Shetland Here We Come!

                                            Jarlshof, Shetland

Photograph courtesy of Tom Parnellfrom Scottish Borders, Scotland - Creative Commons licence 

A few weeks ago when our Covid rates were really low & I was feeling a bit low so I decided to book a short UK cruise up to Shetland. Well we'd had our vaccinations, all the rates were pretty low in the UK so it seemed like a good idea at the time!

Well now I'm not so sure but at least everyone on the ship has to be vaccinated and tested at the port and it's an adult only cruise so we'll see.

A few days ago we found out that Scotland wasn't accepting cruise ships from England even though everyone is vaccinated & a recent cruise has had its Scottish ports cancelled.

It seemed daft as you can drive into Scotland, get a train or bus over the border whether you've been vaccinated or not and nobody checks anything. We have been expecting the cruise itinerary to be changed to English ports & have been waiting to hear what's happened to our cruise but have heard nothing from the cruise company.

Well I checked the Lerwick Port Authority website which is where the ship would dock & surprise, surprise, from 19th July they are accepting cruise ships!

So come Saturday if all goes well we'll be on our way to Sheltland. I'd better get the thermal underwear & the waterproofs out, it's never very warm there and they do get more than their fair share of rain! It will be some respite from this heat which we aren't used to.

I lost all my photographs of my trip to Shetland in 2015 courtesy of Windows 10 & my BT Cloud backup. They may be there somewhere in the ether but I can't find them so thanks to Wiki Commons I found a similar photograph by Tom Parnell to one I had taken on a visit to Jarlshof. I think it's better than mine!

What a Wimp!

           Photo Wiki Commons:Mike Pennington-Looking north from Sumburgh Head

Have to say I wasn't too sure how I felt about the lockdown ending soon, it felt safe staying at home and doing the shopping online. I have been to the hairdresser and had both vaccinations but hanging on to go to the dentist for a check up. I haven't been to church for months as you have to book online and then I'm not sure whether I'll pluck up the courage to go on the day. Watching services on telly is so much easier, I'm such a wimp!

I do go for a walk most days but have to really push myself. I'm not too keen to go to a restaurant or a cafe just yet and I've only been to two shops in over a year. Been thinking I really need to make the effort to get back to a more "normal" way of life whatever that might be or I might end up agoraphobic! 

I was looking for a break in Northumberland or Scotland but the prices are quite high for a week in June or July just booking a cottage or a basic hotel even without breakfast was as much as a trip to Spain. Not that I want to go there yet!

I saw that the cruises to Scotland from our local port had just gone online for the summer so I spent a while checking them out. Eventually I played it safe & just booked a 6 day cruise up to Shetland, Invergordon & Dundee in July. 

I've been to Shetland before & I know the chances are the weather won't be great but I'm not a sun lover so it will be fine for me & my husband. I think I just want a break from the housework & some different food that I don't have to buy or cook! 

It was just as cheap as booking a decent UK hotel although I don't even know if we'll be allowed off the ship. To be honest I don't care! I love being on a ship even though the North Sea can be pretty rough. Just hope by July I'll have more courage to go than I have now. 

Sorry the photo above isn't one of mine. I seem to have lost the ones I took when I visited Orkney & Shetland (courtesy of the Cloud when my computer went berserk the photos of that tour have all disappeared). 

I really don't know why I can't motivate myself to complete anything. I have to force myself to do housework & only the absolute necessities are being done! It's partly because I don't sleep very well & feel tired a lot of the time & maybe it's the beta blockers who knows! Even days when I feel OK I find things to fiddle about with on the computer or look at new patterns of things to make.

I keep starting new bits of knitting & I have a big pile of sewing that's lying around waiting to be finished never mind the sail blinds I need to make for the conservatory. I need to get bits & pieces from the shops to finish some things but I can't pluck up the courage to go. 

The weather is really lovely now but the garden needs so much work doing before I can sit outside to knit, sew or read. I need a good kick up the behind to get me going. 

Now the lockdown is easing I'm hoping my granddaughter will want to sew with me now she's left school officially. That might help get me going. I've missed seeing family for over a year now but I'll be looking after my daughter's dog if they get to go to Disneyland in August so with that & the cruise maybe I'll get myself together again this summer. I can only hope & pray I do as I don't like the me I am at the moment!

Take care, I hope you're feeling more chipper than I am!

I'm Getting Hooked on the Telly!

I can't believe it but after moaning so much about how terrible the telly has been for months it's great at the moment. My problem is my husband doesn't like the same programmes that I do so I have to wait until he's out to watch them on iPlayer. Thankfully they're all on the BBC so no problems there, we don't have anything to record programmes. When we had a video recorder I used to record programmes & never watch them!

However I've been hooked for weeks now on a number of programmes, mainly BBC ones that I think are really good.

