Blow Boys, Blow!

As Mike is on holiday we had a day out in Stromness today. It is the other side of the Orkney mainland, and takes about an hour to get there, so it really is quite an adventure, a special treat!

It happened to be the first day of Shopping Week, the annual town fair, and our arrival coincided with the crowning of the Shopping Week queen. There followed a procession through the very narrow main street, the queen and her attendants in a beautiful black shiny carriage, drawn by two equally shiny black Friesian horses, a wonderful sight. They were preceded by the Stromness pipe band - all working very hard in the warm sunshine - as you can see!

The pier head was packed with sightseers, there were coconut shies, puppet shows, burger vans, doughnut eating competitions, face painters and lots of other attractions for the young and well, the young at heart! Lots of laughing and shrieking and fun being had.

We had long leisurely lunch at Julia's excellent establishment, and then pootled round the museum, where we left Mike looking at the boats, and Ollie and I walked out of town along the beach, where he had a quick dip, and then we all watched the ferry come in.

A lovely day, a proper holiday, the sun shone, there were unfamiliar faces about, everyone was in high spirits and there were horses and boats so we were both happy!

We also made a bit of an extravagant purchase - I blame Lady Findhorn! More anon . . . .