This is an intended-to-be-humourous piece I wrote more than 4 years ago but never published anywhere. For my Dad, who is also on a Scottish island right now.
October 3rd
Just arrived! Boy, it sure is windy up here. Had to walk across the island for a couple of miles to get to the research centre. Really refreshing, I love this ocean air! Met Carol, who's been here for a year already. Nice person, but she's obviously been overdoing it. I think it'll do her good to get back to civilisation, plus I'm quite looking forward to being by myself out here. She leaves in a couple of days, which will be enough time for me to learn the ropes. Really excited, I probably won't be able to sleep tonight!
October 4th
Couldn't sleep last night. Wind blowing constantly. Carol says the rattling crashing noise is due to a bit of the roof that came loose months ago. Also my bed appeared to be infested with some crawling things. Not to worry, I've rigged up a makeshift hammock and will give it a try tonight.
October 5th
Sore. Hammock collapsed last night. Carol leaves tomorrow. She suddenly seems a lot more cheerful. It rained today, so I couldn't get out. At least we had a radio to pass the time with.
October 6th
More rain. Carol left today. Took radio with her. Tired.
October 15th
Finally, a break in this weather! I've been outside and surveyed my domain, as it were. What a beautiful place this is! Sure, some might call it bleak, but I love it. Exposed rock everywhere. Also, I have new neighbours! Noticed a flock of sheep watching me today while I made my rounds. I'm sure we'll get to know each other in time. Also, as I write this, the wind is dying down. Finally! Looking forward to a proper night's sleep.
October 16th
Sheep made noise all night. When I went outside, sheep ran away. When I went back to bed, sheep came back. Threw shoe at sheep. Cannot find shoe. Tired.
October 23rd
Have begun to catalogue the rock pools around the island. Slightly disappointed to find there aren't many. There's a beach, of sorts, and it has a few, but apart from that, it seems to be slim pickings. Odd. Will look through Carol's notes later, once I've tidied up a bit.
October 24th
Carol's notes seem to consist mostly of doodles of a young fisherman who passed by the island every few weeks (some kind of fixation, I think) and notes about a pub on the mainland that she seems to have spent a worrying amount of time in. I'm quite surprised at that, since the only means of transport here (other than the boat that brings provisions every two months) is an old row boat. I can only assume she was quite a rower, as it looks miles to the mainland from here.
October 26th
Have begun taking rock pool measurements at different tide times and cataloguing specimens. Have set myself the challenge of doing this in a specific timed routine for the next week as an objective for myself. It will be hard, but I'm sure I will do it.
October 30th
Weather is awful. This is the first day I've been able to go outside without being immediately blown half way across the island and utterly drenched. Going to learn to row.