Photograph by Alistair Pryde of Words & Pictures,

Ask not for whom the hound roos; she roos for thee.
(From: "Send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." John Donne, 1624)

  "37 Milestone"
created in granite by Tim Pomeroy for us, to mark our 37th wedding anniversary
- the last time were were on Arran.

• we now have a solar array on the roof – pic to follow. We learned that it’s very wise to shop around in this market, though – for the same system we had quotes from nearly £12,000 to under £5,000 (emphasising – for the same system). It’s great to see (via an app, of course) the electricity coming down and into our home. Of course, we have had to change a few things, like washing clothes and dishes during the day when the sun is out to make the best use of the available energy, rather than in the evening when it’s dark and we have nothing being generated. We will be feeding-in soon, too, but that requires paperwork like you wouldn’t believe! We’ll let you know in due course how our electricity bill fares;
• the AirBnB took off in a way that we really hadn’t expected. No sooner had we launched the letting site, we got bookings! September was pretty much fully booked and as we write, October is filling fast and November is full! We really hadn’t expected that, but it’s great. We have hosted some really nice people who leave the place as they found it, and one who wasn’t and didn’t! Playing the percentages, though, we’re happy with that. It was never about the income and is more about the use of available resource – when Hannah left there was a flat there, empty, begging for use … so we have used it. Interestingly, we’ve had all sorts of people from those dropping their children off to become students at Durham, to people on holiday and ones attending family events. All great;
• we went to Shetland again, for a week at a place near Bardister at the top end of the mainland of Shetland. We had a wonderful time and that will be detailed in the “Travels with a Greyhound” blog in due course. There’s a bit that’s worth reporting about “smokers vs dog wee” and the mutual affront … bet we’ll let you read that on the blog;
• Hannah stated work, teaching, and is having a terrific time … even after the honeymoon period ended. She has also restarted her PhD studies with Sunderland after the Edinburgh Napier debacle and is REALLY enjoying proper supervision from committed supervisors – and good administration too. What a contrast!