And Then There Was Nothing?

I nearly lost August completely! Take two Internet junkies and remove their “fix” and you have us…worse than a two pack a day smoker suddenly finding himself marooned on a deserted desert island. Never has broadband connection meant so much to me and if I complain about the slowness of my local connection again, may I be forced to write (by hand) ten thousand times “Never forget that dial-up is your only other option”. It’s amazing just how many things can happen in two weeks and I shall be spending these last few remaining days of August trying to catch up with myself here. The whys and wherefores of how we came to be broadband-less form part of this mini saga. We knew it was coming but expected some warning; instead, the day before visitors arrived for the weekend, everything was gone…no phone, no Internet, nothing (and we don’t have mobile/cell phone signals out here)! Three days later and the new line was in place but our service provider had to switch our service to the new number and that’s what’s taken the time. Until that was accomplished, we had to contend with a dial-up connection.

I actually thought that all could continue as normal and I would be able to read and comment as usual. I knew it would be slower, but “hey, how slow can you go?” Ohoooo Boy! Was I ever naïve (stupid, un-informed) and spoilt! If I could get on line - and that was a big ‘if’ (most times the server was giving a ‘busy’ signal) I would work my way through e-mail first and then try to get into Blogland. This is where the real problems started. Click to open and wait, and wait…and you guessed it, wait some more. Go off, make a cup of tea, and come back and nothing! Read five chapters of War and Peace, do the dishes, have a bath and maybe (if the connection didn’t fail) the page would have opened! OK, so it’s an exaggeration, but not much and because of work and other things happening, not to mention the frustration, I just gave up. So here is my public apology to everyone who has left comments, asked questions and sent emails...I will catch up over the next few days.

In the meantime, the Heather that was showing its first buds in the pictures on my last post, has dusted the countryside with patches of purpley, mauvey, dusty pink! And here are some photos showing that pink and green can and do, look heart-stoppingly gorgeous together.

Whoops! The pink doesn't show up here? It's there, promise...I'll get another, better picture!

For everyone who has asked about the sunset so late at night as shown here; for weeks in mid summer culminating on the longest day, we have a progressively paler dusk, never completely night and then gradually, as the season progresses, the nights get darker and darker. I can’t be very specific; we have only lived here for ten months and it’s been a very overcast summer, which hides just how light the nights are. I think we have only seen the moon a handful of times. But, if for any reason we wake up in the night, we have acquired the habit of going to the window and looking out over the loch because it is so incredibly lovely in the dusky half-light.

This picture was taken on the twentieth of August at 20:56 (four minutes to nine in the evening)

Over the Hills and Far Away...

Our little hamlet of Otter Ferry is in a very remote area, miles away from any town of substance. We like it this way and prefer the still, quiet beauty of this unspoilt spot over any of the “perks” associated with a more urban lifestyle. I love it, isolation and all, and refer to our infrequent trips to town as going “over the hills and far away”!

These pictures were taken on our last shopping expedition and show the road over the mountains/hills behind Otter Ferry and the countryside we travel through to get to town.

In this photo, the road is just visible in the middle of the trees.

The top of the mountain, looking back toward Otter Ferry.

Coming down the mountain, heading for town.

The farm in the valley at the bottom of the mountain...

The next valley...halfway there!