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Heading to the island in the morning

For years I kept a regular blog back in the pre-social media days. I found it a good way of crystallising things and it also served as a good reminder of what I’ve been up to. So I’m going to try and resurrect my blogging habit. I’m going to use my ‘work’ site as it’s here ready to go and I will probably touch on subjects related to my current book projects anyway. Anyway, we will see what happens.

How we left the place in February.

The topic that is occupying my thoughts most at the moment is ‘the island’. Briefly, my great-granny is from a small island in the Shannon Estuary, her cottage is still in the family and I have taken on the responsibility of looking after it. It’s in reasonably condition considering it hasn’t been occupied permanently for almost a hundred years., but needs plenty of work.

I’m sure I will delve into the island’s history more at a later date, but basically it’s roughly half a square kilometre in size and very flat. It is still farmed but no one lives there.

After having to cancel twice earlier in the month due to stormy weather, I’m heading to the island tomorrow. The forecast is decent: dry with light winds. The island is roughly 5km from the pier via a winding course between the other islands so it isn’t wise to attempt to get there in strong winds, particularly as the tidal range is pretty big, making for some strong currents. Strong wind and currents are a nasty combination.  Another complicating factor is that the island isn’t accessible when the tide is low. I’m still getting a feel for it but it seems that it’s only possible to land for about 3/4 of tide cycle.

The current state of the roof. No doubt the tarp is long gone though.

The plan is to head over for two nights and do some work on the roof, which is partially collapsed in one of the house’s three rooms. It’s a matter propping up the good side with timbers, replacing the ridge board and then installing new rafters. On the last visit we brought over scaffolding which should make life a lot easier but it’s still going to be tricky. Particularly as I don’t really have a clue what I’m doing.