Thank you, Islay House Community Garden, for providing me with a weekly bounty of delicious veg. Living costs are something near astronomical here on Islay, with shop and/or supermarket options very limited. Not having a car, working outside any of the villages with said shops, with the closest shop to home being closed on either side of work, opportunities to actually buy any bloody food are few and far between.

It comes as something of a revelation, then, to have the local community garden offer a service to deliver a weekly veg box, to my door, for the princely sum of £15. A lot of money on a tight-budget, but actually very competitively priced compared to, well, just about any shop on the island for equivalent amount of veg. I’ve been getting them for a wee while now and they have been, without exception, excellent.

So, to the delivery man I have never yet met, thank you for accepting my poorly-scribbled notes, my last-minute demands every week, and the entirely inconsistent method of payment. Visitors to Islay, do go along and support this fantastic community venture when you’re here. Locals, I hope you are already.