Tiree Tech Wave

What's a TTW? Well, first let me linky you to their website:
Tiree Tech Wave

It happened the weekend just gone (Thurs 22nd to Mon 26th march) and was an...interesting experience. To give you an idea how nerdy it was, let me show you this photo:



Yes, there really were that many Macbooks/Macs in one location.

Anyway, a TTW features a load of people with imaginations, skills and ideas coming together and sharing those things to make and plan things.

I didn't feel like much use, but I might have been. I repaired the gloves of Nick, the cycling programmer, discussed his power distribution box that he'd made and even got ideas for bike lights that I may well put into action, especially as I'm getting my Dad's bike come April and will probably need some lights for it once Summer is past (passed?)

I managed to repair the zip on a bum-bag, this made Alan of Tiree a very happy bunny indeed!

Also there were two Slovenians (think I spelled that right) who are currently studying at Lancaster University with Alan as their supervisor. They are keen water sporters and were even mad enough to go paddling in the ocean in just their briefs! They spent most of the TTW arguing with a Kinect and some other thing on their Mac's

There were two Steve's, one (nicknamed hairy Steve) is a designer and did infact design the bollards on Tiree's traffic calming islands (yes, I know that whole idea sounds silly). He was interested in the Arduino board and designing a system for automated medication delivery that double-checked the inputter's calculations to avoid overdoses. The second Steve (nicknamed, unoriginally, bald Steve or non-hairy Steve) was working on mind control *insert Twilight Zone theme here*. He had taken a Star Wars mind training toy and connected it to a...tone maker, if you let yourself relax, it made a low tone, the more tense or active your thoughts, the higher the tone, once that was working we all had a go, poor Nick achieved a very high tone when Alan just suggested pinching him.

The atmosphere was great, friendly folks, similar senses of humour, having a laugh and an invent.

There was also a guest visit from a lady called Jonnet(hope I got that right!)about mending. She is a self-proclaimed "mending activist" and has made a vow to never buy any more clothes, or material for such, for the rest of her life. She did a short presentation and Jo and I both shared a look and a laugh when it was mentioned that about half of the clothes in UK wardrobes have never been worn, not in our wardrobe! After the presentation people shared skills and repairs, I patched some holey trousers and sorted a zip on a coat pocket.

Overall, a fun event. The Cobbled Cow at the Rural centre were excellent hosts and laid out the most delicious buffets, they also do a "deluxe" hot choclate that is heavenly and well worth visiting just for that.

Anyway, I shall leave you with a couple more photos...


A common sight during TTW, two people talking code and a third looking bemused.


This was the lovely buffet set up by the Slovenians (I'd rather call them that than try to spell their names). In the pan was a combination of onions, eggs and tasty meats.

Also in the above two photos is proof that Alan (he of the hair) can infact be photographed without blur. Usually he can only be photo'd with blur, maybe it's just our camera is quick enough ;)

There'll be another post by me soon, I have a video of lambs to share. Until then, TTFN.

Flora and Fauna

Apologies in advance for typos, I'm on the laptop and the keyboard is smaller than my usual.

So, flora and fauna, fauna and flora? Plants and animals.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned, we have mice. We had two when we moved in, and now have goodness knows how many. What we do know is that atleast one of them is rather smart. You see, we have a humane trap that features a little seesaw that, once they get off, flips back up and "locks" them in. We caught one in it, I took that one down to the beach and it pegged it straight out to open beach, rather than back to grassy hills...



But the other one in the house is proving...intelligent. It seems to know exactly what happens when it drops off the seesaw, so it doesn't. I baited the trap with oats, it moved the trap and persuaded the oats out of the air slots. Chocolate was stolen from the ramp, but left inside. Now it is Mars bar, I check the trap daily and noticed the little blighter tried to drag the chunk of Mars out of the trap and has now jammed the seesaw. Crafty beggar.

These cows were on the way back...


Speaking of cows...

(a pebble display infront of the Rural Centre)

These girlies were near us and have calved.





The cows on the island are kept for their meat rather than their milk, so the calves get to stay with Mum and suckle all they want. This leads to amusing sights. Jo saw a cow lying down and baby wanted a drink, but Mum refused to move to allow it, no matter how hard babby dug. When I was taking those photos, the black Mum would hold still just long enough for baby to locate the udder, then start walking again. Poor babba.

Also resident on the island are hares. We have atleast one that visits our back garden quite often, I was in the kitchen and saw it and it obliged me for a couple of shots.




It actually stayed in the area for quite a few hours before heading off, presumably home.

Last Sunday I took the ferrets for a ride. Jo wasn't going out until later so I packed the furballs in their carrier and we cycled down to the beach.


There were mixed opinions around. David had a bit of a sniff, but decided that it was too early for his old bones to be up and about, so he got cuddled. Fred just wanted out of his harness and wasn't really fussed about it. Nushu and Rumble though, were overjoyed! Rumble ran off bouncing before I could get his leash attached and Nushu ran the other.



