The simple joy of sea swimming

Updates from the Orkney Outpost

Monday 6th May

The big news this week is that I’ve changed the name of the blog/newsletter/whatever it is that we call it on Substack to … The Orkney Outpost.

Next step is to change the subdomain (bit scared) and then create a new email account just for my Substack and all my wonderful subscriptions.

Why I have multiple email accounts.

Hear me out. This is how my brain works.

If I get too many emails, or too many different categories of email, it becomes overwhelming and I manage far better by having email accounts for specific things.

Let me run through them.

• Hotmail is personal.

• My iCloud is home, finance and legals. Basically anything Erik needs to have access to. I’m happy for him to see the energy bill and emails from the solicitor, less happy for him to see exactly how many things I favourite on Vinted or what other random ‘do this one thing to change your life’ email I have signed up to.

• Next we have my work emails, yes 2 of them. Oh and my work gmail account.

• Which reminds me of my original gmail account because everyone needs gmail right? And then there’s the bookclub one.

• Add in the new one for this.

Ok, so how many is that so far?

Eight.

• Plus, I also view and manage another 8 inboxes on behalf of my clients.

So we’re up to a grand total of 16 email accounts that all have their place, 16 little email categories in my brain.

There’s nothing you can’t tell me about inbox management that I don’t already know, but if something needs to be done it has to be in one of 3 places:

• In one of my inboxes or;

• On my Asana task/project management app or;

• In my online calendar.

Otherwise it will not get done.

It just won’t.

I tried the Productivity Ninja’s Inbox Zero approach and failed, I tried automatically filtering emails and failed. If it is not in the top 10 emails of my inbox then it may as well not exist.

And that’s why I try to respond to WhatsApp messages immediately because as soon as that little red dot has gone, my mind has moved on to other things and I probably won’t remember until I come to message you 5 weeks later.

Safe to say if you message me on social media it’s hit or miss on when or if I will ever reply, social media moves too fast for my tiny brain, plus my notifications are firmly off!

Am I alone in this? Please someone tell me they are as neurotic/weird as me on this.

Sometimes, I think the things that go through my brain should be carefully curated before I send them out into the world and other times, I think, well maybe seeing the inner workings of my mind will help someone else with their thoughts and processing, which seems to be a good enough reason not to edit myself.

What news from the Outpost?

Doug is looking fabulous, I have nearly cleared him out of random stuff, created space for me and potted everything up, just an hour or two more and he should be looking pretty perfect.

In case you missed it, I filmed a full video update on Doug and uploaded it last week. You can find here: Mary, Mary quite contrary

One question for you though.

This space ⬇️

What should I do with it?

I need a place for the tools to prop up so I thought maybe a small frame to hold them in place, but then Erik started talking about shelves and that got me thinking about an amazing nook for books, seeds, storage, human snacks and dog snacks. But what are the chances it’ll become a cluttered mess within a couple of weeks?

Any suggestions are most welcome thank you. I do already have a sitting/lounging area.

Chasing the Sun

Thursday and Friday were absolutely gorgeous days.

Like caps lock GORGEOUS.

Sod spring like, it felt like summer!

Erik took his bike out to Brims on Thursday and suggested I do the same/similar on Friday. Then I had a brainwave, why not take my cossie and go to the swim spot I was shown last summer.

And that my friends, is exactly what I did.

I didn’t quite manage to get myself up and out to make the most of high tide (which was at 6.44am) but I did manage a wee swim in the shallows, paddling amongst the seaweed and it was totally glorious.

I loved every second.

The ride, the swim, seeing things I’d only seen from the car and being able to stop wherever I wanted, whether to take in the stunning view, look around the wee garden in the middle of nowhere, or listen to a cuckoo.

The wee garden, bluebells, swim spot and boat with gorse.

Heaven.

That’s when it hit me, maybe I am living my best life.

It’s not precisely how I want things to be. Wouldn’t it be cool if we had more shelter in the garden, if the house had been retro-fitted and fully renovated, if Kiki wasn’t such a bitch and if I earned my money from sitting in Doug and tapping away on the laptop for a few hours a day?

Yes, the answer to that is, yes it bloody would.

I can see the first 2 happening, the last 2 not so much!

Wildlife Corner

Spring brings with it all the flora and fauna and while Orkney can seem stark (where are all the trees?) spend a little time, look a little closer and it’s FULL of delights.

My current faves are the green dock beetle and the hoverflies. These are both great pest controllers.

Green dock beetles lay their eggs on the underside of dock leaves and munch their way through the leaves, although I’d love it if they munched their way through the roots too!

And many hoverfly larvae eat aphids. Hoverflies love brassicas by the way, so I highly recommend leaving a rocket go to seed. Or even better, false rocket with their super bright yellow flowers that they just can’t seem to get enough of.

False Rocket in all it’s yellow glory

How do I know so much about hoverfly foraging behaviour? Because I did my masters project on it back in 2014. I spent hours one summer watching them buzzing around and feeding on my broccoli flowers.

Then there are the birds. Curlew, oyster catchers, lapwing and snipe all nesting in the long grass and rushes. Nearby, we have blackbirds and the resident wagtail who likes following me around, finding itself in Doug on more than one occasion, while the starlings have chosen to nest in the chimney of our bedroom. I may regret that once the chicks have hatched and the days start at 3.30am!

Lastly we can’t forget the hedgehog. It’s very cute but creating HAVOC on my before bed walk with Kiki and I really hope we don’t get youngsters in the garden again this year. She is obsessed with hedgehogs, I think because they are the only animals she’s managed to catch. Note the plural, she’s managed to get her mouth round 4 so far.

Thankfully, as you know, hedgehogs excel at curling themselves into a spiky ball and so she is always the worse off, but I do wonder about PTSD. So far this season both me and the hedgehog have managed to keep one step ahead of her, long may it continue.

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And now I am going to don my running gear and jog with dog to the postbox knowing full well that the birthday card for my friend will be at least a day late.

Sorry 💗 You know who you are!

Take care

Han 💚

The week in stats

• Cakes: 1 - I can’t resist making and eating cake

• Exercise sessions: 4, including a bike ride to a swim spot.

• Sea swim: 1

• Cold dips: 2

• Longest dip: 7.5 minutes - happened by accident

• Time spent decluttering Doug: HOURS

• Week high: 17℃ ☀️

• Week low: 3℃

• Latest sunset: 9.16pm

• Increase in day length: 34 minutes

The week in Sub-stats:

• Subscribers: 49 (↑ 3)

• Followers: 63 (↑ 10)

• Pledges: 1 (＝)

• Last posts:

  • Tues (text): 70% open rate; 78 views; 4 likes; 4 comments; 2 new subs.

  • Sat (video): 61% open rate; 48 views; 2 likes; 0 comments; 0 new subs.