Hoy on Hoy
Wind, cake, new friends & a knight!
One of the things I’ve noticed when I’m trying to write an update is that I am editing as I go. I write a few paragraphs and then look back, move things around and generally start tinkering.
This isn’t helpful for two reasons:
it interrupts my flow
it creates a whole load of self-doubt and brings up questions like - am I good enough? Good enough for what I'm not quite sure.
So here goes, uninterrupted words with a quick check-over at the end to make sure I’ve spelt everything correctly and haven’t done my favourite typo of turning the word from into form. It’s because I tend to type with about 4 fingers rather than touch type and my hand-eye coordination is a bit off!
Anyway… Hoy on Hoy
It is precisely as it sounds. Sir Chris Hoy came to Hoy!
He came on 29th April 2023 to officially open the Scapa Flow Museum, which unofficially opened in April ‘22. The official opening was originally planned for September but the Queen died and so it wasn’t to be.
We visited Scapa Flow back in December and it really deserves another visit or more. For a small museum, it packs a punch and is chock full of information about the history of the naval base that was here during the two world wars. It was the main naval base in both wars. When you come to Hoy you’ll see remnants of it all around, so it’s great to have the museum practically on our doorstep. It doesn’t hurt that they have a top-notch café either!
I want to say it was a glorious day and it was in so much as it didn’t rain but it was bloody chilly. Today is the 17th of May and I’m still wearing my woolly hat so I think it’s basically always chilly, especially when the wind blows.
Although it seems I notice the wind less these days, it’s not until I pull my phone out to take a quick video of the view and watch it back that I realise just how windy it is out there! And now I have just had to look it up - the calmest month of the year is July with an average wind speed of 13mph, which is only 3mph speedier than my old home of York. However, in January, the average windspeed in York is 13mph compared to 22mph in Orkney. So, windy!
Facts you didn’t need to know - you are welcome!
As you can imagine it was a big event, extra ferries were put on, Scapa Alpacas were there along with the local Dog Agility club, RSPB, RNLI, Peedie Bites our excellent burger van and my favourite, the Hoy Carbon Neutral Islands (CNI) info stand. The CNI is a project close to my heart, launched just as I arrived on the island I immediately signed up and am on the steering group.
Thanks to that group and the general wonderful friendliness of the island, what I thought would be an awkward event of hanging about in the background & wondering how long we should stay, I got chatting. Of course, I did. Now most people would peg me as an extrovert, comfortable with meeting new people but I’m not. Even a public event like that puts me way out of my comfort zone. I do it because the idea of being here just the two of us, puts the fear in me. I don’t want to be lonely, yes I came here for peace, but I didn’t come for isolation. Being part of the local community is vitally important to me and my mental health and I know it takes time and effort. So this was effort, but it came with great rewards.
First was a wonderful woman I met in the RNLI tea tent. She moved from London a few years ago and loves it here. We talked about tourism and sustainability, about solitude and space. She seems like a kindred spirit and has an excellent business idea which of course I won’t reveal here in case someone else nabs it, but yes, my kind of person.
Next was the lady who may just save my sanity, well Kiki’s. The Hounds of Hoy (dog agility) organiser/leader. She’s going to come to the house & give me recommendations on working with the little beast and then she reckons we’re just going to take Kiki to the classes and work with her there. What Kiki needs is exposure to dogs and we haven’t been able to do that since we left York in July 2021. Her behaviour around livestock has improved immeasurably so I know she has it in her, but when you only see a dog every couple of months, how is she supposed to get used to them?
So, Sir Chris. Even though there was probably plenty of opportunity, I didn’t meet him, way too awkward. He gave a great little speech (some should learn from that) cut the ribbon & huzzah! The museum is officially open. After a spot of lunch there was the opportunity to go on a family bike ride with Chris but having twisted my good ankle a few days before, we hopped in the car & headed home.
All in all, it was a lovely event, when I got and tucked into my cake with a cuppa I thought to myself, yes, we have made the right decision.