Post by creative on Apr 20, 2007 12:01:48 GMT -5
Our Parents had bought a house, Pow on Rousay, Orkney Isles. They hadn't seen the house or the condition it was in, they hadn't even got a survey. They had just bought a house with money from the sale of our old house - if they'd waited they could have got more than the £26,000, today similar properties are on the market for over £100,000. Nevertheless, this was some years ago, over 10 in fact.
Anyway, we set off in the old camper van.
Along the way, we stopped at cafes and shops, and we also stopped to have a look around the snow-capped forest.
We stopped for the night at a camp site.
Finally, we arrived at Scrabster in Scotland.
Our parents bought the ferry tickets, and, the following morning, we set off on the P&O ferry to the Orkney mainland. After having a look around the shopping centre, in Kirkwall, we set off again - we had another ferry to catch!
But, we missed the last one, as there wasn't room for the camper van, and people who booked were given priority.
So we realised we'd have to stay the night here in the caravanet!
Suddenly, the camper van rolled forward and nearly went into the sea!
Me and my brother Glenn wouldn't get back in until it was moved well away from the sea! We had no intention of becoming shark food whilst we were sleeping!
Finally, morning came. and we boarded the small Eynhallow ferry to Rousay.
It had taken around 5 days toget here, as my Dad had a bad leg from an acciudent years ago and had to make several rest stops.
Alison (who we'd bought the house from) led us to the house, us following in the caravanet.
There was a house in the distance that looked old.
"I bet that's it!" My Mum muttered.
It turned out she was right!
When we got there, Alison us to it. My Dad drove up the large uphill path and we had a look around the garden.
We could see the sea from the top of our garden path. There were three stables, but only one with a decent door on it! There was an old brick building, with no roof on it - it had worn away or something.
There was also an old building which we told was a cow byre to the left of the house (I don't know what a cow byreis, maybe it's for keeping cows in!).
It looked like a nice place to live apart from the condition of the property.
When Winter came, the rain came in through a leek in the roof, and there was once winds of around 70 miles per hour I think it was. We went out, and saw our Dad's car at the bottom of the path (a long downhill path)- it had been at the top before! The cat was even lifted a few feet off the ground at one point!
On Christmas Day, it was snowing heavily, the first snow on the island for four years, and the cables in the next field fell down! So we had no electricity, but we (except from our Parents!) didn't mind! My sister, Gail, had tied some string onto the bottom of an old plastic rocking horse, and we were sledging all day (Although we had to jump off before the sledge hit the barbed wire at the bottom of the hill)!
By the time they came and fixed it, we couldn't care less about Christmas TV!
After Christmas, when the shop was open, the ground was still thick with snow, and we couldn't get the caravanet out. And we needed to get some shopping, so what choice did we have, but to use the "sledge!". We dragged it to the shop, and then put the shopping on it to carry it home.
Soon it was time to go back to school. I was the only one from my family who went to the high school at the time, Kirkwall Grammar (no it wasn't really a Grammar school!), as you stayed in junior school until you were 12 there.
In the mornings, I always nearly missed the (only!) bus! So I came up with a plan - I used an old scooter (my younger brothers, not one of these electric ones though), and could often be seen scooting down the path! Of course, the other pupils in the bus thought it was hilarious!
After the bus dropped us off at the pier, we would catch the small ferry, the Eynhallow.
And then we'd have to get a coach from the mainland!
On Rousay, we were only five minutes walk from the beach (or less if we took a shortcut across a field), and could see it from our house. We'd often go down to watch the seals swimming.
Sometimes, we'd see the seals resting on the beach and could go quite close to them.
There was no gas (baths were had using kettles and pans of hot water or the generosity of the neighbours).
In the living room, there was an old coal fire, which me and my brother Glenn (we had to sleep there as the house wasn't too big) cooked mussels, toast and other stuff on. Coal would be delivered in large bags to all the houses that still used coal fires. If you ran out, you could buy more from the only shop on the island! But we never ran out, as we burned most of the rubbish we had as well as the coal - with seven kids and two parents, that is quite a lot!
Anyway, sadly, the house was not really suitable for a family to live in, so we made the trip back to England. But first, we stayed at a rented house on another of the Orkney Isles for a few months.
I had been unhappy at leaving Rousay, it was, in my opinion the best place we had lived - no crime, no traffic jams, no traffic lights even! There weren't many veichles on the island.
