Alberto's Hutte

31st July 2020 (Friday)       07.30 .... the bucket cairt blokes are on the ball this morning.... the ‘broon’ bucket was emptied at 07.23.     George’s ‘bloo’ bucket is out .... they, the blue buckets, will be done later in the afternoon.     It must be stressful being the refuse lorry driver when the streets are so busy;    I suppose that’s why they start early and try to get the worst bits done before the traffic starts moving.     It’s a bonnie morning so the streets will be busy with day trippers making for the beach. 18.30     My only sortie ‘out’ today was to the beach and that was before a latish breakfast.....   and the beach was fairly busy at that time.      I imagine it would have been really busy in the afternoon .... the streets have been non-stop with cars most of the day, presumably a lot of them would be making for the beach.    There couldn’t have been many parking spots left in the villages.     I spent the day pottering around Ivy and sitting in the Hutte with nu

30th July 2020 (Thursday)     08.00 .... It’s a quiet morning;  overcast, with hardly any wind, a good morning for going to the hairdresser.   I haven’t been out anywhere because I  wanted to finish the book I was reading (and it's starting to rain):  it was nearing, what turned out to be an unexpected and exciting ending.   Now I need to find another book for bedtime reading.       19.00     It hasn’t been the maist inspiring weather today;    but I have a contingency plan in operation for any poor weather:   Tunnock’s Tea Cakes.... and Soo’s Lugs.    I bought two Soo’s Lugs in Leven to celebrate having my hair cut. Leven was reasonably busy with shoppers.    I went to B n Q’s, couldn’t find what I wanted, asked the lassie at the checkout where it was and had to go out then back in because they have a one way system in operation.     It works well and I had no problem going round the shop.... everyone was wearing a face covering, and I eventually got what I wanted.      In fac

29th July 2020 (Wednesday)      09.30 .... It’s such a beautiful morning that I came home by way of Balbuthie and Kinneuchar:   which was a bit of luck as I met and stopped to chat to Davie Budd.... one time Decorator with Stevenson and Horsburgh.... now self employed, and helping to keep the East Neuk looking pristine.     We went into reminiscing mode .... my word we had some hilarious time on the building sites.     And some rough ones too.   18.30    The weather has been nice and I have been busy so we have a contented ‘boy’ inn Ivy Cottage tonight.     By the time I’d finished ‘playing with my morning batch of photographs it was coffee break time.... and I felt that I deserved it.    After the coffee break I decided to finish the wee sign.    Sign writing  second nature to me at one time.... now it’s not quite so easy.   The brain knows what it wants the hand to do but the hand isn’t as flexible as it once was.   However ‘we’ got there.... and I am pleasantly surprised at how it h

28th July 2020 (Tuesday)   09.00 ....I’ve been ‘roond the villages’....all was quiet, The Grange - Earlsferry. on what is a bonnie fresh morning.    Having remembered to stop and get a paper, so I have all the necessary ingredients for breakfast;  cuppa, Weetabix and ‘The Scotsman’.   I might go up towards Kinneuchar after lunch if it isn’t too windy. 17.00     I didn’t go out on the bike in the afternoon.     Why? .... because I decided to stop contemplating doing the sign and actually did a bit of sign writing.    It wasn’t easy because my right hand is bothered with arthritis so I can’t get into a rhythm:   That said, I am surprised at how it looks.    It should be finished tomorrow. On Thursday I am going to Leven to get my haircut;   my word I am looking forward to that.     I might do a bit of shopping in B n Q’s when in Leven;    but I won’t be going for coffee or anything. The High Street from the west end. 21.30    It has been a highly satisfactory day for ‘The Boy’;  I do

March Stane. 27th July 2020 (Monday)       07.30 .... ‘precipitation is expected’ is the forecast for KY9 ...and we have it;     but my word it’s a bonnie day for hay fever sufferers;     with hardly any pollen and dust in the air.   There is one major side effect of course..... it’s wet and   not a day for going out;   with or without a camera.     Oh well I have a sign to write and work to do on the computer..... and;    there’s   also a Tesco delivery to look forward to.     Yep ... busy day ahead.... and the sun might break through later.     Orf to have breakfast. The photo of the ‘March Stane’ is in the answer to a request made by ‘Unknown’ on the 23rd June.   (From that date you will have sussed out that I am dilatory when it comes to checking ‘Comments’).    To find the ‘March Stane’ you continue on the line of the Ferry Wynd (that’s the bottom bit of Ferry Road – now also known as ‘Ferry Road') down to and beyond the beach to the rocks where it can be easily found....usual

