the trip home, part the fourth: visiting Ruantallan

Luggage-less, Robert and I borrowed some clothes and finery from the household, and everyone bar Sarra (who still had sermon to write) tramped off to the event. Sarra lent me one of the 12th c. gowns I've admired often over the years, a fine red patterned bliaut with plain red lined sleeves, and a beaded silk veil - very elegant. Robert looked very fine in a long tunic and hood - I've always liked a gent in long skirts.

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trip home part the third: the Halifax chapter

...somewhat delayed report, since I took most of the holiday off from the computer.

The mid-Dec heavy weather followed us from Ottawa to Halifax. Originally due for a 2pm flight, we arrived to find it was delayed to 4pm...then 6pm....then cancelled. We spent the afternoon sitting in the pub drinking wildly overpriced beer, reading, nalbinding, and watching the wind whip the snow around. It was a very Canadian scene.

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stupid boiler

Apparently the fan is busted.
But this being England, there's no hope of getting it fixed today.
Nooo, course not.
Engineer has to go away, find the part, come back the next day.
Thankfully we have a friend who can house-sit for the day, saving either Robert or me the task of staying home waiting on an engineer, every householder's favourite pastime.
The only consolation is that it's not something we could have fixed ourselves; it was beyond our small reservoir of Knowledge About How Things Work, and did require a specialist.
Nothing feels stupider than watching someone flick a switch you should have tried, to instantly restart a car/boiler/stove/power tool, and then charging you for the privilege.
The only way it could improve would be to be busted beyond repair, at which time we could get a more power-efficient replacement...