I am now back at my sister Mags place but minus the considerable snow they had when I arrived a couple of weeks ago.
It will be three weeks on Monday since I left Cary and the time has flown and there have already been many adventures.
The plan is to regroup and see what I actually need to take with me on the next leg. I feel that my bag is too big and I could carry less and still have all I need. Mags has a smaller bag so I will see if I can make it work.
I am very glad I bought a good warm, waterproof and breathable coat and my long johns and waterproof/ windproof pants, and was able to borrow some real winter socks and a good scarf from my sister Allie. That made all the difference to being warm and comfortable on Shetland and will continue to be of value in New Zealand.
I leave for Chennai India on Tuesday morning to see my good friends Vivek and Sriya and their two kids for a couple of weeks and then to get hooked up again with some friends in Mumbai for a couple of days.
Update.
We have had a nice couple of days with a dusting of snow and temps right around freezing. Mags and David have a huge lot that their house sits on, but in a suburban area. I looked out of one of the windows yesterday to see a fox with a wounded leg hopping around in the back yard, and then 20 minutes later another one (good on all fours) in the front yard. We know there are also deer around who seem to live in the garden too, but I am surprised that there is this sort of wildlife in such a populated area. Looks like the deer and foxes have a pact and the foxes must eat something else! Still waiting on a photo opportunity
Mags and I took a good walk yesterday (Sat) into Reigate and through the extensive park in town. About an hour and a half but some good exercise.
Still no news from her son Piers and his wife Marion, who are expecting their first baby, who was due last Monday but I think has decided against an appearance in this cold weather!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Shetland house rant.
I have touched on this before, but want to rant a little more about houses on Shetland. There are lots of beautiful houses that absolutely fit in to the scenery and general environment. Some are new construction, and some are renovations or extensions to existing properties.
There are a huge number of abandoned crofts that are in superb locations ane would be ripe for renovation, even as holiday cottages or rentals. The complex laws and the seeming unwillingness to effect changes seem to hamper development and overall local prosperity. The Shetland Islands Council who control building permits and standards seem to allow boring pebbledash houses (that would be hugely improved with a coat of paint) but have all sorts of reasons why the more aesthetically pleasing alternatives never seem to get a chance.
There are also incredibly ugly pieces of s... that mar an otherwise beautiful, if stark landscape. It does not even look any better sideways! It seems I still have not solved that issue!
The Scandinavian development in Scalloway seems to be the only one that shows a glimmer of hope.
OK I am done now.
Imagine what I will be like when I get to India!!
There are a huge number of abandoned crofts that are in superb locations ane would be ripe for renovation, even as holiday cottages or rentals. The complex laws and the seeming unwillingness to effect changes seem to hamper development and overall local prosperity. The Shetland Islands Council who control building permits and standards seem to allow boring pebbledash houses (that would be hugely improved with a coat of paint) but have all sorts of reasons why the more aesthetically pleasing alternatives never seem to get a chance.
There are also incredibly ugly pieces of s... that mar an otherwise beautiful, if stark landscape. It does not even look any better sideways! It seems I still have not solved that issue!
OK I am done now.
Imagine what I will be like when I get to India!!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday. A day to recover and my last day on Shetland
Wednesday was a day or recovery, and Steve and I visited the Shetland museum as Alison had to work for a couple of hours.
We also visited Scalloway a port town and the original capital of Shetland. It is a pleasant place with a Nautical Training Center with an excellent reputation in Europe, and also a memorial for “The Shetland Bus” Nothing to do with the Unst bus stop, but the operation during WW2 to move people, arms and munitions in to and out of Norway. Forty four brave Norwegians gave their lives in this operation that lasted several years. The memorial contains 44 different rocks, one from each of the towns or villages where those that were killed hailed from. It is very low key, as was the operation and I believe a very fitting tribute. It has many visitors and there was a Norse flag flying on the memorial on the day of our visit.
I made a quick visit to Tingwall where all the inter island flights leave from. They use a Britten Normon Islander and some of the sectors are as lttle as 10 minutes.
I also saw a Cat Excavator at the airport so took a quick pic of it too for the gearheads!
The other pic I have been meaning to post is the one warning of otters crossing the road. Much to our dissapointment we did not see any but Alison says that she sees them playing on the shoreline right outside her office quite frequently.
