forecast was deadly accurate - shadows on the ground!