Short-Term Let Controls; Areas For and Against
I've copied this over from a toot and converted it into a blog as Highland Council keep adding to it.
I've copied this over from a toot and converted it into a blog as Highland Council keep adding to it.
Keeping my old house free of mould or at least reducing it as much as possible.
We use a broad range of products to try and reduce the mould that infiltrates the house here. Perhaps it may be of help to folk who are searching for solutions.
The most expensive item we use is by far the dehumidifier, this is the one that we bought a few years ago when the landlord wanted return of their one. It's done a super job in getting rid of the largest portion of humidity we deal with. Regularly removes about 2 litres per day of use. I'm beginning to think it's running out of juice and/or we need a larger one to deal with the house instead of rooms.
The next device we have is an air purifier, this small one from Meaco, again, it does a grand job. It usually lives in the children's room to keep them healthier or in the living room to keep the ash/dust from the fire minimal.
Recently we bought a window vacuum to remove the volume of water that clings to the colder windows of the house, to save it from evaporating into the rooms. So far, it's doing a good job.
We used to clean with a squeegee and a towel which was a bother as the towel often was saturated before we were finished.
As part of a government scheme we had some mechanical extraction installed in the house, so in 3 rooms (kitchen, bathroom and “utility”) there is humidity controlled fans that boost when humidity reaches a certain level. This did have a positive effect really quickly, windows were noticeably less misty on cold mornings.
We have used a small variety of chemical help too. It was originally bleach from, I think dettol. The stench from the bleach was pretty rough, so we took another look and found a pair of products that reduces the need for bleach spray. Mould shield and Mould killer. In the few months I've tried the shield the usual small spots of mould that appear after a cold/wet week haven't re-appeared. The other benefit of the shield is that it can be painted over when dry! So we have doubled up where possible and have painted over the Mould Shield with paint from Rustoleum that is mould resistant. There's a reasonable array of colours and it covers the wall well.
The passive activities we do is to open the windows when possible, usually when warmer and certainly for 15 minutes in the morning (often longer but not all day).
IF you know of another method or tool that would be useful, feel free to get in touch =)
#Mould #Mold #Mildew #HomeImprovements
Best followed by your favoured RSS reader: https://blog.eunach.scot/feed/ Following via @cuiseag@blog.eunach.scot on the fediverse may or may not work. Fedi main: @mactunag@gts.eunach.scot
Started my #FediLibrary book reading with 2 books from the local library.
Drystone, A life rebuilt by @kristiedegaris@mastodon.scot and Ashes and Stones by @AllysonShaw@wandering.shop
Looking forward to finishing them soon and, hopefully, reading some more books from Fediverse 🤓
My Bookwyrm book list which folk can recommend books too if they so wish =) hopefully the embed below works!
📖
Best followed by your favoured RSS reader: https://blog.eunach.scot/feed/ Following via @cuiseag@blog.eunach.scot on the fediverse may or may not work. Fedi main: @mactunag@gts.eunach.scot
Reading this article that suggests that blaming depopulation on housing is lazy.
My addition to the conversation here:
Granted I'm not in Lochinver BUT the nearest hospital is still around 80 miles away. I moved into one of these communities and brought with me a family; 1 child in nursery, 1 in primary and, until recently, 1 in secondary school. My primary job is seasonal and my partner's primary job is not quite full-time.
I hear, regularly, of jobs available but no housing available. An example; a tiny swimming pool nearby has been needing lifeguards for months; positions are available. There was someone who could take the job, they weren't able to because of no housing.
This goes for school teachers too.
We have fewer services because our housing stock is being depleted for short-term lets. Skye has 10% of the housing removed for short-term letting or as this opinion piece writes that there were 25 right-move rents available in the Highland Council region, whilst there were 4,000 short-term lets available.
Whilst also fighting increasing house prices on wages that are stagnating, via jobs that don't pay well. How is one to compete with folk who can buy sight-unseen? Who have much higher wages and can attain loans to buy what becomes a commercial property?
It's a cycle that starts with houses being bought-out by people who want a return on a financial investment and give no hoots about community.
No housing, no people; no people, no jobs can be filled; no jobs, services disappear.
I also believe that centralisation is a massive problem. Too much of our society is being cut and moved to larger population centers where we receive lesser care because the centralised services are already under-funded and under-workered.
This is an active clearance for commercial gain, in my long-held opinion. Who benefits? Folk who live outwith the communities and those, within, who don't see the problem because their pockets are getting lined.
