Jaunting in January!

Thursday is the day the local paper comes out, and is traditionally the day that everyone gets their weekly messages from the island's main shop. Today the shop was almost empty, most of the island is full of cold/flu/chesty cough etc. The folk who were there were full of stories of how poorly such and such was, how long he/she had been ill, how many times this one or that one had had it. I gathered up my shopping and dashed out before I was re-infected!

On the way home we met this pair. During the summer they trot around Kirkwall, taking tourists around the place. They also do weddings etc and scrub up very handsomely - owners and ponies! At this time of the year they are busy doing lots of road and traffic training. I think this is one of their novice ponies paired up with a more experienced one. They were as good as gold! What you can't actually see is that the woman in the back is cuddling a black poodle, and that trotting along behind is a brown one. They take it in turns to be carried or trot!