We spent the evening (my last) having dinner with some of Alison’s neighbors and Naomi who I talked about in the Unst bus post. We had Haggis with “neeps and tatties” (Turnips and potatoes for the uninitiated) It is a traditional Scottish dinner, and one where you do not inquire deeply as to the content particularly of the haggis!. The neighbors Pete and Kate were “from South” but have lived in Shetland for 25 years and clearly love it. We had some great discussions about traditional music and the Shetland Folk Festival in late April
Bright and early Thursday morning (well early anyway) Steve drove me to Lerwick to catch the 6am bus down to Sumburgh airport about 30 miles south of Lerwick. It had snowed overnight and there were significant snow flurries still as I boarded the bus.
An uneventful flight to London followed via Kirkwall in Orkney and a plane change in Inverness.
I made a quick visit to Tingwall where all the inter island flights leave from. They use a Britten Normon Islander and some of the sectors are as lttle as 10 minutes.
I also saw a Cat Excavator at the airport so took a quick pic of it too for the gearheads!
The other pic I have been meaning to post is the one warning of otters crossing the road. Much to our dissapointment we did not see any but Alison says that she sees them playing on the shoreline right outside her office quite frequently.
We spent the evening (my last) having dinner with some of Alison’s neighbors and Naomi who I talked about in the Unst bus post. We had Haggis with “neeps and tatties” (Turnips and potatoes for the uninitiated) It is a traditional Scottish dinner, and one where you do not inquire deeply as to the content particularly of the haggis!. The neighbors Pete and Kate were “from South” but have lived in Shetland for 25 years and clearly love it. We had some great discussions about traditional music and the Shetland Folk Festival in late April
Bright and early Thursday morning (well early anyway) Steve drove me to Lerwick to catch the 6am bus down to Sumburgh airport about 30 miles south of Lerwick. It had snowed overnight and there were significant snow flurries still as I boarded the bus.
An uneventful flight to London followed via Kirkwall in Orkney and a plane change in Inverness.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Up Helly Aa
Up Helly Aa. Tuesday
We went to the music on Monday night, after a delicious meal at The Ghurka Kitchen. Both were really good.
There were about 12 bands and each band played 2-3 sets of tunes. One of the bands was lead by a (maybe) 12-year-old accordion player who was very good. A keen observer (such as me) would notice that several of the individual performers showed up in multiple bands. One was a lady who is normally the receptionist at the clinic where Alison works, who is an accomplished fiddle player and very cute to boot.
There was also a larger lady who looked out of place with her hair all done up and lots of bling. She played fiddle and then sang a French song, after telling us a story related to her reputation for bling. Very funny. She had a fantastic voice and sounded like a larger version of Edith Piaf.
So all sorts of surprises but a very good evening was had by all.
Tuesday saw the start of Up Helly Aa proper.
It is difficult to describe the event, but I will try.
There are a number of “Squads” consisting of about 15 – 20 men of various ages, some as young as 12 or so and each squad decide on a theme for their squad for the year. Squad members are known at Jarls. You have to be a Shetland resident for a minimum of 5 years to be invited on to a squad, and the Lerwick Up Helly Aa is still all male, although the squads and Up Helly Aa events on the other islands have women in the squads also. There is increasing pressure for Lerwick to change of course
An elite squad supervised by the Guizer Jarl (the overall head of the event) constructs over the winter a replica of a Viking Longboat. Both the construction of the longboat and the themes for the other squads are closely guarded secrets and so the morning parade is the first opportunity for everyone to see the designs. This year’s Guizer Jarl has had his father and Grandfather as Guizer Jarls in past years. Clearly it is an honor to be elected.
It is quite a sight to see about 900 men all dressed up in a variety of costumes, from Vikings to Penguins or leprechauns, and watch them parade through this small town.
All the school kids are out and pretty much anybody who is in town.
The squads then disperse until the evening with some making tours of the local schools and also the senior homes and care facilities, so everyone gets a chance to join in. There is also a junior squad who has their own parade earlier in the evening. Their ship is not burned, nor do they carry lighted torches ad the adults do.
The main event starts at 7.30 prompt with a “maroon” , which is a red flare being shot in the air to signal the lighting of the torches. The torches are about 3 ft long, and are infused with something flammable. Suddenly the shy takes on this orange hue as the torches are lit and in a few minutes the first of the procession comes in to view. There are a total of about 900 Jarls that parade and they follow the Viking Longboat that has been lovingly built over the past 3 months or so. It is paraded around a fairly small number of streets before being placed in a park where all the Jarls gather and eventually march around the longboat in concentric circles singing about 3 different songs in order. Eventually there is a second maroon and that is the signal to throw the lighted torches on to the ship, and it begins to burn. The parade has taken about 50 minutes and the ship is engulfed in just a couple of minutes. Remarkably nobody catches fire or is hurt in any way, and the event has an excellent safety record. I am sure that not all of the Jarls are entirely sober at this point.
