Dear Lazy Duck,

Hello from Nethy Bridge, Scotland! Home to the Lazy Duck Hostel as well as the Woodman's Hut and Duck's Nest, my current Workaway assignment. Way back in the days of Norway I was in contact with David who owns the Lazy Duck along with his wife Valerie. We exchanged a few emails and eventually I had three wonderful people write reference letters for me. Huge thanks to Will, Emily, and Sandra. They all wrote letters on my behalf on fairly short notice. In fact I remember being in a tent somewhere in the Rondanes National Park, using some precious data on my phone, when I asked Emily for a bit of help. Without this kind of help I never would have made it to the interview process. The interview took place while Anna and I sat in the Oslo train station waiting on Cinthia's arrival. And I suppose I must have done fairly well because here I am, in Scotland. I attribute my interview success to being able to understand David as he does not have a thick accent. Sometimes English over here is a bit of a foreign language. For instance today I found myself wondering what exactly the "skip" was. It's the bin. Or the place you put garbage. Anyway, my point is that I've been planning on coming to Scotland for a while. But it wasn't always something I set out to do. Really I got a bit lucky and happened to see the Lazy Duck's listing on Workaway. All of my moving around and travelling had lead me to consider learning some about hospitality, and offering folks a nice place to stay. And well, that's what I get to do here.

One of my primary responsibilities is the hostel. The huts are for David, Valerie, and JC to look after. JC by the way is the manager. He lives on the property with his wife and two kids. Originally from Ecuador, where he managed a place in the cloud rainforest. He gave me a bulk of my original training around the place, but is now a bit of a ghost. Recently (six days ago) his second child was born so he has other duties he needs to see to. That's ok though, I'm learning how to sail this ship. But it's a special ship. It's not your normal hostel, it's a tiny hostel that only fits eight people. Outside you'll come to a covered garden and if you've arrived late there will be lights on to welcome you. In the garden you'll find a few chairs, a table, massive fireplace, and a bird feeder where the illusive Crested-Tit loves to visit. Directly inside is a well supplied kitchen, wood stove, and living space. Further in you'll find four bunks, the bathroom, and a ladder leading upstairs. The upstairs is really neat, a big loft with four more beds. So what do I do at the hostel? Mostly "service". Which just means when guests are out for the day I sneak in and do a bit of tidying. Making sure that when they return from whatever adventure they've decided to go on they'll come back to a clean living space. I also try to make it cosy, lighting a fire to keep it all warm. I feel a bit like an elf from Harry Potter. But most of the time I'm at "work" I feel like Hagrid.

The bulk of my duties are outside, roaming the six acre property taking care of all kinds of jobs. One of the big ones is refilling stocks of wood all over. There's the wood for the hostel and Duck's nest, wood for David and Valerie, and wood for the hot tub. Some may be a bit confused by that, wood for the hot tub? Well, yes. Here at the Lazy Duck we have a wood fired hot tub. And it really likes wood. Top of the to-do list when I return from my day off is to get wood to it. Much of what's stored there is being burned tonight. My last job today was to light the fire and make sure it was heating up. It takes around one hour for every ten degrees Celsius. To heat it fully usually takes about two wheelbarrows full of wood. It's a bit fuel and labour intensive, but it's a major attraction here. Especially with all the snow on the ground. And it's just special, a big wooden barrel with a smokestack. You don't see it everyday.

When not dealing with the hot tub or wood you might find me doing a bit of brush clearing. Maybe some shovelling if we've had snow (which we've had a lot of lately). Or I might be a bit domestic, taking care of the laundry (which we've also had a lot of). And then there's the menagerie. Our lovely critters that live all about. Right by the entrance you'll find a field containing six Soay Sheep, a rare feral breed native to an island in the English Channel, and a house with ten hens. Every morning and afternoon I make sure they are well fed and accounted for. Today I had a bit of excitement as when I was counting the hens I realized one was missing. Luckily, she was just roosting on the sheep's hay. Silly girl. Aside from the sheep and hens we of course have what gives the Lazy Duck its name, ducks. In the centre of the property there's a large duck pond which is home to a large assortment of ducks. From really large ducks, practically geese, to smaller mandarins. I think there are around six or seven varieties in total. In the afternoon we make sure to put them away safely in their pens and feed them. Every now and then a large heron also visit the pond, one day I got to see him eat a fish! And lastly there's Jango, the always eager to have a pet dog. Sometimes he's a bit distracting when we're planning the day, nudging his way under your hands, but I really like him.

Really though I can find myself doing all manner of things. Checking hostellers in, counting our money from a donation drive for the volunteer rescue squad, taking out the garbage. Most often I'm an extra pair of hands. David and Valerie aren't so agile now. They're sharp and know what needs doing but sometimes they just need an able body to get out and do it, which is where I've entered the picture. And it's not a picture that I mind being in. Really it's quite a nice picture, a picture I'd have framed and put up on a wall. Which means that I'm enjoying myself at the Lazy Duck. I'm glad to have found my way here to the highlands of Scotland.

Sincerely,
Zeb

P.S.
Topics I hope to cover in future posts are what I'll do on my days off, where I'm living, and what Nethy Bridge is like. Of course, more stories from the Lazy Duck too. This post took a while to get up because since I landed here it's been a bit of a whirlwind of learning. I've been keeping busy and in my free time I've been lazy. I also was awaiting the arrival of my netbook! Finally caved and decided to get a little laptop and stop writing these articles on my phone. It's also time to start looking into what I'll be doing when I return home, sometime early 2015.

P.P.S.
Huge congratulations to all of my friends that had their graduation today! Dear friends of mine like Will, Emily, and former cycling team mates finished up their degrees at Appalachian State. I tuned into watch from the cottage. It was great fun to watch it all happen, just wish I could have been there in person! Looking forward to being back home and saying congrats to everyone.