Woke to foul weather.

Had a coffee and a chat with the head of the primary school on Jura and arranged a time to do some drawing with the children.

Had a quick walk on Corran Sands on the way home but the weather was still wet and windy.

After lunch the sun came out and we had a fantastic afternoon. Spent a very happy hour on the beach snapping away.

At the far end of the beach I set the camera up on a rock, clicked the self-timer button, grabbed Toby and posed for a shot of dog and owner. It was the same rock that Joe used for a self-timer shot of the three of us back in November 2010.

News update on car in ditch: it’s gone! 

I bumped into the chap who’d ditched it. It was actually his brother’s car which he was borrowing during his stay on Jura. It cost him £100 to get somebody with the right sort of vehicle (who was working on the turbine project on the south of the island) to drive up and pull him out.

We wended our way past the abandoned croft 

                     and home to the cabin.

The sun was shining through the patio doors as I put the kettle on for a cuppa.

Another power cut - conveniently at lunchtime... again. The generator was whirring away at the hotel while I enjoyed a coke, a cheese sandwich and a chat with a chap who works in the distillery. The power came on ten minutes after Toby and I arrived back at the cabin.

It was wet and blustery today so we only had one walk. There was a rainbow over the 

gamekeeper’s croft. The sky looks very big in that direction.

The car in the ditch was still in the ditch. Odd because it doesn’t look like anybody’s had a go at pulling it out yet.

Work on the Chinese book is going well - I’m slightly ahead of schedule - woohoo!

Wet and windy - not the best Valentine’s day - especially as Janet is still down south.

The wind was blowing wickedly on the beach today.

We found a dead creature on the beach - swollen tongue, puffy eyes - hideous.

On closer inspection we discovered it was just another scallopshell/seaweed combo.

Car in the ditch update: it’s still in the ditch.

Back in the cabin now cooking pasta and watching Eggheads.

Started work early this morning but after a few hours we needed to get out in the fresh air. It was dry and bright for our morning walk. Our afternoon walk was even brighter. Toby spoilt my first snap of the day with some ‘in frame’ peeing.

More amazing skies over the bay. 

We were surprised to find a four wheel drive in the ditch on our walk back home. I rushed to see if the driver was ok but the car was empty. The owner was a bit further down the road chatting to a local chap. They went off in search of a tractor while I (sheepishly) snapped a photo for this blog.

A bright and dry day. Toby and I enjoyed an extra long walk this morning soaking up fantastic views across Small Isles Bay. It was very still on the beach today and the sunlight cast on the sea was amazing. Very calming!

We passed an abandoned croft on our way home. 

An interesting walk to the beach this afternoon. I met my neighbour from the next croft who is a gamekeeper/deerstalker on the island. I described the two birds of prey that I’d spotted and he confirmed that they were what I’d hoped they might be. He couldn’t say if they were sea eagles or golden eagles but he was sure they were eagles from my description of wing tips, body size and the fact that they were flying as a pair.

Toby’s got a buoyfriend. He met him on the beach.

Well, I say ‘friend’, he actually spent ten minutes trying to kill this yellow inflated blob which had broken free of its crab/lobster pot and washed up on Corran sands.

It is true, as I mentioned the other day, that deer visit the beach at night and eat seaweed but my identification of deer hoof-prints was totally wrong! Walking back from the far end of the beach this afternoon we came across a herd of cattle paddling in the sea. 

Come to think of it, the prints were quite large for a deer!

 The weather’s still dull but it’s dry and warm and great for dog walks.

We’re back in the cabin now and watching England play Italy in the Six Nations.

The wooden cabin I’m renting is part of the croft where my landlord lives. He’s just taken off for the isle of Arran for a week so I’m truly on my own now. He’d only been gone a couple of hours when we had a power cut. I checked the trip switch Iain had shown me but quickly realised that there was no power in his house either. 

It was midday so Toby and I set off for Craighouse to see if the Jura Hotel had power and maybe some lunch.

As we approached Craighouse it was all looking a bit dismal.

I thought the Hotel was closed but discovered that the power was off over the whole island. People were eating and drinking at the bar but everything was running off a generator so there wasn’t much light. I ordered lunch. “The last power cut was over the New Year and it lasted three days!” I was told.

Arrrgh! My work schedule would be scuppered. Pathetic! A couple of hours without electricity and I start panicking. Of course the mains power came on five minutes later and everything was fine.

Enjoyed some lunch and set off for the cabin. The weather was still pretty gloomy. But it’s not 

always like this. Here’s a picture of Craighouse I painted on a lovely sunny day a couple of years ago.

Back at work I finished a colour rough for the Horrible Science 2013 Annual and sent off the first batch of line artwork to China for our Low carbon book. The internet booster Iain fitted in the week is working well.

It’s curry night at the Jura Hotel on Friday evenings so we'll drive back this evening and celebrate a happy week of remote illustrating with a Chicken Tikka.