Sunday 8 November 2009

A bit of a Grizzle

I try not to moan about things - especially about things that are outwith our control, but today I am going to have a bit of a grizzle about our local electricity supplier - Scottish and Southern Electric, also incorporating Hydro-Electric.

We have been having a lot of refurbishment done on our light poles on the island - a great idea as it can be inconvenient when the lines fall down or break in the bad weather and we are without power. However, the SSE do think they have a divine right to go on our common grazings with diggers and an assortment of tracked vehicles - get stuck, dig themselves out, make large holes which fill with water, cut great swathes of devastation amongst our heather mooorland and, worst of all, knock down our gorgeous hand-built dry-stone dyke which has stood for generations dividing the moorland from the lighthouse precincts. Several years ago they took a digger through it and, under protest, piled the stones back up again in a very rough way. Now we see, they are at it again......





This used to be a track which could be followed through a small gate in the wall and onwards to the lighthouse......

Now, as you can see above, it looks like a pile of rubble. (Bramble the dog is standing beside the wall to show you that it is about five feet high).


And here, above, is the remains of our peat bank, where many generations of Fergusons laboriously dug their fuel for winter warmth. Next year we will be stocking it with fish and looking for a new peat bank!

Thank goodness the sheep are off grazings for the winter and aren't in danger of drowning in the ruts and new soft bits that have been created.
OK - rant over.
Today I've been stocking up the Etsy shop with lots more wool and also my new linen. Why not take a look and see......

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh that just isn't on. no service provider would be able to get away with that on the mainland. I hope you can get some kind of recompense for the destruction they've caused!

D
x

Nina said...

ohhhhhhhhhh dont talke to me about the hydro there a law unto them selfes.....

Scalpay Linen said...

Thanks for the sympathetic comments. Will keep the blog updated as to progress...

Anonymous said...

oh man, that's real destruction. can't you complain to the croft assoc or the highland council or something about their destroying heritage sites and environments? that's terrible.