Saturday, 21 December Happy Christmas In these days of electronic communications. Everyone, if they care to connect up can find out exactly how I am getting on at any stage. In this light, the best role of a Christmas blog entry is to give the past year some kind of perspective, and felt quite significant for the restoration of the castle. The summer was glorious, the best I have ever experienced and it was possible to make a huge push.
For once I timed my gap between contracts to coincide with the summer - hurrah!. I always say that I am really going to take advantage of a long hot summer and do lots of outdoors things. Normally work and other commitments get in the way, but this year is the first time I can honestly say I lived that dream.
Sure, other things did catch up with me, but by-and-large I was able to get physically involved in the restoration for much of the endless summer. When the sun is out, and the sky is blue, there is no nicer place to be than on the roof of the castle with the countryside lying out beneath one.
For the first time ever the weather at the castle was too hot, if only slightly, though my roofer Andy who goes caravanning at Aviemore in the snow, declared he was expiring in the heat!
In the less clement weather, Andy has been pushing ahead with reconstructing floors. It takes a great deal of skill to work out how to take out the rotten wood, replace with new wood, without everything else collapsing in the process - many others would, and have fled. My thanks go to Andy and everyone else who helped out this year. And three images to complete the blog! This amazing sunset from the top of the great tower was taken by a friend of Balintore called Berthy who helped fight the wind farm.
