What a treat catching up with these old friends and staying over in their attic room, which was neither a dumping ground nor bedroom, it was both! The headboard was below the best view in the house, the gable end view of Ullapool. There are two other skylights in the attic, they are wrought iron, heavily rusted and smothered in cobwebs. The large expanse of the double bed was disguised…
This was a whole new experience of sea fishing, a first for every one of us in the boat. Thinking back it’s hard to believe we actually witnessed it. In the summer of 1982 there were considerably more RAF training exercises going on around the north of Scotland’s coastline than normal. The war over the Falkland Islands had kicked off in April; the first British attack was on…
When nature gets itself in trouble should you step in to save the day or let nature take its course? I’m afraid I didn’t give it a second thought; my instinct was to dive in and do what I could to help. You’ll remember that last week I was an hour into my walk across the moors behind the house at 2A Laide. I’d heard this…
Striding out across the moors I could hear a faint guttural sound, I didn’t know if my ears were playing tricks or it was someone or something in trouble. My Dad had effectively bought a shell; it was an old Smiddy (a redundant Blacksmith’s house) with an out-building, sight unseen. He was taking his father-in-laws advice, “you’ll not get another opportunity like it Andrew!” In our life…
Some of my fondest memories revolve around the deep belly laughs I used to have with my Gran. So often there would be tears of laughter because of the absolute mischief we’d find ourselves in. My grandparents lived in a house that in the summer months became the centre of a thriving community. Visitors were constant and varied and because of this there was always food on the go…