The rain has stopped, the ice has melted, the wind has dropped and the waters have receded from the face of the earth, a little. Like Noah, I’ve been keeping a dove and raven handy for dispatching in search of dry land; but the raven just sits above my chamber door and refuses to leave, while the dove was eaten by the neighbours’ cats.
Looking back towards town
The trains to Wick aren’t running just now because of a landslide at Forsinard, a place so remote you find yourself coughing just to confirm you haven’t gone deaf. The rain brought on two more landslips in Wick, one of which is down by the harbour: like something out of Dickens, no one can do anything about it because no one knows who owns the land. For a time it rained so hard it looked as though Caithness would become a giant water slide, all human settlements washed away, sluiced off the cliffs straight into the sea; but all that’s left to show for it now is the river, muddy and full, saturating the wetlands and giving some fortunate ducks a supercharged ride to the sea.
Evening clouds
In gansey news I have finished the first sleeve, and started on the second. I’ve decided I’d quite like to get this finished before we start our Christmas holidays in a couple of weeks, and I might just make it if I can keep this rate up. As I mentioned before, the yarn for the cuff came from the same dye lot as the welt; it’s only noticeable in certain lights, and it looks neater, somehow; almost as if it was intentional.
I encountered one or two instances of gratuitous rudeness last week, which left a nasty taste in the mouth. So I’ve been cheering myself up by remembering this great story of barbed courtesy I heard some years ago. A man was driving along a country road. As he neared a bend another car came towards him on his side of the road, having overtaken a third car on the bend. The man swerved and went off the road, rolled down a steep bank and came to rest upside down. The woman who’d caused the accident hastily pulled over, got out and ran down the bank to see if he was all right. As she wrenched open the door she saw him hanging upside down, suspended by his seat belt. He turned his head to look at her and enquired politely, “Yes? Is there something else I can do for you…?”
Finally this week we wish all our Finnish readers a happy December 6th, which marks the 100th anniversary of Finland’s, the country that gave the world the great Jean Sibelius, independence. Hyvää satavuotisjuhlaa, Suomi!
dear Gordon, the knitting is wonderful. I wonder who was rude to you?Always the best part of a story,perhaps….the guilty ones.
and I wonder what did Noah do on the Arc..did he knit perhaps?maybe it wasn’t invented till much later…..but certainly , I for one am glad such a thing exists,for the long evenings, a perfect therapy.
Hi Meg, I have a slightly skewed picture of Noah and his family passing the time in the Ark:
Noah: i spy, with my little eye…
Shem: (Groaning) Oh for Jehovah’s sake, Dad! It’s water again, isn’t it?
Noah: Well, Mr Smartypants, just for your information, it’s not. It’s water buffalo. Of which we have two, I might add.
Shem: Oh. Sorry.
Noah: I would also have accepted walrus and wood pigeon.
Shem: Look, i said I’m sorry, all right?
Noah: All right then. But, um, Shem?
Shem: Yeah, what?
Noah: It was water…
The evenings must have just flown by…
oh dear, I so know your car driver 🙂 some folk get the Disney treatment from me 🙂 one they have left I start siging let it go and waving arms round like the mad woman I can become, as it is not my monkeys and not my circus! though I have spent more time in my wellies than my shoes for the last few weeks!
Hi Ruan, one definition of a British person is someone who, if you tread on their foot, apologises to you for getting in their way. (On my recent experience, this might be changing!)
My only consolation about the weather just now is that I decided to postpone that camping trip…
Hello Gordon,
Many thanks for your greetings to Finland. Unfortunately I cannot add any picture here, but go to my facebook site, you will find greetings from Finland. Picture shows the illuminated Saana tunturi in Lapland.
Best regards,
Judit
Hello Judit, those pictures are stunning! Caithness just now is locked into “Fifty Shades of Grey”, grey skies reflected in a grey sea and grey puddles. What I wouldn’t give for a light show or some Northern Lights just now… Happy 100th to you!