Changing by the Minute! 15th March

Thankfully we both slept better last night and with some sadness in my heart I pulled back the curtain of our attic bedroom window at Willie McLeod’s and looked out I over my beloved “Pointy Mountain” welcoming the new day - overcast but dry!

We had some “rabbit” crumpets for breakfast - Bun Bun and Floss Floss according to Vince as he handed me my plate. I saw one of Alan’s dogs (Johann I think) “playing’ with a rabbit - at least that’s what I thought when I first looked, turned out he was eating it. We continued our packing and cleaning in readiness for our departure tomorrow. I tried to estimate our postage packaging to under 2kg each - I've learnt from my previous fiasco at the postoffice sending my wedding stuff home. But I did run out of brown paper, so Vince's books we will have to sort out when we get there. We were planning to do it in Portree, but we think we will just go to Uig as there will be less people there.

I had a WhatsApp call with my Sister who is in NZ where internal flights were cancelled and she had to take her bags back to the hotel. She still has about 6 days before retuning to Darwin Northern Territory bia Sydney but today’s announcement that all travellers entering Australia must self quarantine for 14 days means she can’t return to work or Jury Duty. She may also have to spend the 2 weeks in Sydney as it’s unclear if the quarantine will take affect at the destination or entry point into Australia. I also had a WhatsApp call with my daughter who told me what we already knew (and we’re planning to do in any case) about the compulsory 14 day self isolation. She will work with Vince’s brother to leave our car at the airport for us so we don’t need to try and get an impossible taxi ride home. Family members have also shopped for us so we won’t starve when we get home. Vince told me it’s an offence and a 13,000 dollar fine in Qld and 50,000 in WA if you fail to self isolate and police will conduct random check to ensure compliance. He also read that the UK is facing “war” with police and military to guard hospitals and shopping centres and special laws to allow the Govt to acquire more land for graves!!!! Family at home tell us supermarket shelves are totally bare! It’s like something out of the War Years - shopping rationspolice and military control, people detained in their homes etc. Scary stuff!

Dugald from the Staffin Dinosaur Museum kindy agreed to organising our books ahead of the launch so I went to collect them at 11.00am whilst Vince stayed put and cooked the roast dinner. We had a nice chat and it was very special that he signed all the copies of his book (10 GBP each) - one for Vince and I, and one for each of our 4 lots of grandchildren, 1. Amy, Connor and Piper, 2. Cash, 3.Aria, 4.Seinna and Mila. We also waited on the phone for 6hrs to Qantas as they announced more direct Heathrow to Perth flights so we were hoping to get on one of those and avoid Singapore, but unfortunately they were all booked out. But at least we still have a flight home. We just have to hope Singapore doesn't add the UK to their banned transit list! Fingers Crossed.

We were running out of logs so we got a few more from Lorraine's woodpile and put 10GBP extra into the envelope of what we owe her.

Alan came for lunch, and was surprise (and there were tears in his eyes) when we gave him his gifts, the card, book I made, the bottle of Ledaig and Vince gave him his multitool. We also got to go and have look at the new puppies (Pirrko (4 days old) and Cala (1 day old) who had 6 each). They were so cute - very special.

Vince and I just chilled out for the rest of the day. We had given pretty much everything in the cupboards and fridge to Alan, so we just had mixed cold meats, olives and cheese and crackers for tea. We still have some bread and Nutella for breakfast tomorrow.

We had started watching Les Miserables on DVD (since we had to cancel our tickets tot he live show in London's West End) last night and we finished it off this evening. We will leave it behind to add to the Willie McLeod's collection.

This some sadness this will be our last night on Skye.