Still Covid 19 Refugees in Scotland

Us with Tony & Nicky. Photo taken by cyclists Lyndon and Julia

A long time with not much to write really, we’ve settled back into the old routine working, cooking, eating, sleeping. The bedroom is coming on with Brian and Tony alternating, wood, insulation, wood, insulation. Just at the moment Brian is in the lead, but Tony keeps having to do ‘school work’ even though last week was half term, he still ended up teaching and prepping. He’s also trying to empty one of the shipping containers (there are two) so it can be taken away. This will greatly enhance the view of Alison and Ainsley who will be very pleased. It’s another slow process, as only he can go through what is in there really to make sense of what he’s got, and what to keep and what to bin.

A forlorn looking Cookie cat wondering where to go. Her usual daytime place is on the chair on the left, but on this day she came out to find Genghis on it, with Gummy on the other. We could imagine her thinking "where am I going to go? And I'm only a small cat with only three legs". Well, that's how it goes in this house

Genghis, Tufty and Gummy cats 

Nicky and I spent a few hours today going through two of the chest freezers, to ascertain what was actually in them and to rationalise the packing. We may not have created much more space, but it’s a whole lot easier to find things.

The first cables have been run, for outside lights, so I guess were relatively easy, they went between the wall and the wooden framework, all internal cables will be inside the framework with the insulation board between them and the outside world, so will involve drilling holes in all our hard work.

A formation of geese flying overhead on their migratory route south to avoid our winter. We've seen lots of these recently, alerted by the distinctive noises they make as they fly

The structural engineer who has to sign off the building came on Friday, he was very happy with what he could see, the standard of work and the way it’s all coming together, so that was pleasing. Just on leaving he did comment, that although it wasn’t a problem, much more light would be let in through the windows that Brian and Ian fitted in August if the top section of wood was parallel to the floor rather than at 90 degrees to the window. How ridiculous, nobody had noticed, and that is how they have been done in our usual bedroom in the house! It took nearly two days of careful surgery and building for Brian and I to remove the offending articles and construct something to take their place. Neither are actually in position, one is waiting for Tony to put some insulation in and the other for the slaters to actually turn up for more than half a day, and make more of the roof weatherproof so the area can dry out.

So this is the window in question. There's two of them, one each side that Ian and I fitted in July and they were quite tricky to align correctly. For each we bashed a hole through the 600m stone wall (that Tony and Jackie then had to rebuild to fit the frame), cut a hole through the roof and fit new timber around the upper window to support. You can see the three pieces we fitted, two vertical each side and one across the top that we fitted square to the roof line. Its been like that since July and no-one noticed a problem until the Structural Engineer pointed out that it would allow much more light into the room if the top beam was horizontal or parallel to the floor rather than square to the roof, so angling down into the room. Obvious when someone points it out! Lots of subsequent work by Brian and Jackie to cut it back out and make a new piece with accompanying modification pieces. Not fitted yet as insulation has to be done first, but finished picture will follow...

We’ve had another night in Ted, two sets of guests were due at the same time, typical! Not that being in Ted is a problem. One of the couples are related to Steve, from down the road, and are cycling the coastline of the U.K.! Yes, really, 5000 miles! They are doing it for a hospice local to them and for Pancreatic Cancer UK. They stayed an extra night, well it was day 100, Julia’s birthday and jolly miserable weather, though it hasn’t been much different for the last week. They are on the last leg, hoping to finish in the next month, they’ve only got to get from here to Norfolk, if you see them, give them a wave. Their just giving page is at https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Wewillride5000miles

Brian and Tony fitting outside lights

Tony and Brian did an emergency dash to Elgin, the pub Shannon, Nicky’s daughter works in was trying to lock up, but couldn’t close the door, the new lock had been put in the wrong way round! Just as well she knew who to call!

The weather has not been good, the chickens are all tempted to grow webbed feet like the ducks to enable them to walk better on the mud. We are so glad to be here rather than in Ted, the idea of a short break is tempting, but not till the end of the half term break, and the weather improves. Who knows whether travel will still be possible at that point!

Why is this here? Well, its a screen shot of the Met Office forecast for the afternoon of 15th October and we've had several discussions about the accuracy of their forecasts. Jackie believes we should just look out the window, but that won't tell us what's going to happen later! So, anyway, Tony has a weather station in the garden for which he records the weather for use in his thesis on solar thermal energy for his doctorate, so we thought it would be interesting to compare the Met Office forecast with an actual.....

Here's Tony's actual readings from 15th October. At 1:00pm, the actual temperature was 8.5 degrees (cold huh?) against 9 degrees forecast; at 3:00pm it was about 9.5 degrees against 10 forecast and at 5:00pm 9 degrees against 9 forecast. A pretty accurate forecast. Wind speeds were a little less than forecast, but not by much, so, overall, the Met Office wasn't bad on that particular day - surprisingly good! I'm not sure whether all that was worth explaining really, but they are nice charts aren't they, so worth including!

That's it for now, see you next time!