Well, here we are approaching our fourth Christmas. As usual, things haven't quite gone to plan. The log burner we ordered and paid for last October finally arrived, very damaged so we had to pack it up again and fortunately managed to get it a lift on the postboat which made things much easier with it being so heavy. We were informed another would be sent immediately, that was the beginning of December! So it's looking likely that my dream of being in the cabin for Christmas sitting in front of the fire is not going to happen. We are still planning to spend Christmas in the cabin though even with it being quite a long way from finished. We have a gas heater which we can use and an electric blanket so we'll make do for now. We managed to fit the kitchen sink today and I've painted the units.
The car had to go in for its MOT so to be on the safe side we booked a night at Inverness Travelodge. That way if work needed to be done or if it took a long time we wouldn't have to come back in the dark. The weather was looking really rough though for our trip out so we decided to spare no expense (it was our wedding anniversary) and have 2 nights in the Travelodge. We've not had a bath for months or a flushing toilet so it would be luxury. We spent the morning getting ready, had an early lunch then set off on the quad down to the jetty. The sea was somewhat rougher than we'd anticipated and the wind was easterly which makes it really difficult to get out. We pushed the boat into the oncoming waves, I jumped in and tried to pull us out by pulling on the rope attached to the community boat which is moored in the water. I let go of it though and the sea immediately pushed our boat sidewards and straight back to shore. The waves were breaking over the side of the boat so everything was soaked including me. We would have given up apart from the fact I'd booked the non refundable saver rate at the Travelodge. We decided to give it another go, I crouched right at the front of the boat and holding onto the rope of community boat pulled us out, this time being very careful to keep the bow of the boat heading straight out to sea. It worked and after getting a couple of waves straight in my face, Rich managed to get the engine started and we got across. It was the roughest, wettest journey we've had and one I would never want to repeat. We got to the Travelodge though and apart from the 6 mile walk dropping and picking the car up had a restful couple of days!!
I'd booked a click and collect from Tesco to pick up on our way back and we managed to get a piece of worktop for the kitchen units in the cabin. Rich also found a bargain mixer tap with a shower head which he's going to fit on the bath in the house. That way if there's ever enough hot water again it'll make washing my hair a lot easier. I was a bit nervous about going in the boat again but we got back before the wind got up so had a much better crossing and managed to bring all our shopping over with us. It was low tide (you can't have everything!) so we had to beach the boat and walk all our shopping up the beach, not easy with a large heavy piece of worktop. Boat pulled up, quad and trailer loaded and we set off home. Nearly there and the quad broke down!! so had to carry the shopping the rest of the way. Fortunately we'd left the worktop in the boat shed at the jetty as we'd not room for it with everything else.
The following day Rich managed to get the quad going again so we went down to collect the worktop. It was quite a bit longer than the trailer so we strapped it in and took it in turns to walk behind holding it to support it, Rich was worried it might break. It worked well until we were about halfway back and the quad decided to break down again. Slightly infuriating!! A wonderful neighbour came to our assistance and gave us a tow back to ours. I was very appreciative and gave him one of Rich's christmas beers as a thank you.
I'm not sure if I mentioned before that I'd made a Christmas cake, we've somehow managed to eat it before Christmas. I hadn't even decorated it yet. It tasted good though and we did enjoy it. I blame Rich, he didn't once try to dissuade me when I suggested we have a piece.
So, hopefully we'll be in the cabin for Christmas. We've always got the barn to come back to if it gets too cold. I'm going to start moving stuff up there tomorrow and we'll hopefully get the curtain rail up. It's still quite a small space so we're going to have to be minimal. It will be lovely to have an oven in the same room as us and not have to traipse into a cold dark house when we want to cook anything and once the toilet and shower are in it'll be amazing. So there's lots to look forward to.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and peaceful new year. We've saved some of our homegrown carrots and the one brussel plant which didn't get eaten has enough on it for our Christmas dinner so looking forward to having some of our own veg. Here's to 2021, hope it's a healthy one.
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