Fearnan’s NHS Tributes

Fearnan’s tributes to the NHS have been many and varied over the last few weeks, highlighting the creative skills and talents of the community.

A few are gathered together here.

As well as Doug’s sand sculpture on the left, there have been musical tributes from Robert, seen below at the Lochside, during the Clap for Carers.

Cath sewed a banner and we also have rainbows, including a fine and rare example of pedi-art, ingeniously created by baby Drummond (with a little sisterly help) as part of a home school art lesson! Both Enya and Drummond’s pictures are on display in the window at the Kenmore Post Office.

Talking of the NHS, we’ve heard from Tim and Dan who have been working hard in their respective medical fields in Edinburgh over the lockdown period.

Tim tells us:

“I have been doing my best to keep my service (mental health) running despite the restrictions, which has been quite a challenge as we don’t have a lot of the IT that you see elsewhere, so people can’t find us through sites like “NHS Near Me”.

Dan and his team completely re-jigged their service to set up and run COVID-19 testing for NHS staff in Edinburgh at Chalmers Hospital, and he had a brief appearance on national TV about it! He remains involved in some of the planning around testing and has been out to nursing homes and prisons testing, too.

We had to forgo our planned trip to Greece, of course, which meant the garden here had more attention than it has had in years, including re-roofing and extending our shed (see left in progress).

The lack of shops and recycling centres has resulted in some very creative re-purposing, as well as growing things from seed, including more veg than we’ve done for some time.  

I’ve also been hatching some eggs, so we have 2 Isabella Brahma chicks growing on and some Silver Campines on the way.

We have been missing Fearnan terribly and can’t wait until we are allowed back. We have kept in touch through Julia and the FVA website. Feldy-roo has been so impressive and inspiring.”

Look forward to better days again, preferably in Fearnan.“

Lockdown Easing

Four other exiled Fearnan folk who can’t wait to get back took the chance to meet up when the lockdown restrictions eased.  Peter and Sheila crossed Edinburgh to visit Neil and Fiona, and pass a pleasant summery afternoon in the garden.  Peter has just celebrated a milestone birthday.

Social distancing requirements meant that 2 separate photos were needed to record the event – no cramming together for a selfie.

Pick of the Litter

“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing behind” may be a good environmentally friendly and sustainable message, but it is not always heeded.

Linda and Alistair noticed the accumulation of quite a lot of ‘nothings’ that had been left behind by passing road users who seem to be determined to leave their mark on the countryside.

Armed with litter pickers supplied by Highland Safaris, they have been collecting the rubbish left behind on verges around the village.

A quick survey revealed that Red Bull seems to be the drink of choice for littering along the loch road.

They plan to do the same on the Glen Lyon road – interesting to see if it yields a preference for a different beverage.

In between the litter picking, Linda and Alistair have managed to finish the Mazzle jigsaw of a section of an ordnance survey map mentioned in a previous Blog.  We understand that the Mazzle started off as a cooperative project then the closer it came to completion, the more competitive it became. We’ll leave you to guess who actually put that last little piece in to complete the picture.  They are staying silent on the matter in the same way that Hilary and Tenzing never revealed who reached to top of Everest first. 

Puzzle Number 2 – a custom-made OS map of Fearnan and the surrounding area with their house at the centre – has also been completed.

Book Club

The Book Club had another virtual review of last month’s read, and Linda compiled the following:

Our book choice for May was a psychological thriller, Sleep by C.L Taylor. It could be described as a modern Agatha Christie, full of suspense, action and intrigue and it received mainly favourable reviews from the group. 

A few thought the first few chapters were less enjoyable and rather slow moving until the real action started when a group of guests arrived on the remote Scottish island of Rum for a walking holiday.

, following a death, the story really took off and became an atmospheric, psychological thriller full of well drawn suspects and red herrings aplenty. The many plot twists and turns and ploys to throw people of the scent, encouraged us to read on to establish who the murderer was.

Most of the guests had a motive and hidden secrets, they were a diverse group who didn’t gel and one of them was a killer! The author used many popular murder mystery devices including the claustrophobic and atmospheric setting of a remote hotel, a storm and flood making escape from the island impossible and flawed characters. It was considered far-fetched by some.  How many bad experiences can one person have in the case of Anna, the main character? She had come to the island for a fresh start to escape her traumatic past. We felt sympathetic towards her for feeling responsible in various situations throughout the book.

Most found the ending satisfactory but found it hard to guess who the killer was. In summary, a story of tragedy, remorse, guilt and revenge not to be read at night if you want to sleep easily!

The choice for June is The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.

Described as : Sharp, clever and utterly original, The Silent Patient explores the complexities of trauma and the human psyche in twisty, brilliantly paced prose. Spellbinding and disturbing in equal measure, Michaelides’s debut heralds the arrival of an exceptional fresh talent, offering psychological suspense at its finest.

We will review this on the 10th June.

Other recommended reads include:

A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell.

The House Between Tides by Sarah Maine

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Waterstones non fiction book of the month is Rewild Yourself by Simon Barnes which introduces 23 mesmerising ways to find a deeper connection with the natural world, which many people seem to be considering at this time.

And finally, we have a picture of an amazing crochet rainbow, complete with clouds and spotted by Peter.