A while back I posted about a book I had borrowed from the library. The book was Hebrides by Peter May you can find the post here.
This is a photograph from the book. The reason I show the photograph is that it rekindled so many happy childhood memories.
My dad was born at Boultach on a croft in the highlands of Scotland in the county of Caithness. When we visited, the croft was farmed by my dad’s brother, my Uncle Donnie. In the school holidays my brother and sisters and I used to go to Caithness to spend time with our cousins. My dad’s other brother, my Uncle Johnie, had a croft at Burrigle, Forse. We had such a wonderful time with our cousins who just happened to be about the same ages as we were.
My family lived in Fife in a village and the experiences we had when we were on holiday were exactly that – so different to our life at home. We had a whale of a time and this photo brought back those memories.
When we first went to Boultach there was no electricity or piped water. We enjoyed the novelty of getting water from the well and reading by the tilley lamps. The freedom we had to play where we wanted and the wonderful baking that our aunts produced was something else again.
To get to the photo . . . . This is a van that is used in Shetland to take foodstuffs to the outlying cottages which is exactly what used to happen at Boultach and Burrigle. Our uncles used to give us spending money and as kids we would eagerly mount the steps of the van to spend the money on sweeties.
I have posted before about cousins and memories and you can find it on the link. I have also posted previously about the van deliveries.
Amazing how one photo generates so many memories.
Gippsland Granny 