Shining

It was a bit of a rush to make it to Shandwick this morning, collecting A and P on the way. I didn't wake up until gone 8am, from a pretty deep sleep. Consequently, Mr A binned his plans to come with me, as he was still in his PJs when I left.

Plenty of people at the Sunday morning swim, and that's even before L and E rolled up somewhat late as they had been helping with lambing at L's parents' croft in Inver, and a (healthy) lamb had helpfully decided to arrive around 9am, causing a bit of a delay in their departure. It was E's first experience of seeing a lamb being born.

I must admit I didn't actually know a lot of the people who were swimming. There seems to be an increasing trend of people coming with us when on their holidays in the area. This seems to be becoming quite a thing: take your kit with you on holiday, and join in with the local swimming group when you can, in an organised swim. Much safer, as well as being more sociable, than going on your own. In addition, there are a few new people who have started joining the group swims recently.

After 20 minutes in the North Sea, it felt perfectly acceptable to have a lazy day at home (well, for the most part....I did strim and then clear the grass and leaves from half the remaining grass in the back, and I dug up a bunch of dandelions. I'll do the rest tomorrow). I also made dinner - a chicken and nduja concoction, with pasta, made with the remains of yesterday's chicken. As I said to A, as we drove back to Tain from Shandwick, I really don't worry at the moment about quiet days in Tain. I find it so therapeutic and positively cleansing just to have a simple day around the garden and the cottage, with no worries that there's a whole wide world of northern Scotland to explore. That will come, in due course.

The day was supposed to be grey and possibly rainy, but in fact it's been generally quite bright, if a lot colder than yesterday as the wind has got up. Some of the Shandwick swimmers are doing a full moon swim this evening, although not until gone 9pm. I'll be in my PJs pretty much by then.... Late night swims are not for me, although I loved the full moon swim I did in August 2023. Anyway, since it hasn't rained (again) today, and there seems to be only a small chance of some rain tomorrow, I think I'll probably have to get the hose out again tomorrow.