First Day Sunset

You couldn’t ask for a better start to a New Year. While me and Marmers demolished half a plump juicy Bressingham duck breast (with red wine jus, for we are nothing if not discerning gourmets) the pu’s and Jeelie Piece strolled down to the Pierhead to hear the Stromness RBL Pipe Band play the old year out and the new one in.

What a joy to behold a man who had the nous to bedeck his mace in tinsel and fairylights; a Pipe Major in touch with his decorative side! 

The happy crowd covered all ages from 80+ down to pushchair toddler and the bottles proffered in the time-honoured fashion contained whisky (blended), whisky (single malt), spiced rum, port and, from a woman who knows what she likes, brandy and soda in a squash bottle…

On returning to Anorak Towers, the bipeds watched a short programme about Chic Murray which nearly had them wetting themselves…and retired to bed at 2am, to be rudely woken at 8:20am by the telephone. This later (much later) turned out to be an old friend from NZ who had obviously forgotten the unwritten rules of the Hogmanay Tradition - ‘Thou Shalt Not Disturb Before Middle-day’…

After a hearty brunch of bacon, fried eggs, garlic mushrooms, toast, marmalade and lashings of tea, JP went on her way merrily rejoicing back to Birsay, the pu’s washed up and went for a walk and we snoozed in the sun, which shone uninterruptedly from dawn to dusk.

Later, mpu took fpu and digicam in Purple Sweetie to catch the sunset above the Don and below the Black Craig.

Happy 2009!