Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 27 August 2023

RUSTY Sorry to hear you have had a problem with your hearing aids.....hope they are working properly now. A friend of mine got hearing aids (not NHS) 3 or 4 years ago. We were meeting her at Brodie and when we sat down she put one on the table and said with such delight. " I can hear the birds sing now." Nothing would persuade OHs Dad to have his hearing aids improved and for the last few years of his life he didn't hear the birds sing and his daughter had to shout at him to be heard.....so sad.

Dibnlib - Hearing the birds especially the cuckoo was one of the reasons I got my new hearing aids - (that and the fact that I couldn’t hear my sister’s TV at Christmas!!!!)
I have cut the grass! Hooray!! Just having a sit down before I go and sweep up.
Lindy - it is lovely and sunny here. Hope it is for you further into Wales.

Glad that AQ is still around.

We got home for a late lunch after a "busy roads" journey back. Maybe a lot of people took an extra day off work as well as yesterday! No problems, though-- sad to see that others had, as there was a very large tour bus parked awkwardly at the side of the Expressway, obviously broken down and going nowhere for the present. I hoped they had a loo on board!!

Pleased that my quotes were enjoyed. I thought they were charming, too.

Lindy - Thank you for the quotes. They are in for this week's magazine! It's going to be a crowded issue - our 'temporary' supernumerary minister left us last week after a wonderful year, and our new minister arrives this Friday (actually, he moved in some weeks ago but his 'welcome' service is on Friday and thereafter he is 'official'!! Trying to say 'goodbye' and 'hello' in the same issue is proving a bit of a juggle. Don't want to upset anyone, which probably isn't possible. As any magazine editor will tell you, it's impossible not to upset someone!!!

Rusty - Yes, intense tiredness for a while after Covid is quite normal, I gather. A friend of mine, who tested positive at the same time as I did, struggled for several weeks. She tried to push herself, but quite soon realised that actually resting and going with the tiredness rather than trying to fight it worked. Just saying ... definitely not nagging!

PatO; I used to be an editor on a very large and somewhat conservative magazine published by a nonprofit association with a strong presence in Washington, DC. The powers that be decided we could attract some positive media attention by holding an art contest for readers with the winners/runners up having their art included in the magazine in addition to receiving various very nice prizes and they hired an outside team of experts to judge the entries. The winner? A large painting of a nude. Oh my, talk about knickers in a twist! The publisher decided not to print it or publicize it, much to the disgust of the editorial staff who were more upset than anyone (although maybe the winner? . Can't remember how it was resolved with him.). But not to worry, I'm sure you or OG won't ever have to face that problem. :-)

AG: Glad to see you. Are we delusional or was everyone much more polite in the 'old days'?

Pat O said:

Don't want to upset anyone, which probably isn't possible.

I wouldn't worry.  If someone moans then tell them they're welcome to try to do a better job than you - which I somehow doubt they'd take you up on.

Annette - Not many nudes in church magazines ... at least, not that I'm aware of. And because I'm always known as Pedantic Pat - knickers and nudes?!?!?

Clare - I've tried that a few times. Amazing how they back away ...!! Also people tell me 'they' should double my salary ... well, if they did that three or four times I would still get nothing!

Pat O said:

I'm always known as Pedantic Pat

Are you serious?  If they only knew me you'd certainly be losing that label.

Pat O said:

Not many nudes in church magazines

Doesn't the Bible describe Jesus as being naked on the cross?

I think it might be time for the next episode of my Hebridean Adventure.

We are still on Benbecula, North and South Uist. After breakfast, we went to a new distillery. They are starting with gin because, obviously, it takes time for whisky to mature and they need a cash flow. We had a very interesting talk about the gin. To get the local botanicals such as seaweed and heather to create their island specific gin, they ask the locals to collect them and use a barter system so that for x amount of seaweed or heather you get a bottle of gin!!! Good idea.

They had some local art on the walls. I was intrigued by these panels. Can you guess what they represent?

Here is a close up of one of the panels - they are guillemots on a cliff!!!!

From there we went to Lochmaddy where we had lunch in the small art gallery they have there. They obviously hold creative writing classes there and each table had a poem on them written by a member of the group. I was really moved by the one on our table.