Sorry for the delay. Unst Part Deux

Unst Saturday


The only ferry that you are charged for is the Toft to yell ferry and then only in one direction. All the others are free or included in the fare that you pay initially. For the car and three people the fare was twelve pounds or about twenty dollars.

The Shetland government generates a lot of revenue from the fees and taxes on oil and gas, and typically runs a surplus that will be paying subsidies for many of the services islanders receive. This is similar to Alaska in many respects.

There is of course much debate on the future and what happens when, inevitably the oil and gas revenues decline or stop all together.

There is much debate about wind farms and the carbon cost of actually building them, as well as the impact on wildlife, and the environment in general.

As you can tell I am fascinated by the whole lifestyle and what motivates people. It would be easy to make the assumption that all islanders are the same in that respect. One of the topics yesterday was the differences between Shetlanders and Orkadians (from Orkney, the islands to the southwest of here and closer to Scotland) The difference was described as follows. Shetlanders are fishermen with a croft (small farm) and Orkadians are Crofters (farmers) with a fishing boat. I have no way to verify but this would seem to be accurate.

Shetland is also much more influenced by its Viking or Scandinavian heritage. This is apparent in the names of the people and the places and word root origins.

I was gently corrected yesterday about the spelling of the larger houses on Shetland. The correct word is “Haa” and I called them Haars. A Haar is a sea mist! Voe is another word that is in common use meaning a small bay or harbor. Hamnavoe is the name of two or three places on Shetland and also the name of one of the three big ferries that run to Orkney and Shetland.