Perhaps it is lazy. I also believe the people who can change this, and know the solutions, refuse to utilise the solutions because they too are rentiers.
Best followed by your favoured RSS reader: https://blog.eunach.scot/feed/ Following via @cuiseag@blog.eunach.scot on the fediverse may or may not work. Fedi main: @mactunag@gts.eunach.scot
'cos the UK Gov is quite shite, I'm downloading Wikipedia and keeping them alive via torrent/magnet files.
You can download a copy too using the Kiwix program.
There are plenty other things you can download from their library too, like iFixit. To do so you need to search in the library and click 'download' and have a torrent program, like qbittorrent installed and running to keep sharing it.
I have the following downloaded: * Wikipedia via Kiwix, English wikipedia in full from Jan 2024 * Uicipeid, Gàidhlig Wikipedia from July 2025 * Am Faclair Saor, Gàidhlig Wiktionary from Aug 2025 * Wiki Top 1Million, Wiki Top 1 million pages from Aug 2025. * Wiki for Schools, Wiki for schoolds from Aug 2024. * Vicipéid, Irish Wikipedia from July 2025 * Wikipedia via itself, English wiki from Aug 2025
Best followed by your favoured RSS reader: https://blog.eunach.scot/feed/ Following via @cuiseag@blog.eunach.scot on the fediverse may or may not work. Fedi main: @mactunag@gts.eunach.scot
The Overherd Start-Set finally arrived the other day. Comes in a nice bottle and the packaging is re-sealable plastic pouch (which can be recycled; ?? 4 LDPE).
The household is in a period of massive flux currently. Lots of change in multiple places
Self fulfilling cycle of lies told to Americans by Scots and the anger that comes of it
This is something I've come across at both work and in online circles. I've mainly seen it from Scots and aimed at USians, specifically those who claims Scottish heritage.
The cycle goes like this:
I've likely butchered aspects of this pathway but the bones of it is there. At my palce of work USians are held in contempt and viewed as cash-cows. Apparently USians all claim to be descended from some Scottish king or claim some other actually harmless thing that doesn't affect anyone. The Scot at work assumes that “Hey I'm Scotch” (this tends to be the form the Scots project, not actually used by USians) means that they are ethnically Scottish, not that they are of Scottish descent, heritage or diaspora. It somehow means they are apropriating the heritage and culture of Scotland despite never being in Scotland, except they may have and currently are. Without even thinking deeper on it they hatch this gotcha to catch the USian unaware. This gotcha is to blatantly lie about some aspect of culture or heritage to them. We don't really have colour TV, we only wear kilts on Thursdays, or some such shite, as an example.
What my colleagues and I think a lot of people online are unaware of is this cycle they're creating. They're manufacturing their own future outrage. Why? Because they're from the United States of America.
I'm using bigotry because it is clear to me that it's a thin veil surrounding an accepted racism. When called on it, the bigotry doesn't really withstand any scrutiny at all.
As a whole it irks me on multiple levels. There's the outright racism, which is disgusting to begin with. The other aspect is that USians that visit, in my experience and knowledge, are the more engaged visitors. They really want to know the truth, even if it hurts their oral-history. They are keen to try just about anything.
As a result scumbag tour-guides and tour groups prey on them. Take their money, feed them lies and send them home packaged in Royal Stewart.
To this point, I've heard a tour-guide state that the reason that Jacobites lost the Battle of Culloden was the lack of archers on the Jacobite side.
An aspect forgotten or maybe not even begun to be understood is that a lot of Scottish history, in Scots world, is on-going and for those who stayed in Scotland, it never got on to the boat.
In North America, Scottish history was frozen at the point they got on the boat and kept refreshed or amended or even fabricated from when they got off the boat. The USian who says “I'm Scottish” is getting across their Scottish heritage, many a Scot chooses to lose that in translation.
Anyway, I think we Scots should drop the bullshit and be the truth speakers were purport ourselves to be and how we are seen. Us telling lies to other about our own history and culture does a dis-service to everyone, especially the speaker of the lies.
Best followed by your favoured RSS reader: https://blog.eunach.scot/feed/ Following via @cuiseag@blog.eunach.scot on the fediverse may or may not work. Fedi main: @mactunag@gts.eunach.scot
This was a question I received today, the day of writing, and it sparked a question in my head. What is it to be a local? How does one define it?
