Island living

[Marigold]

But be honest - preferably both?

 

[bigyetiman]

Yes, but in moderation. Not sure I would know quite what to do with an abundance of wealth.
We could buy an island I suppose

 

[Hen-Gen]

Tempting bym but it’s woodland for me, probably in NZ.

 

[bigyetiman]

Woodland definitely, a nice mixed woodland managed properly to allow the woodland carpet to flourish.

 

[dianefairhall]

I'm only 5 feet tall - and shrinking - so woodland intimidates me. Another reason I like Lewis. "Spot the tree"!

 

[bigyetiman]

Like the lonely tree at Lynn Padarn

 

[Margaid]

I'm only 5 feet tall - and shrinking - so woodland intimidates me. Another reason I like Lewis. "Spot the tree"!

Me too, although not shrinking much yet. I couldn't live at the bottom of a valley either because I'd feel hemmed in, as I do in large crowds of people.

 

[Icemaiden]

Ice maiden. You’re being fascetious! ?

Sorry Hen-Gen- I'm one of Lynne Truss' greatest fans
(She's the author of "Eats shoots and leaves")

 

[bigyetiman]

OH is just 5ft 2, and she says worse thing, high shelves in supermarkets, and if she wanders off I can never find her being so short.

 

[Margaid]

OH is just 5ft 2, and she says worse thing, high shelves in supermarkets, and if she wanders off I can never find her being so short.

She won't be able to see you either because of the high shelves! I got lost in a department store when I was about 3 years old - remember those high island counters where the assistant was in a gap in the middle? I couldn't see over them and lost sight of my mum!

 

[bigyetiman]

OH lost her mum in Woolworths about 4 years old, same thing couldn't see over the big island. You are right she can never find me either.

 

[Margaid]

When my sister and I were a bit older the instruction was "if we get separated wait for me by the door" I seem to remember there was a big weighing machine there. It was nearly as bad in our teens as the whole family was 5' 2" or less in height!

 

[dianefairhall]

My mum was even shorter than me - 4' 11" in her stockinged feet, as she used to say. Reminds me of that old joke about the wherethehellarewe tribe who used to get lost in the long grass.

Well, we have just taken delivery of our new polycrub. Hen-Gen will know what that is but to the uninitiated it's a rigid polytunnel, designed in the Shetland Isles and guaranteed not to blow away in high winds. The guys are coming to put it together tomorrow. We decided that if we were to keep having to isolate we could grow our own fruit and veg and with the eggs and bread we won't go hungry.

 

[Marigold]

Now you only need a goat .....

 

[Margaid]

Or a ewe in milk. Sheep milk yogurt and cheese are great and there's an ice-cream parlour in Hay-on-Wye called Shepherds. Fabulous ice cream ...

 

[dianefairhall]

Plenty of ewes round here! There aren't many goats on the island. I'd like one of those wild ones!

 

[Hen-Gen]

Polycrubs are excellent, Diane, and very popular up here. I’d like a goldfish pond in a polycrub if that makes sense.
Talk of goats reminds me of a Caribbean restaurant in Nottingham half a lifetime ago. Kept a few goats in my time but don’t like their characters. Devious and malevolent are words that spring to mind.
Anyone here ever kept Boer Goats?

 

[Marigold]

This is an interesting article. I notice the ‘Guardian pick’, I.e, the first comment below the line, is from an emigrant to Shetland. I wonder what it’s like, to go down to 4-5 hours of daylight in winter? John Donne’s ‘scarce seven hours’ is quite difficult for me, down here in southern England.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/sep/26/dreading-a-dark-winter-lockdown-think-like-a-norwegian#comment-144065669

 

[Hen-Gen]

Believe me the darkness of winter is not a problem. It’s the three weeks of light ie no night in mid summer which is a struggle here. Really messes with your circadian rhythms. Brings out some really strange aspects of human behaviour!

 

[dianefairhall]

Believe me the darkness of winter is not a problem. It’s the three weeks of light ie no night in mid summer which is a struggle here. Really messes with your circadian rhythms. Brings out some really strange aspects of human behaviour!

We don't get that here, of course, but we don't find the winters that bad - at least the dark days don't last too long. After the winter solstice the days lengthen quite rapidly until by February there is a noticeable difference. Down south the dark days seemed to go on for months.