26th July 2020 (Sunday)      06.30 .... The ‘plan’   is to master using this camera "Breadwinner II" in Woodhaven Bay (Elie). on Manual by the end of ‘today’;   I want to take proper ‘macro’ photos with it and that is done with manual focusing.     I found a video on YouTube that shows how it’s done but there’s no sound on it.    Oh ... it’s a nice fresh morning with the slight chance of an early morning shower which is a bit of a nuisance as I have a washing in the machine.... in spite of the fact there was some red in the sky at sunrise. 10.00    My word .... what a crackin’ mornin’.   I’ve done the ‘paper run’ and took 115 photos on the way round.   It’s that kind of morning.    The streets were quiet as the beach but it was early (06.10)....;  the only folk  I met were Cath and John in the ‘paper shop’ and Neil out with the dogs, litter picking his way round the villages.   It was busier by the time I got back to Ivy an hour and  a half later.   I’m a happy boy. 19.30   

25th July 2020 (Saturday)      09.00.....It’s a lovely morning, there isn’t a speck of Beautiful Morning .... in between the showers. pollen in the air;   hay fever sufferers can breathe without wheezing, nae watery eyes, coughing  and runny nose:   That said I’d rather suffer a bit of discomfort and have the sunshine .... now and again.   Being as it was dull and wet I decided to go to ‘The Store’ (Anstruther) to get a few messages, and to give the car a run.     By the time I got back home it was raining heavily .... not holiday weather though it is going to clear up later and I should get the bike out;   if the roads aren’t to busy.   11.30    We have a bonnie day here ...in between the showers... and I ventured down to the beach:  the sky is always interesting inn the weather conditions we have today.   I wasn’t disappointed .... so I’ll go up to Chapel Green.... once the sunny spells between the showers are longer.   The beach was busy as it always is at weekends;  though the s

24th July 2020 (Friday)      09.00 .... I feel in a excitable mood this Elie. morning;   I think   I’ll go to Chapel Green later today, set the camera up on the tripod and look for some action on the water.    I need some of the big yachts to go out.    Of course that ‘plan’ could change;   when I’m ‘excitable’ I never really know what I will be doing.... I just go where the mood takes me.  The mood is taking me towards the kitchen right now. 12.30   Would you believe it.... I am ‘working’.    the wee sign that painted a week ago will be well hard enough to ‘write’ so I am working on that.   It’s a beautiful day but the streets are busy so I’ll leave biking until evening time.... and I’m enjoying doing something different.   19.00     The sign has been drawn out on paper ready to transfer onto the board:  normally I’d do it without tracing but the wood is straight off the saw, and I don’t have a sander, so the saw marks are still there..... smooth but still noticeable.  The fi

23rd July 2020 (Thursday)        08.00 .... The plan is to go out on the bike in This reminds me that I need a haircut! the afternoon;   right now it’s   a warm, wet and misty morning;    a good morning for reading a book.    The book I’m reading just now is about India in the middle of the 19th century... the days of the ‘Raj’.... when Britain ruled   South Asia.     It’s a fascinating book. 21.00     I’ve had a busy day.     After the drizzle/rain stopped I went to the beach;   and a lot of other folks did the same.    I like to see the beach with people doing ‘beach things’ .... enjoying themselves each in their own way.     I met Billy (Donaldson) .... he was sitting on the Cockstail rocks because the seats at the Breakwater, where he would normally sit, were all occupied. This morning. I couldn’t go out in the afternoon because I was waiting for a delivery (shoes).    The van arrived (about 14.00 I think it was) so I got a coat of polish on them and   thought I m

