Serious competition

It's 'Show week' in the isles. No, don't get too excited we don't all turn into one giant west end musical production (although, it's not far off) by shows read 'Agricultural & Industrial'. Each day a different parish hosts it's show. On the Wednesday it's the turn of the South Ronaldsay and Burray' show.

Normally we manage some sunshine and blue skies but today was cold and grey. Being hardy souls we ignored the weather, cycled over and took a picnic. We managed to get the picnic rug out and grab a sandwich before the first shower, then a lot of people suddenly became interested in the book stall. Not to be classed as a) uninterested in damp sheep or b) wimps that can't cope with a bit o weather we hung out until the very hotly contested pet dog competition, from which my pal Archie yet again came away with a red rosette.

After that it was back to the hall for the industrial section viewing. We managed to resist temptation and not nibble the exhibits. We even managed to stop small children from doing the same. We tried to figure out why the winners were the winners with not being able to taste them and we debated the reason that 'coleslaw' should be in the farm produce section with the eggs and cheese (decided there wasn't anywhere else for it to go). We commiserated with friends who hadn't won and debated whether it was bad form to remove your exhibit before the end of the day so that you didn't have to come back later. We admired knitting and embroidery, vegetable animals and giant leeks.

And then... we hit the tearoom. Before cycling home for a lie down.