I've been on holiday!

Hellooooo peeps!

Well, I've been quiet for a while haven't I?

The main reason for this is that I went on holiday with SuperCathyFragileMystic and it was fabulous fun! However, there was very little phone reception, which meant my Twitter feed and blog were involuntarily silenced!!

For our week's break, we went right up to the north of Scotland to a little place called Brora and stayed on her godmother's farm. It's the fourth time we've done this trip, and every time we think it couldn't possibly get any better, but it does!

This time around, we packed for every eventuality – mainly because when we went in July one year it was freezing and I had a floaty dress and a kaftan to keep me warm – and stuffed as many jumpers as possible into our cases. SCFM also packed her cow coat, which is erm basically a cow, and lots of woolly socks and guess what? It was warm!!!!!!

OK, so it wasn’t the balmy temps you English folk had, but it was 'I can go outside without worrying my toes are going to drop off!'

So, some more about the trip...

Well, The Two Js are the most marvellous hosts! As well as running a B&B and farm, they also kept us very well fed – all sorts of things came flying out of the freezer for us to eat at one of the many communal lunches around the farmhouse kitchen table.

They also took us for a drive, up past Loch Brora and over the hills, pointing out cottages left, right and centre where someone or other had died, or filling us in on who was who and who did what...

On the Thursday, SCFM and I took a jaunt to Dunrobin Castle, which is just up the road, where we were treated to a falconry display. An eagle owl called Cedar being the star of the show – he had the grace of Errol, Ron’s owl from Harry Potter but was utterly gorgeous. Inside the castle, we were constantly stunned by the amazing decor and pictures of royals adorning the walls... it would seem the Sutherlands are very well connected!

On the flight home, both SCFM and I were somewhat subdued. We've both become incredibly attached to the place and the wonderful people there. We love it and them lots. Indeed, just the sight of a tweed shop makes me nostalgic, and not having a roast every day and an endless supply of custard creams, tea and wonderfully entertaining chats at my leisure is something of a shock to the system.

However, as SCFM pointed out, we will always have Brora, and each time we go it's like we've never been away. Something that makes us incredibly lucky I think...

And now this week, I'm in the middle of the biggest change in my working life in 8 years.

I've started a new job. It's great so far, although it's strange having to start again in terms of being the only deaf person in the office where no one deaf has ever worked before. However this time around, I feel better prepared, better able to explain my needs, more confident in my abilities as a person, deaf or not. And on that note, I had best get going.

More on that tomorrow...