As for flora, there are lots of daffodils on the isle.


This patch were at the gate to Skinners.

I also heard we get orchids and other lovely flowers, but I fear it's a bit early in the year yet.

Better weather

Rain: None!
Wind: about 15-20mph
Sun: little, but warm
Sky: blue with white, fluffy clouds

It's definitely better weather today. I can leave the heaters off because our lovely huge, South facing windows, do all the heating for us.

As the wind has quieted I decided to let the ferrets explore the area around their garage. David wasn't that fussed, he's an old man and misses Barry so he spent the time having a cuddle while I took photos of the others and tried to keep track of three furballs.

This is Rumble (darker one at the top) and Fred (plump one)


Rumble was just starting a war dance (ferret happy-come-play dance) and Fred was feeling a bit windswept.

This is Nushu


She's the queen of the group, deaf and blind in one eye. As you can see, she is a very fluffy ferret, she's only just shedding her winter coat so right now she's 50% fluff, 50% other ferret parts. Her tail is "bottle-brushed" because she was a bit spooked, not that it stopped her exploring!

Nushu and Fred found a bin lid


Pippa has been lying in the sun patches when they appear, and right now is going insane chasing her tail. In a moment she's going to stop and wheedle at me because..."Someone bit my tail!" Daft dog.

Anyway, I hope the weather is good with you all. Tomorrow I may tell you about crafts.

Post

Weather today:
Mizzle and drizzle
Winds about 24mph, with gusts probably in the high 40's
Temperature: around 9'C

Altogether, not too bad a day so long as I don't want to go out.

So, post, or mail, or snail mail. On Tiree we get it two ways:

The main postal system is by plane. Anything under a certain size/weight limit is put on the plane and that flies over in the morning, usually before 11am. The winds don't tend to cause plane cancellations, for the plane it's visibility. The week before last we had a lot of sea mist on the island, no problem for the ferry, but the planes land by sight, and when you can't see the runway, you ain't going to land. The mist persisted for about three days, and there was a distinct absence of normal post.

Larger/heavier items come over on the ferry. Our orders from Ethical Superstore or the new duvet came over by ferry and things that come this way are then delivered by Maclennan motors and hauliers. The drivers are lovely and will happily carry the larger heavy boxes all the way into your house if you let them. Very useful when your husband orders 12kg of oats and the store stick them all in the same box along with about another 3kg of raisins.

People on Tiree don't have letter slots on their doors. With the way the winds go around here, the last thing you need is either a metal plate going clackclackclackclackclack all day and night or to let in so much cold air. Combined with not locking the doors, this arrangement is fine. The posties are quite used to opening the front door, dropping the mail inside and closing it again. To visitors and new residents it's a tad...weird. When the Pickfords guys were here unpacking the lorry they, understandably, stopped for some lunch, they then found it very weird for the postie to cycle up, open the door, drop mail, shut door and cycle off.

Sitting in the living room though, I usually see the various vans swing round and can meet them at the door. The posties are even nice enough, if you have some pre-paid or pre-stamped mail to hand, they will take it back to the PO for you.

Yep, I'm enjoying life up here.

Laundry and wind

Pegging out laundry on Tiree can possibly be called an engineering task. Currently the winds are blowing at 30mph with gusts going far faster (easily 50mph). This poses problems for your average plastic clothes peg. The ones we brought with us have fairly tight springs and, so long as they're jammed on, can cope three to a towel. But the new ones I bought while on the island need an extra turn, put one of those on and with one whoosh of wind there's a little plastic snap and it's flown away.

You must also beware of your own laundry. A freshly washed towel is fairly heavy, yet very flexible. If you're stood too close and concentrating on pegging you can easily get a face full of heavy towel, not too bad unless you wear glasses, then you could actually get a black eye from the impact of glasses being shoved backwards.

Now then, assuming you survive the hazards of pegging the benefits are great. It may only be 6 Deg Celcius out there right now but that wind is so fast it is almost ripping the water out. So the towels should be dry in about an hour, and that's *after* we've had a heavy rain shower for 10 minutes. Ofcourse, if the rain does come forget rescuing the towels, in the time it takes to run to the back door, don shoes and get to the towels they will be drenched. It's a bit of a roullette, but the payoff is good.

I had a bit of a busy day yesterday, I meant to write about it then but I shall do it now instead.

The island Doctor's office is rather an informal affair when it comes to seeing one. Instead of having appointments spread across the day and all the faff of trying to get everything done in set time limits, they operate a lovely thing where, for two hours every morning, you can just turn up. First come, first seen. So yesterday I turned up. I was the only one and after filling in four sides of A4 with various details and having a guess at what year I got my immunisations, I sat for a bit and then met the main GP. A lovely white haired gentleman, with a neatly kept beard, in a suit and who has wonderful posture. We sat and talked about me and life in general, after our chat and general introductions I went back to reception where they kindly rang for the bus to come and collect me.

