Xxxxxxx,
Isle of Xxxxxxx
Argyll
Scotland
23rd November 2012
Dear Aaaaa,
It’s a different
address at the top. I’m up here for a week “chilling”. That’s chilling in both
senses of the word! It’s beautiful but my goodness it can be cold.
I’m staying with
my cousin Qqqqq. “Xxxxxxx” is the name of the house where she lives, out in the
wilds. It’s pronounced (locally, so I
suppose that must be right) “Cairn-na-xxxxx”. The first bit is obvious enough
“Pile of stones of…” but nobody is sure what the rest means. The commonest
explanation is that it is “xxxxx’s Cairn”, that fits the pronunciation, but not
the spelling, and there is no known association of “xxxxx” with the island.
There is general agreement that whatever the name is, it is a slamming together
of Gaelic “Cairn-na-” and something else, probably from another language, and
that could be English, Scots or Norse. It’s one of life’s puzzles, and likely to
remain so.
Whatever it’s
called, the view from the place is spectacular, in every direction: East and
West I can see the sea, North and South Rocky hills. To the west is the island
of Mmmm, very mountainous and to the east Kkkk.
I don’t know
whether I shall get this finished, printed and posted before I leave the
island, but you will know by looking at the stamp: if it is UK, then it was
posted in Scotland; if it is Irish then the letter came back to Ireland with me
and was posted there.
Like I said, I’m
up here “chilling”. I felt like a trip
up here to see the relatives, and Qqqqq was happy to have me. She works at a
poultry (egg) farm on the mainland. She gets a ferry at around 8 in the
morning, drives 10 miles to work and then returns in the evening and gets home
a little after 6. She has a car on the mainland and one here. It’s a long day
and if the weather delays here on the island she can lose hours (or even a
whole day’s pay). I haven’t asked her what will happen if she gets stranded on
the mainland, and I’m not going to. It’s certainly not an easy life for a
single woman. During the day I am left of my own devices. This is the house
which Qqqqq was brought up in, and I can see the Farm which my Grandfather took
out a lease on in 1916 (!), so you can see that the family connection with the
area is pretty strong. The house is constructed from two stone buildings (one
the original house, one a stone barn) joined together by a wooden “covered way”
in an “H” shape. The house could really do with some serious maintenance. It
isn’t falling down, but it is cold, draughty and damp. Qqqqq does a good job
keeping the place clean, tidy and homely, but it must be a struggle. In the
house end, the living room and the downstairs bedroom where Qqqqq sleeps are
nice (although you have to think about how to keep the places you want to be at
the right temperature). The kitchen is an ice-box, and the two bedrooms
upstairs have been relegated to attics (even the electrics have been stripped
out, and the stairs up there have been covered
at landing level to keep
downstairs warmer). In the barn end, where I sleep, only one of the 3 bedrooms
is habitable (and is actually quite nice, if chilly). The bathroom is usable
but…
The work
required on the house is real “building”, rather than the DIY and decorating
which I’m up to. Qqqqq doesn’t have the money and the island Trust, which is
her landlord doesn’t either, so she will just have to wait for things to
improve. I had hoped to do a little maintenance work for her, but as it happens
things weren’t ready so I’ve been excused that. I’m sorry, and not sorry at the
same time. Sorry the work won’t be done (and I would probably have enjoyed
doing it), but not sorry that I don’t have to mess about outside in the
weather.
If the house was mine, and I had unlimited budget, I
would give it a complete refurbishment. Probably hire Kevin McCloud as a
consultant and find a local architect. It would make a good Grand Designs. I
think the approach I would take is to re-furb each of the stone buildings in
turn and then completely replace the covered way with something of similar
appearance, but different construction. Given where it is, I would emphasise
weather-proofing, insulation and self-sufficiency. The south facing roofs of
the stone buildings are not visible from the road, so that gives scope for
solar water heating and photovoltaic cells. We’re half-way up a hill, on an
island, so a wind-turbine is an obvious possibility. Water is never going to be
a problem! The end result would look very similar to way it does now. At the
barn end, the ceiling height of the rooms is really way too high. Also the
existing internal walls are all stud-work, so I would regard that as completely
disposable. There is a wooden floor which I expect was used for levelling, but
it isn’t great quality. I would take advice from an architect and consider
lowering the ceiling height and creating more bedrooms upstairs. So, at present
the house (both bits) has a total of 6 bedrooms, of which only 2 are really
habitable. The others I would only give to real hard cases who had arctic,
four-seasons sleeping bags and camp beds. I think there is potential for 9 to
12 bedrooms etc. It’s never going to happen that way, but I certainly enjoyed
writing about it. Qqqqq has dreams of having a B and B here. The house just
isn’t acceptable at the present (except to afore-mentioned hard-cases, and I
suppose I may be included among them), but I hope she gets to something like it
in the end. She deserves it.
(And it’s 13:35, and there’s the afternoon ferry to Yyyyyy
in Xxxx passing)
Meanwhile back in Ireland, Siobhan and Margaret are doing “work
experience” the week I’m away. Siobhan is helping out at the Infant’s school
down in the town. On the day I left, she had drawn a giraffe on the wall (the
giraffe is holding a measuring tape for “how tall am I”). Margaret is at the
garden centre across the road. So far, she has been watering plants in
poly-tunnels and has learned how to operate the till. Ironically, I’ve been
involved in creating two point-of-sale systems, but I’m not sure I could
operate a shop till! Noreen is still working at the school. She seems to be
endlessly marking books. They’re all fit and well and I hope they are feeding
properly. They should be, I left the fridge
well stocked.
One of the things I’m doing while I’m away in
Scotland is writing up a “business plan” for something over in Ireland. I have
to confess I’m struggling, but it’s getting done. This is a good place to work.
I may push the “go” button this month (for a January start).
As usual, I’ve included some clippings from the local papers:
David Bowie – Has continued to rise in my estimation: weird? yes, but
undoubtedly creative and influential. It seems he may have decided to retire,
or is this just another “stage persona”?
The Rolling Stones – They’re a good blues band, but I always said
Jagger was more of an accountant than a rock star.
Curative Well – Well, what does one say? I hope they didn’t ever dose
you with lithium. I always thought that lithium was more of a sedative and anti-psychotic,
but maybe it has anti-depressant properties as well. By the way “TG4” is the
Irish Language channel.
Fearless Felix - What does one
say? The kind of thing he does only goes wrong once.
Sulky Racing (*2) – What does one say?
Regards,
Old Boar
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