This is the end of the public event. We were very lucky to have been invited to view from someone’s front yard that is very close to the burn site, and on this occasion is upwind of the burning, so we had an excellent view of the whole event.
There are a number (11 or 12 I think) of “halls” that are private parties held in various community halls and one has to be invited to these. We were, and we attended South Hall. Each of the squads puts together and practices some sort of skit that they then perform in all of the halls until they are done. This can take until 7am the next day. Fortunatly the Wednesday is a public holiday. Just as well as nobody would show up for work anyway, or indeed be in a fit condition to work.
We did not stay for the whole thing, but saw several skits including a Shetland rendering of Lord of the Dance, and a skit based on Bollywood style dancing. All this from Shetland men, who are generally built short and round as a defense against strong winds. It is also a strange contrast as these are not generally extroverts, but their inhibitions are absent maybe just for that one evening.
As well as the skits there is lots of dancing, and there are small kids and grannies all dancing away and having a great time. Each hall has a Scottish Dance band and there are some traditional dances in between the skits and food is also served and is part of the package. You are not allowed to have alcoholic drinks in the dance hall but there is a side room where drinking is allowed. I was impressed by how everyone danced. There were teenage girls all dressed up to get the boys attention and younger kids who were taking it all in and joining in the dances. In many respects it was a reminder of school dances with girls clustered together and boys daring each other to ask the girls for a dance. I did not see anyone refusing a dance.
I had a really good time and it was first class people watching for sure. Who knows I may be back next year.
We went to the music on Monday night, after a delicious meal at The Ghurka Kitchen. Both were really good.
There were about 12 bands and each band played 2-3 sets of tunes. One of the bands was lead by a (maybe) 12-year-old accordion player who was very good. A keen observer (such as me) would notice that several of the individual performers showed up in multiple bands. One was a lady who is normally the receptionist at the clinic where Alison works, who is an accomplished fiddle player and very cute to boot.
There was also a larger lady who looked out of place with her hair all done up and lots of bling. She played fiddle and then sang a French song, after telling us a story related to her reputation for bling. Very funny. She had a fantastic voice and sounded like a larger version of Edith Piaf.
So all sorts of surprises but a very good evening was had by all.
Tuesday saw the start of Up Helly Aa proper.
It is difficult to describe the event, but I will try.
There are a number of “Squads” consisting of about 15 – 20 men of various ages, some as young as 12 or so and each squad decide on a theme for their squad for the year. Squad members are known at Jarls. You have to be a Shetland resident for a minimum of 5 years to be invited on to a squad, and the Lerwick Up Helly Aa is still all male, although the squads and Up Helly Aa events on the other islands have women in the squads also. There is increasing pressure for Lerwick to change of course
An elite squad supervised by the Guizer Jarl (the overall head of the event) constructs over the winter a replica of a Viking Longboat. Both the construction of the longboat and the themes for the other squads are closely guarded secrets and so the morning parade is the first opportunity for everyone to see the designs. This year’s Guizer Jarl has had his father and Grandfather as Guizer Jarls in past years. Clearly it is an honor to be elected.
It is quite a sight to see about 900 men all dressed up in a variety of costumes, from Vikings to Penguins or leprechauns, and watch them parade through this small town.
All the school kids are out and pretty much anybody who is in town.
The squads then disperse until the evening with some making tours of the local schools and also the senior homes and care facilities, so everyone gets a chance to join in. There is also a junior squad who has their own parade earlier in the evening. Their ship is not burned, nor do they carry lighted torches ad the adults do.
The main event starts at 7.30 prompt with a “maroon” , which is a red flare being shot in the air to signal the lighting of the torches. The torches are about 3 ft long, and are infused with something flammable. Suddenly the shy takes on this orange hue as the torches are lit and in a few minutes the first of the procession comes in to view. There are a total of about 900 Jarls that parade and they follow the Viking Longboat that has been lovingly built over the past 3 months or so. It is paraded around a fairly small number of streets before being placed in a park where all the Jarls gather and eventually march around the longboat in concentric circles singing about 3 different songs in order. Eventually there is a second maroon and that is the signal to throw the lighted torches on to the ship, and it begins to burn. The parade has taken about 50 minutes and the ship is engulfed in just a couple of minutes. Remarkably nobody catches fire or is hurt in any way, and the event has an excellent safety record. I am sure that not all of the Jarls are entirely sober at this point.
