Arran life

So, snow and power lines, taken from just in front of Mum's house. I thought this was a suitable blip for the day, though there was a huge variety of options today, my camera rarely left my hands! The deer are coming down very low in search of grass, even in Catacol. This one is fairly high, Mum saw three stags just behind her house yesterday, the oldest of which (8 or 9 points) would move on the younger ones as soon as they found a wee patch.

I made it down safely to Brodick with another stranded Arranite, and met our lift across the Boguille - wondering to be honest if we'd make it or if we would be arrested, as travel on the road was very strictly restricted until today. We filled up the car with groceries at the Co-op and headed out, making it safely home through completely normal and snowless east Arran, then the Boguille (the road through the hills in the north of Arran, pronounced bo-glee), where the was still some snow, but not nearly as much as there had been, it was melting happily today.

I went first to my sister's as Mum was spending the day there as Lochranza was fully powered yesterday. I then got a lift to Catacol, walked the dog, got a lift back up to Lochranza and was the official photographer for the inaugural Lochranza Bobsleigh Championships. Bobsleigh of course being a loose term for anything on which you can slide and included sledges, trays, a bivvy bag, a bin lid and a canoe. Seriously! That was another blip option you missed out on.

Lochranza is having its own Snowlympic Games, so after the bobsleigh we have a more cultural olympiad event planned for tomorrow, but closely connected to football. A snow football team building competition at the Ewe Camp Stadium (I think my brother in law is hoping to improve his selection options for the local football team, Northend Thistle - see Sky Sports report here). The local football field doubles as grazing for sheep, hence the title, some of you may get the reference, others not.

After the not actually a championship we popped in to the snack bar (now there more for the workers than the locals since Lochranza's power went back on) for some rather tasty nachos and hot chocolate before going back to my sister's for tea and then down to chilly Catacol, where I delivered the mail for the Row (the postie can't get up at the moment), found some lovely engineers working on a generator just along from Mum's, comforted them that most of the houses nearby are empty, so the small size may be enough until they can get us connected to a bigger one and then the National Grid) then spent a cosy evening in candle and oil lamp light around the gas cooker with Mum. Catacol power didn't go on until about 9.30 - much respect and many thanks to the SSE staff working such horrible hours and climbing poles in the dark to try and get everything connected. So once the power was back I got on with photo processing, but as many of the pics were of family and friends and their kids, they were my priority, hence a technical back blip. You are likely to have a snowman tomorrow! I have put some photos up on Flickr and sledging photos with some great action shots on Facebook Hope you are all warm and cosy, we are now!