The weather has been very mixed this month but our residents on the Garrison don't seem to mind. Phil spent a long time trying to get a photo of the very unusual blackbird that is always around Morning Point as he hid as soon as the camera came out, but his unremarkable little friend was determined not to be left out of the picture! The ponies and the cattle were completely unfazed by the strong winds that were howling around us - we hightailed it back to town for a warming cup of tea.

As you can see, I need to improve my blogging technique - watch this space!!!

Happy New Year to you all. Phil and I wish you everything you wish yourselves for 2010.

As the country is gripped by freezing temperatures and treacherous ice and snow, you are probably wishing you were here! Although it felt freezing yesterday, it actually wasn't and today feels positively balmy. These little chaps were certainly feeling happy in their field! I hope the sight of their cheery faces puts a smile on yours.

Welcome to our new blog

Welcome to our blog! This is a new venture for us – just to show we are not entirely living in a techie black hole.

One thing that will never change – our enjoyment of running our guesthouse and our endeavour to help our visitors to enjoy our beautiful islands as much as we do ourselves.

Scilly is not looking quite as you saw it back in the summer (even such a summer as we had at times this year). We, like you, have had enough rain for the islands to float to America, but fortunately our granite rocks have kept us securely anchored to the sea bed and have once again withstood the gale force winds - so we’ll be here waiting for you next year.

The Christmas lights will be going up this weekend and will brighten up the gloomy nights that we have been having lately. For such a small community, there are a lot of festive functions to attend, and they are made more enjoyable by the fact that everyone knows everyone, so we will be making the most of the opportunities to meet up with friends and neighbours and celebrating to the full – and we will probably be very full most of the time!

Hope you all have a very special Christmas and a wonderful New Year, with a happy and healthy 2010 to follow.

No picnicking on Holgates Green this afternoon

No tripper boats going anywhere today!

The Rachabite slip was redundant - you could sail your boat onto the Strand

A few casualties on Town Beach

George has found a warm spot!