#26 - Tuesday 8th

sleeping

flotta oil terminal

Surreal day today. We visited a new island, "Flotta". About a third of the island is taken up with the Oil Terminal (Talisman Oil) so we headed out for the bus  (which broke down) made it to the ferry terminal and spotted "Flotta Lass"... unfortunately it was to be delayed an hour to wait for workers coming from a delayed flight. A few minutes later they decided to just take us, we were walking along the beach so to let us know they tooted the fog horn. So we hopped on a huge 3.5 million pound catermoran (sorry for the terrible spelling) boat, just ourselves and a policewoman. So, so cool, the boat was so smooth and so, so fast - we flew to flotta. Beautiful day and views over hilly Hoy. Arriving at the oil terminal we needed security checks and things... and onto the tour! It was interesting seeing the new medical centre and asking some questions... like it's not a legal requirement to have a medical to work on the terminal....unfortunately I didn't like our tour guide, stereotypical oil terminal manager tour guide, large, sunburned Scottish man - very opinionated and lots of our discussions involved the unfair politics and government/council rules regarding the oil... "two sets of liars" blahblah... little car tour of the site - huge, huge tanks, it really is a mammoth operation, very interesting... but the nice rhythmic feeling of the car driving along, sun on my face and I was battling with my eyelids. Feeling guilty I looked over and noticed Rosie was asleep....gently woke her up! Lunchtime - big canteen, lots of choice, hot, cold, hot pudding, plenty of cold pudding choices with an ice cream machine too. Let me just say, no wonder you put on two stone over each two years you're away on an oil rig. I decided the trip was interesting - Flotta have lots of wild rabbits, brought home with soldiers of WW1 - something like that... they were adorable... but yes anyway oil terminal interesting.... got frustrated about the conspiracy discussions and cynicism. Standard ferry home (first ever ferry ride inside and without windows) - saw a baby calf put into a car boot.... Back onto land and lets just say we rode home in style! Spending the afternoon in a sleepy haze, we finally went into the cathedral - very beautiful. It had huge paintings hanging along the aisle, quite scary but stunning. Visited the museum for a whirlwind look and bought some more wool. Went into a general shop on the way home, amazing - the shop had absolutely everything you could wish for. And I was particularly impressed with a re-fill station for the Ecover cleaning brand - very eco-friendly. Finally home, finished my crochet hat!! - I'll upload a picture soon Gran and made some pasta for tea. Realized I had managed to lock my towel in what was a spare room in the flat... so silly... will try and sort that tomorrow.  Rebecca and I thought we'd catch the action of the World Cup Semi-Final by making it down for the second half... how wrong!

flying along on Flotta Lass