War & Peace

I never thought I'd like it but I did. This is one my husband refused to watch! Not my favourite programme this winter but it's a very good production. The acting was brilliant, I enjoyed Lily James as Natasha, a bit more of a challenge than playing Cinderella. I'd never heard of Paul Dano who plays Pierre but he was good too although I can't say I admired or understood his character. James Norton was good as Prince Andrei but again I couldn't understand him, a bit of a misery and never satisfied. I kept wondering where I'd seen him before then realised he was the scary Tommy Lee Royce in the amazing Happy Valley series. 
The costumes were excellent especially those in the ballroom scene. The settings were sublime. My favourite scene was the ballroom one in Episode 3 where Natasha & Prince Andrei dance it was so romantic & beautifully filmed. One of those "moments" in film that are never forgotten.

Don't think I'll read the book though it took me ages to figure out who everyone was in the first episode & apparently the book is confusing too. Wish I'd looked at the BBC website first where all the characters are listed. Also the war scenes were awful so I'll pass on this book. However Tolstoy's book has made the bestseller list for the first time ever. 

Dickensian

This is another one I thought I wouldn't like but I'm totally addicted to it. Who would have imagined a mix of characters from a range of Dickens' books could meld into a murder & love story in 19th Century London. Excellent acting from a cast of great actors portraying such wonderful characters as Mr & Mrs Bumble, the gin swilling Mrs Gamp, Bob & Emily Cratchit, Bill Sikes & Nancy, Fagin & the Artful Dodger, Ebenezer Scrooge & Jacob Marley, Miss Havisham,  Little Nell, Fanny Biggetywitch & the wonderful central character Inspector Bucket. The make up & scenery are excellent, no Photoshopping here nor Disneyesque houses! We're up to episode 19 now & I think there's just one more to go. I'll be lost when it finishes so I hope Tony Jordan writes another series.

Call the Midwife

I still enjoy this series about a group of midwifes in the early 'sixties working in the poverty stricken East End of London which has now reached series 5. Although I preferred the four earlier series it's still quite gripping seeing how life was back then with polio striking & the realisation of the effects of thalidomide. It's funny, desperately sad on occasions but a heart warming series based on the memoirs of the midwife Jennifer Worth who worked in the East End of London in the 'fifties. 

A Place to Call Home

I found this by accident one really cold afternoon when all I fancied doing was having a coffee & watching a bit of telly. I suppose it's a bit like an Aussie Dallas soap but much better. A drama set after World War two when an Australian nurse who had been a resistance fighter in France & a prisoner in a concentration camp travels back home to Australia on a cruise ship. She meets a well to do family returning home after visiting the UK & her life becomes entwined with theirs. At the centre of the family is an interfering snobby mother & grandmother whom you love to hate along with issues of racism, homophobia, sex outside of marriage (well it was the 'fifties) teenage pregnancy & so much more! I love the settings, Sydney & the wonderful houses & clothes.  Another one I've become addicted to & it's on every weekday afternoon! 

Shetland

I didn't watch the first series of this for some reason but saw the second one advertised so thought I'd watch it to see if I recognised any of the places I visited last summer. I recognised the North Link ferry & the road crossing at the airport runway but so far that's about all. Have to say it's a bit grey & reminded me of The Bridge the Danish/ Swedish crime series where it always seems to be cold & grim but I suppose it's the atmosphere they're trying to create. It's no Hawaii 5-0 that's for certain. It's also a bit harrowing rather like Happy Valley but I really want to see what happens.

Happy Valley

I watched the first series of this last year & it really scared the wits out of me it was so harrowing. I watched the first episode of the second series and the characters are wonderful. I love the brilliant Sarah Lancashire who plays the gritty Yorkshire police sergeant. She is so funny & yet so desperately sad. I was hoping that the horrendous Tommy Lee Royce wouldn't be in it this time but I suppose he had to be but I won't give the game away about the plot. (Still can't believe it's the same bloke in War & Peace!) I'm not sure I want to watch Episode 2 but I think I'll give in.

Father Brown

This is a good light hearted TV series based on the books by GK Chesterton about a crime solving Roman Catholic priest in the 'fifties. I remember the TV series in the 'seventies where Kenneth More played Father Brown & wondered how Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter films) would fare in the role. Have to say I think he's great. Quite droll & probably more realistic than Kenneth More was. After watching a number of these set in lovely English country villages it gets a bit like Midsummer Murders! There was never that number of murders in the whole of the country in those days. We still had hanging then!

The Young Montalbano

Another series I enjoyed watching but it's another programme I have to watch on iPlayer when my husband is out.  He won't watch anything with subtitles! Think this second series has grown on me. I kept comparing the first series to the Inspector Montalbano ones, although the Sicilian settings are the same they don't seem to have the same beautiful photography that Inspector Montalbano had. He doesn't swim as much in this series but I've got used to Salvo being younger & with a mop of curly hair!