22nd July 2020 (Wednesday)     08.00 .... It’s a nice morning for doing Water from the Lathallan mine workings. housework and stuff on the computer..... which is more or less what I had planned for today.    One of the jobs needing to be done, and one that I will   enjoy doing, is sorting out the photos I took on Balcarres Estate yesterday.    Orf to have breakfast. 16.00    The beach was fairly busy when I went down at about 13.00;  the light rain had relented for a wee while and it didn’t take long for folk to get out and enjoy the fresh air.   There was a few light spits and spots in the breeze but nothing much.  The sky is beginning to clear now which makes me think I might  get out on the bike in the evening.   I’ve had a lazy day so far though I did some work on the computer. Short break in the afternoon. 19.00    I’m glad that I went out when I did.... the rain, though not particularly heavy, is back and we have a dreich evening;  hopefully it might yet clear u

21st July 2020 (Tuesday)      07.30 .... Yesssss .... I should get to Balcarres Wild poppies (not in Ivy garden). today;     it’s a ‘bright and breezy’ morning and perfect for pottering about.      I have an early appointment with Laurie (Nurse) then a morning coffee on the way home before taking the road to Colinsburgh. Last night I   felt ‘adventuresome’ ordered a pair of shoes online;   a mix of local and online shopping is going to be the way now.     Clark’s main outlet and HQ is at Street (Somerset) near Glastonbury is a ‘magic’ sort of place ..... and the shoes are £5 cheaper than when I bought them the last time.    I remember getting separated from Janice in Street .... yep ... those were the ‘good old days’.     Must go...   ‘slight flap on’ ... I’d better have breakfast before getting myself organised.   Routine blood tests  taking place after a few months lapse is a sign that things are getting back to 'normal'. Lathallan Meal Mill. 15.30     I set of

20th July 2020 (Monday)     09.30 .... It’s bonnie morning and there’s loads Beautiful morrrrrrrrrrrrning ....  of people out enjoying it.... and available for conversations.    I’ve never had it so good:    and I bought two papers this morning.    The Courier has a piece about ‘wild campers’ at Scottish beauty spots , including locally at Woodhaven Car Park and on the East links, Elie.     Right enough there are a few camper vans and tents at Woodhaven, (I got a friendly wave from one van as I passed by);   I guess they are just people enjoying a holiday at a bonnie place after a few stressful months.     As long as they tidy up when they move on (as I’m sure most of them will) they shouldn’t really be a problem.    The problem is at the weekends when overcrowding will and does occur.... and of course the few who treat all beauty spots as ‘rave sites’ and leave rubbish all over the place.   I am in a happy and romantic  mood this morning;   I met Primrose at Chapel Green walki

Chapel Green. 19th July 2020 (Sunday)     09.30 .... We have a cloudless sky with a cool breeze from the Northwest.    I’ve been for the paper and have done my normal circuit of the villages.... (remembering to stop at the ‘paper shop):   I was pleasantly surprised to see so many folk out enjoying the early morning air.    There’s a brisk wind a-blowin’ and it’s cauld on the lugs....invigorating would be the best way to describe the early morning air.    It will warm up by mid morning though the wind is going to be with us most of the day.    I’ve had breakfast.... now I need another cuppa to set me up for the day.   Main Street, Kinneuchar. 22.00     I washed a couple of jerseys today thinking they would dry in ‘nae time’;   unfortunately we caught the edge of a couple of showers and I had to bring them into the Hutte (wherein I was ensconced) .... both times before the showers hit us so they are near enough dry now. In the early late afternoon/ early evening I ventu

18th July 2020 (Saturday)     08.00 .... I don’t think I have seen Elie with so He's going back home today and will miss the beach. many cars on the streets as there is this morning;   Earlsferry has its usual compliment of cars that are here more or less all summer, but Elie seems   busier.    It is the holiday season right enough and this might be a ‘change over’ weekend. I’m hoping that sun eventually breaks through the clouds to give us a more realistic summer temperature than the 14C it is at present.    I’ve been for the paper, down to the harbour, and stopped at the Breakwater but everywhere I’ve stopped has been col .... not very warm;   so I came back to Ivy and will go up to Chapel Green later in the morning... once the thermometer has rocketed up to 18C in the blazing sunshine.      Orf to have breakfast .... and a warming cuppa. Cactus flower. 10.00    I’m in working mode this morning;  having washed the bathroom, kitchen and lobby floors.... now I need t