With the dial-a-bus, you do pretty much have a taxi that also picks up others on the way. So I got on to meet a lovely lady, in her 90's, who was just going to the shop near us for her paper and then home near Scarinish. I hadn't mentioned to the driver when I first saw him that I planned to go to the Post office too, so I got a free ride to Macleod's and back, oops. Note to selves: tell the driver your plans for the day so they know which way you'll be wanting to go next. We dropped the lovely lady off, and then to the post office. I sent some dongles to Dad while the bus waited (no extra charge), we started back and he suggested the Co-op as he needed to get milk, so we park up, he leaves the door open and the engine running and we go shopping.

Yes, you read that correctly, door wide open, engine running. There isn't really any crime on Tiree. People usually leave their doors unlocked unless they're going away for a week or so, some don't even lock their cars. After all, it's not as though it's possible to quickly get off the island, there's one plane a day and a ferry every other day. It creates a very laid back community, people don't have to worry that a new islander will come along and nick something, because everyone knows where everyone lives.

Anyhoo, the ferry didn't get in yesterday, the wind was just right to make docking impossible. That meant there was no milk or bread delivery, not really a bother to us, we have a bottle of milk in the freezer and enough flour and yeast to make bread for weeks. But those that want milk for their brew or cereal will have rushed to get milk once the news got around.

Mail and newspapers are mainly done by plane, although larger items come over on the ferry. It's rather amusing being able to tell if the plane came in by whether there's post or not.

So, from laundry, to GP's, to post, and shopping. I shall now go and do something crafty I think. About another half hour and the towels will be dry...or in the field behind us.

Sunny weekend

Wind: approx 30mph (the birds are favouring flying backwards)
Mostly sunny, with the odd rain cloud depositing as it's blown over

Today started out miserable, 9am saw incredible amounts of rain lashing the front window with the wind really throwing it about. Now, we still have the wind, but the sun is out and warming us all nicely.

I got to try the dial-a-bus yesterday, it's like a minibus taxi at bus fare rates. A 6mile return is just £1.70. Yesterday was the female driver and I had the bus to myself, so we chatted a bit and I got to know how the system works a bit better. During the non-touristy months you can basically call the same day for the bus, so long as it's not Thursday, that's pension day and the "old folks" go shopping. When there are more tourists up and visiting it's best to ring about a week in advance.

I also met the island's visiting dentist and her lovely assistant yesterday. I admitted straight off that I find them incredibly spooking and they were lovely. The dentist is very talkative and ever so lovely to those of us who find the whole thing scary as heck. She's sorted my teeth so I can chew again and has plans to do a big repair job in April. The dental hygienist can also do small fillings, so I'm seeing her on the 14th for some patching and a good clean. So far so good.

I think I shall ring the bus tomorrow and see if she'll take me up to the GP's open hours on Monday morning and I can get that all sorted too. Yep, the GP has two hours every morning where you just turn up and get seen if there's time. He'll have a chat and take as long as you need in the morning, lovely!

Pippa is doing well, it's been rather wet this week so she's been happy to just sleep in her blankie. We were letting her out to poo/pee without a leash but a few days ago she decided that meant she could go round the house and check next door's garden out. So we're back to leashed toileting.

The ferrets are doing okay, poor Barry had a week long tummy upset and is now super-thin because his body is convinced summer is on the way and using non-existant stores to replace his fur. But his eyes are shiny and the others are looking after him. whenever I go in he's at the bottom of the hanging basket with four hot furry bods piled on top keeping him warm. He's had a fair few meals of Complan too, much to Jo's disgust, he says it smells disgusting, I think it smells like chicken cup a soup.

Anyway, I'm going to go make some tea. TTFN

Weather

The weather on Tiree is a blog all on its own, it's very changeable and has a big impact on what we feel like doing.

Rain here doesn't come down, it comes across, because it's windy almost all the time. Our house faces the prevailing wind, more or less, so we see the worst of the weather through the front window. We also get the best. Few days pass without at least a glimmer of sunshine, and because we're so far west it's light past 6pm at the moment, and come summer it will be light late into the night.

The wind has a big effect on me, cycling as I do to get around. A tail wind means I fly to work in around 20 minutes, a head wind with heavy rain can slow to half that speed or less. My trike is a good vehicle for the island, it's pretty stable except in really strong cross winds, and it means I can make progress into a head wind without falling over. The carrying capacity is huge - even to the point where a full grown adult can ride in the box (though being that low to the ground can be a little disconcerting).

I'm looking forward to the summer and taking a picnic to one of the more scenic parts of the island, but I love the scenery even as it is, and I'm really enjoying my commute, though I could do without having to avoid squashed hares in the road!

With the island being so flat, we get very big skies up here, and you can often see the light moving over the landscape as the clouds move.

The occasional calm day can be a little disconcerting, as you realise how quiet things are, and indeed how warm it is - we were outside in t-shirts a couple of weeks ago when the wind dropped and the sun came out.