I live on a small island called Westray, an outlying island of a group of islands called Orkney. I was in mainland Orkney yesterday, and was due to return to Westray this morning on the plane. Whilst the plane could take-off, it could not land at Westray due to 60mph cross-winds.
I was frustrated at not being able to get home, as I am due to be with my daughter this afternoon. I was still frustrated as I messaged my partner to say I wouldn't be home, but instead of expressing this frustration to her, I wrote: "I'm sorry!"
However, the plane was able to land at neighbouring island Papa Westray, the airstrip being perpendicular to the Westray one. From there I would be able to get the school boat across in the afternoon.
I was the only person on the plane. After we had landed, I congratulated the pilot. I asked him if he got nervous, he said that his heart-rate went up a little bit.
On arriving at Papay, I walked to the school there, and was welcomed by the head-teacher (my partner is the head-teacher of the school on Westray, so we had met before). She immediately invited me into the classroom to do some maths with a group of 4 children. It was a privilege to talk and work with them. They will be going to Westray next year for secondary school (there is no secondary school on Papay), and we talked about their hopes and fears, but mostly about maths.
After the lesson, the headteacher mentioned that the previous headteacher had been a maths teacher in England, and that there were some old maths books in a cupboard (and more in the loft!). She asked whether I could find anything useful in them. This is what I found:
Here are some of the pages within just one of these ('Leads'):
As I was scrabbling around in the cupboard, I was asked if I would like fish and chips for lunch. One of the children I was working with has just come into the office and asked me if I was staying for lunch, and that the cook is the current holder of the award for "best cook in Orkney"!
Opportunity arises where least expected.