I was pleased to hear about a year later that my parents were going to give it another go in Rousay, and would try fixing it up.
We were going back!
But alas, my parents were quite old and their health wasn't up to it, so we left Rousay once again.
It seemed like we'd never see the island again...
Anyway, we set off in the old camper van.
Along the way, we stopped at cafes and shops, and we also stopped to have a look around the snow-capped forest.
We stopped for the night at a camp site.
Finally, we arrived at Scrabster in Scotland.
Our parents bought the ferry tickets, and, the following morning, we set off on the P&O ferry to the Orkney mainland. After having a look around the shopping centre, in Kirkwall, we set off again - we had another ferry to catch!
But, we missed the last one, as there wasn't room for the camper van, and people who booked were given priority.
So we realised we'd have to stay the night here in the caravanet!
Suddenly, the camper van rolled forward and nearly went into the sea!
Me and my brother Glenn wouldn't get back in until it was moved well away from the sea! We had no intention of becoming shark food whilst we were sleeping!
Finally, morning came. and we boarded the small Eynhallow ferry to Rousay.
It had taken around 5 days toget here, as my Dad had a bad leg from an acciudent years ago and had to make several rest stops.
Alison (who we'd bought the house from) led us to the house, us following in the caravanet.
There was a house in the distance that looked old.
"I bet that's it!" My Mum muttered.
It turned out she was right!
When we got there, Alison us to it. My Dad drove up the large uphill path and we had a look around the garden.
We could see the sea from the top of our garden path. There were three stables, but only one with a decent door on it! There was an old brick building, with no roof on it - it had worn away or something.
There was also an old building which we told was a cow byre to the left of the house (I don't know what a cow byreis, maybe it's for keeping cows in!).
It looked like a nice place to live apart from the condition of the property.
When Winter came, the rain came in through a leek in the roof, and there was once winds of around 70 miles per hour I think it was. We went out, and saw our Dad's car at the bottom of the path (a long downhill path)- it had been at the top before! The cat was even lifted a few feet off the ground at one point!
On Christmas Day, it was snowing heavily, the first snow on the island for four years, and the cables in the next field fell down! So we had no electricity, but we (except from our Parents!) didn't mind! My sister, Gail, had tied some string onto the bottom of an old plastic rocking horse, and we were sledging all day (Although we had to jump off before the sledge hit the barbed wire at the bottom of the hill)!
By the time they came and fixed it, we couldn't care less about Christmas TV!
After Christmas, when the shop was open, the ground was still thick with snow, and we couldn't get the caravanet out. And we needed to get some shopping, so what choice did we have, but to use the "sledge!". We dragged it to the shop, and then put the shopping on it to carry it home.
Soon it was time to go back to school. I was the only one from my family who went to the high school at the time, Kirkwall Grammar (no it wasn't really a Grammar school!), as you stayed in junior school until you were 12 there.
In the mornings, I always nearly missed the (only!) bus! So I came up with a plan - I used an old scooter (my younger brothers, not one of these electric ones though), and could often be seen scooting down the path! Of course, the other pupils in the bus thought it was hilarious!
After the bus dropped us off at the pier, we would catch the small ferry, the Eynhallow.
And then we'd have to get a coach from the mainland!
On Rousay, we were only five minutes walk from the beach (or less if we took a shortcut across a field), and could see it from our house. We'd often go down to watch the seals swimming.
Sometimes, we'd see the seals resting on the beach and could go quite close to them.
There was no gas (baths were had using kettles and pans of hot water or the generosity of the neighbours).
In the living room, there was an old coal fire, which me and my brother Glenn (we had to sleep there as the house wasn't too big) cooked mussels, toast and other stuff on. Coal would be delivered in large bags to all the houses that still used coal fires. If you ran out, you could buy more from the only shop on the island! But we never ran out, as we burned most of the rubbish we had as well as the coal - with seven kids and two parents, that is quite a lot!
Anyway, sadly, the house was not really suitable for a family to live in, so we made the trip back to England. But first, we stayed at a rented house on another of the Orkney Isles for a few months.
I had been unhappy at leaving Rousay, it was, in my opinion the best place we had lived - no crime, no traffic jams, no traffic lights even! There weren't many veichles on the island.
I was pleased to hear about a year later that my parents were going to give it another go in Rousay, and would try fixing it up.
We were going back!
But alas, my parents were quite old and their health wasn't up to it, so we left Rousay once again.
It seemed like we'd never see the island again...