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Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Day 31 June 21st
Keats may have had Orkney in mind when he wrote of a land of,
'mists and mellow fruitfulness' ?
Then again, maybe not as, I think, he forgot to mention the rain. Today, Sunday, and even overnight Orkney has 'enjoyed' (sic) a very heavy downpour lasting on and off for 20 hours. The ground, already soaked and water laden, is running water into huge puddles on all of the roads. There are streams and rivers where none should exist. Add to that, the island has been covered by a thick mist that obscured our vision of, well, almost everything.
But what of Saturday?
Our culture fest, and after all what else does one do in Orkney, took us to Stromness, about 15 miles or so westwards from Kirkwall. The drive was easy, the road relatively flat and smooth. Stromness is a curious town, very old, with narrow streets and a paved high street. Most people, I suspect go to Stromness to leave it, either to drive to Kirkwall, or to catch the ferry to the mainland. They can also take a ferry to Gramasay which has no roads. So parking is available on the sea front only for those residents.
We wandered the streets which contained not a single proprietary shop but they did have some arty type outlets. Now this led to our first culture bit of the day: the Pier Gallery. Here, opening its doors as we arrived we became the first public members to visit the Damien Hirst Exhibition! It was, as one might anticipate, startling, containing as it did one dead sheep, and a painting of coloured dots, amongst other items. We also got to see a 35 minute film in which he explains his approaches to 'art' over time - interesting and quite revealing.
A mystery of the town soon revealed it self: where were the coffee shops? None to be found so we had to resort to the main, but elderly hotel situated facing the port but built into the side of the hill. Thus the main bar and restaurant, even reception was on floor 1! However, coffee was to be had and , thankfully, proper filter coffee not the generally awful 'Americano' that so many places sell. It tasted and smelt like coffee! The hotel, built about 1903 had become the main military HQ in about 1914 as Stromness was on a form of the front line lying, as it does, on Scapa Flow and very close to the main dockyard at Lyness.
Following that we attended an erudite lecture, entitled 'The Other Side of Silence'. This proved to be quite interesting as he interspersed it with quotes from lots of poems. Like so many of these things it was attended by a mass of old ladies who, mercifully, did not mutter. However, said old ladies, provided a splendid lunch afterwards, so much so that I could not resist stuffing my face with garlic chicken sandwiches before descending on the scrumptious fat inducing doughnuts! Somewhat enlarged I left the venue and waddled back along the port side to the motorhome.
In the evening we were to attend a concert of string music in the Pickaquoy Centre (Picky for short). Having only got Unreserved seats we arrived early; as not all tickets had been sold we moved just before it began to a more central position and better seats!
What about the music? Capriol Suite was brisk and interesting, and of course, quite well known. Sally Beamish's piece 'The Day Dawn' was fascinating and well worth hearing. However a piece by Jennifer Wrigley, a local favourite who specialises in music based on more local styles, was dreary and what I referred to as 'Chardonnay with BBQ' type', eg eminently forgettable. The final piece, by another local called Edward McGuire, and called Ring of Strings, was also very moderate. The best thing about the whole concert was that it used young musicians along side the professionals which, no doubt, gave them a great thrill as well as promoting their musical development.
Tomorrow will be more culture of the ancient, archaeological kind as we seek out those piles of stones left by the ancestors of the Orcadians.
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