Britannica defines it as
a person who lives in a particular area, city, or town : a local person — usually plural
or
located or living nearby
These two I think give interesting perspectives on what it is. How big is the area? Is it a council region? If so, Highland is pretty massive; 26,000 square kilometres for ~240,000 people If it's the baile, then it's pretty tiny (~200 people), if it includes the bailtean immediately nearby we're probably still around 1,000 people. Not many at all.
This is the path that I thought of when I was asked. My answer was “ish”. Why ish? Because although the people asking were from the South of England, I don't feel local to here, I'm from the Black Isle, on the other coast. But to them, I'm close enough to be a local. The distance between the two areas is around 70 miles (110 km).
If they were from mainland Europe, USA or, especially, Australia I'd answer with yes. I think the distance involved and that we're still in The Gàidhealtachd would allow me that.
What if you move in from elsewhere and are resident for a long time? Are you then a local? How long would it be? I know there's this 5 year window before people who're resident begin to open up, especially if they're generationally resident. Why 5 years? Because it's likely you'll leave within that window.
What if you were from there, move away in your teens and move back as an adult?
Do you need a continuity of stay? Continuity of lineage? Could you be born and raised elsewhere, move somewhere where family are from (and still are) and be a local?
Could you be regionally local and move to a nearby place? Are you local then? How far before you're not?
I read an article by Rhoda Meek and the piece quoted gave a perspective..
Hold your wheesht for at least three years.
“You will be called blow-ins. It’s not an insult, it simply reflects the fact that many people blow right back out again and we have feelings that get hurt, and friendships that disappear, and so we protect ourselves until we trust you.
and
“There are people who no longer live here who will always be more local than you or I will ever be. That’s OK. It’s life. You could live here 60 years and still be a blow-in.
as well as a different article of hers
I inhabit two worlds. On one hand, I croft and Gaelic is my first language. I live in the house my great great grandfather built, I know my land — I’ve explored and adventured over it thousands of times. Tiree, and the crofts I share with my father in Caolas are home in every sense of the word.
On the other hand, I grew up in a different world. I moved to Tiree as an adult, seeking a different life. I work for an American based tech company and travel regularly, slipping in and out of identities with a strange ease. From wellies in the morning, to a transatlantic flight in the afternoon.
These I think demonstrate that it's not a simple question. I think it means different things to different people.
Do I feel like a local? No.
Will I? Maybe, my children certainly will.
Do those with naïve questions need the ins-and-outs? Probably not and yes-ish will do.
Best followed by your favoured RSS reader: https://blog.eunach.scot/feed/ Following via @cuiseag@blog.eunach.scot on the fediverse may or may not work. Fedi main: @mactunag@gts.eunach.scot
At long last I have removed myself of Meta (née Facebook) apps and products.
The timeline has been years and it's not been simple or without massive effect.
when I learned that Facebook was essentially allowing pro-genocide posts to stay online. It was followed by Zuckerberg being broguht before the US senate and his consistent replies of “we'll get back to you with that”, or words to taht effect; essentially not answering and thus coming out unscathed.
I realised then it was time to jump ship.
Leaving Facebook, the site, was like taking all my friendships and setting light to them.
I left Instagram after many years of using it. It slowly became a place I felt I had to update versus wanting to share photos. It slowly fell out of place, being updated less and less often until I scheduled my account for deletion last year. I had left my email in my bio of the account and the only people to e-mail, after a year of inactivity, were bots wanting to “collab”.
I only talk to a few folk on there and I had successfully managed to get family and a few pals over to Signal (and one to Threema, just incase Signal bites the dust). The few left I struggled to work out how to say why it would be a good idea or how to ask them to move.
I bit the bullet the other week and flat-out asked them to move to Signal, providing the install link to make it simpler.
They moved and, in some cases, have become more talkative.
The kick to finally remove WhatsApp was the addition of the AI as well as Facebook's general move right-ward. Given that AI is there to harvest even more information from you, extracting without consent where possible, it seems a very good idea to leave.
I've requested my data from WhatsApp, as I have with other platforms and will be removing it in a few days.
I would much rather be able to say “I don't have ___” instead of “I have but don't like using ____“. It's more final and I think places conscious effort onto the reciever of that information to perhaps do the same.
I will add that the links are just to give an overview; there is a vast swathe of information and I couldn't always find the exact article that covered what I remembered (probably incorrectly) but the gist is in them.
Best followed by your favoured RSS reader: https://blog.eunach.scot/feed/ Following via @cuiseag@blog.eunach.scot on the fediverse may or may not work. Fedi main: @mactunag@gts.eunach.scot