Life in Thurso

We are here - actually living in Thurso, Scotland!  It's nice, but surreal (what movie is that a quote from?).  And there is so much to say - where do I begin?

Everything here is either green or stone. It's beautifully green - pastures and hedges and trees. And it is delightfully English/Scottish - with buildings and houses and bridges and streets and walls all made of brick and rocks. And skinny sidewalks.
  It was absolutely beautiful today at 55 degrees. The sun was shining and there was a small breeze. If it is like this all summer, it will be just grand.

This is our apartment - the one with the car in front. Our apartment is 3 floors. We enter on the 1st floor, where the laundry room and master bedroom and bathroom are. Up the skinny and windy stairs is the main living area with another bathroom.
Up the skinny and windy stairs some more is the 3rd floor with 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. One is a little bigger than the other, and I imagine it will become Daisy's room when she arrives. (Daisy is my long arm). However, the room will not be large enough for both her and a sewing table, so we will have to figure that out.

The apartment backs up to the Thurso River and we have a little sitting room with mostly windows that looks out over it. You can see the big window in the picture. In the wall you can see is a small gate through which we can go to get to the walking path that goes along the river, which we walked yesterday. Today we walked the opposite direction, towards the ocean. We are about a 10 minute walk from the beach!

I think our apartment is in an ideal location. It is just at the base of a bridge. We simply walk across the bridge and go up 2 short streets to High Street, where there are 3 butchers, 3 bakeries and multiple charity shops and general stores. Also the fish and chips shop, where we ate the first night here. And we are 5 minutes walk to 2 small grocery stores.

Our apartment is just to the right of the other end of the bridge, behind the trees.

I did some research before I left to find there was one quilt store here in Thurso. And you can imagine my excitement when I discovered it was just over the bridge and up one street!  So, I naturally scoped it out on the first day. You can also imagine my deep disappointment to learn it was not a quilt shop at all, but just a sewing shop, with sewing supplies and lots of yarn. However, the friendly ladies gave me the name of an avid quilter, who just happens to own the filling station across the street from where we live. I have been over twice to try to meet her, but have missed her both times. I hope she will be my link into the local quilting community.

I love listening to the locals talk. So far, my favorite word is 'wee,' as in "Would you like just a wee bit of tea?" We have been to the grocery store and that is special too. I will post on that another time.