ࡱ>    !"#$%Root EntryZ O285&CONTENTS FCompObjVSPELLINGhuite simply the most delicious eggs (Nigel Slater eat your heart out) I recall ever eating. I cannot eat eggs from supermarkets for some reason as I have some allergic reaction to them. But these eggs are a different kettle of well eggs to speak of. I have a very old beaten up blackened frying pan, which started out life as a prop in a play I worked on in the West End in London (Sir Michael Horden had to wander on in one scene eating his breakast out of it and at the end of the run I got it partly as a memento!) It is a superb pan for frying eggs and black pudding in (naturally the pudding from Stornoway made by Charles Mcleods) and bacon from Deli Direct which they source from Richard Woodhall in Suffolk. I only have this treat once a week as it is not really the healthiest of things to eat everyday! We have been bearing the brunt of some really obnoxious weather lately. High winds and so much rain that I wonder if the ground can absorb any more. A little man turned up the other day from Scottish Water and asked if he could make some tests from our tap. I was fascinated as he had a little gadget which measured the chlorine and then he got out a blowtorch to sterilise the cold tap with and took more water in little containers, one of which is sent on the afternoon plane to the mainland for testing. I asked him where our water comes from and he told me it was from a loch up in the hills. The chlorine was 0.22 of three million which satisfied him though he said there had been blips when the levels were too high. I said I had no cause to complain and always drank the water as it was so pure and clean ie not recycled!!!! I find it very good for brewing my beer with. As I said the wind has been constant and when it blows from the East or North East the temperatureCHNKWKS FTEXTTEXT0FDPPFDPP4FDPCFDPC6FDPCFDPC8STSHSTSH:STSHSTSH:2SYIDSYIDP:SGP SGP d:INK INK h:BTEPPLC l:BTECPLC : FONTFONT:TOKNPLC 8;TSTRSPLC ;:PRNTWNPR;`FRAMFRAM&DTITLTITLDDOP DOP D"e eggs are a different kShetland Diary Christmas is coming up very quickly and I have been so busy! I ended up making the Christmas cake and my youngest helped me by slicing up the glace cherries and mixing the flour in though I suspect one or two cherries found their way into her mouth rather than the bowl. I have been pouring a tumbler of whisky or rum over it once a week since baking it and it should be rather mellow by the time comes to ice it. Whilst we are on the subject of baking I had a occasion the other Sunday to pop in and say hullo to my neighbours Joyce and Stevie and I was invited to try some Doofie (no it wasn t hallucinogenic) which was a kind of fruit loaf. She told me it has a variety of different names throughout the isles though I couldn t remember them though Hufsi seems to ring a bell but on the way back from Burra just this Saturday I popped into Blynedoit Fish shop to get something for dinner and I saw this thing, exactly as Joyce had made and it was called a Brunni. Just to confuse you a round thick oatmeal scone is called a Brnnie! Whilst we are on the subject of neighbours it is somewhat sad to report (although this happened a couple of editions ago) that Joyce and Stevie s two chickens, Beryl and Ruby, were sadly taken from us by a Cur that was wandering through the village and obviously thought they were easy prey. Readers will remember that these were the two rather dignified ladies that featured in the second September edition this year. We are planning to get chickens ourselves though there is the perilous threat of polecats in Shetland. However it would be worth getting a very secure henhouse so as to have a regular supply of fresh eggs. At present we purchase our eggs from a lady called Babs who keeps chickens, or her mum does, and these eggs are q drops dramatically. I can t wait to get the new doors on inside the house as it will hopefully get rid of the draughts. The wild life seems to be hiding away from the inclement weather as well. The seagulls seem to come inland if it is going to be really bad weather and touch wood we have not had any mice in the house either. That reminds me of a funny story I was told recently. A colleague of my wife, he works at the airport, they were chatting one day and goodness knows how they got onto the subject of mice but he told her when he was a boy that they used to catch mice and after sticking a straw in it they would blow them up and skin them!!!! Then sell the skins to a curio shop in Glasgow for 6p each! He said that they also tried to blow up a rat with a bicycle pump but it exploded!! (children! Don t try this at home with pets!) We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary this Saturday gone. Seems like ages ago when we were at Rochester Cathedral renewing our vowels in front of friends and family and our eldest sang for us. She reduced a few of us to tears I have to say. Now she is singing for the church in Lerwick and next Saturday she officially gets her surplice as part of the choir in St Magnus. Needless to say we are all extremely proud of her. I am particularly as I commenced my ballet classes two weeks ago, firstly in Sandwick Junior High on Wednesdays for an hour and then a private class in Burra, on the West Side of the mainland, on Saturday morning. I, physically wise, was quite pleased about my body s reaction at being forced back into doing something it had been put through on a daily basis for many years. Not quite a shock to the system as I thought. The pupils reaction was worthwhile too as they are all very enthusiastic and eager to dance. My eldest was put in front of the class as a guinea pig to demonstrate which, despite not having done any classes for over two years, she swam through everything effortlessly just like everything else she does. She picked up her brother s cornet the other day and after he showed her fingering for the notes proceeded to play, almost note perfect, what he had been struggling at for the last week!! Golly I had intended to make this a short edition! Next month the Christmas special and to some lucky recipients a special version of the Diary. We have to try and make some savings this year on postage as it is astronomical now and there simply are no concessions for a card rate so you will see what I mean and hopefully understand but the special will more than make up for it! P.S. Look Pater, this one is in paragraphs!!!!! ce and after sticking a straw in it they would blow them up and skin them!!!! Then sell the skins to a curio shop in Glasgow for 6p each! He said that they also tried to blow up a rat with a  : < \^:<$$//22|2~22(2"'( ) @S    X x@8 "@M " $ ."8 "@M " $ ."8 "@M " $ ."8 "@M " $ ."8 "@M " $ ."8 "@M " $ ."8 "@M " $ ."8 "@M " $ ." * , $$|22X  "  "PSS" 6 "PS" $$ 08 "PS" 8 "@M " $ ."f8 "@M " $ ."38 "@M " $ ."8 "@M " $ ."8 "@M " $ ." l*l* " " tt24268l*4DnTimes New RomanArialLucida HandwritingTahoma >""" " ĮSPC> " " "TTTT`EPSON Stylus DX4800 Series< od EPSON Stylus DX4800 SeriesDLLName32=E_FUICADE.DLLP TS_URLTSupportURL PSOLVER4  : @ TTTT@ TTTTd2 ,winspoolEPSON Stylus DX4800 SeriesUSB001F"\""V"$c"` "``""A."@"\""V"$c"` "``"."Nov 2 2006.wps""p"pp (" )"ArialLucida HandwritingTahoma >""" " ĮSPC> " " "been srutruggling at fort the Z O2Quill96 Story Group Class9qy2y2)y22*y202Oy2U2y224y292[y2d2y22y22y22y22y22y22Z y2c 2t y2{ 2 y2 2[ y2] 2jy2q2Hy2P2y22y2{2$y2'