This is the end of the public event. We were very lucky to have been invited to view from someone’s front yard that is very close to the burn site, and on this occasion is upwind of the burning, so we had an excellent view of the whole event.
We did not stay for the whole thing, but saw several skits including a Shetland rendering of Lord of the Dance, and a skit based on Bollywood style dancing. All this from Shetland men, who are generally built short and round as a defense against strong winds. It is also a strange contrast as these are not generally extroverts, but their inhibitions are absent maybe just for that one evening.
As well as the skits there is lots of dancing, and there are small kids and grannies all dancing away and having a great time. Each hall has a Scottish Dance band and there are some traditional dances in between the skits and food is also served and is part of the package. You are not allowed to have alcoholic drinks in the dance hall but there is a side room where drinking is allowed. I was impressed by how everyone danced. There were teenage girls all dressed up to get the boys attention and younger kids who were taking it all in and joining in the dances. In many respects it was a reminder of school dances with girls clustered together and boys daring each other to ask the girls for a dance. I did not see anyone refusing a dance.
I had a really good time and it was first class people watching for sure. Who knows I may be back next year.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Unst Sunday
Sunday was a nice day for January in Shetland in that it is not raining. We decided to hike to Muckle Flugga today and had decided to try to do this way back when we planned the trip. It all depended on the weather.
We left around 10 and met up with Delano and Davy who showed us the house where the lighthouse keepers lived when the Muckle Flugga lighthouse was manned. Today it is automatic as are all of the many lighthouses around the coast of the UK.
There were six families, each with their own accommodation who lived in the housing complex and Davy and Delano stayed in one of them and showed us the house. It was remarkably spacious.
There were two teams of three keepers who rotated. We debated how long the stints were, and I believe that because the lighthouse was close the stints were shorter like maybe 7 days at a stretch. All was dependent on the weather and the ability to get on and off the rock.
The other incredible thing was how they ever built the lighthouse in the first place. It is stuck on the top of a rock, maybe a hundred and fifty feet up. Davy said they built a sort of funicular railway to winch (manually) supplies up to the top to build the lighthouse.
The hike was across a combination of peat bog, and being a National Park there was a walkway that kept you off the peat and helped keep your feet dry. This worked for about half of the hike, and after that there were a series of posts in the ground that showed the general direction. I would not have liked to do the hike in poor visibility as the posts were about 100 yards apart, and lets say that they blended with the landscape very successfully as they were difficult to see.
It was about 1.5 hours out to the end of the peninsular by the coastal route and it was only in the very last part that we got a view of “The Flugga”. We came back by the (slightly) more direct route in an hour or so. It was cold and windy but the exercise kept us warm. Again I was grateful for the hat that Jen made for me.
The last picture is of the Saxa Vore Early Warning Radar Station that I mentioned in an earlier post. It is across the Spound from Muckle Flugga and now is a remote station but used to be a manned RAF facility until the early 2000s
We left around 10 and met up with Delano and Davy who showed us the house where the lighthouse keepers lived when the Muckle Flugga lighthouse was manned. Today it is automatic as are all of the many lighthouses around the coast of the UK.
There were six families, each with their own accommodation who lived in the housing complex and Davy and Delano stayed in one of them and showed us the house. It was remarkably spacious.
There were two teams of three keepers who rotated. We debated how long the stints were, and I believe that because the lighthouse was close the stints were shorter like maybe 7 days at a stretch. All was dependent on the weather and the ability to get on and off the rock.
The other incredible thing was how they ever built the lighthouse in the first place. It is stuck on the top of a rock, maybe a hundred and fifty feet up. Davy said they built a sort of funicular railway to winch (manually) supplies up to the top to build the lighthouse.
The hike was across a combination of peat bog, and being a National Park there was a walkway that kept you off the peat and helped keep your feet dry. This worked for about half of the hike, and after that there were a series of posts in the ground that showed the general direction. I would not have liked to do the hike in poor visibility as the posts were about 100 yards apart, and lets say that they blended with the landscape very successfully as they were difficult to see.
The last picture is of the Saxa Vore Early Warning Radar Station that I mentioned in an earlier post. It is across the Spound from Muckle Flugga and now is a remote station but used to be a manned RAF facility until the early 2000s
The Famous Unst Bus shelter.
One of the other highlights of any visit to Unst is to see the partly famous “Unst Bus Shelter”
Unst is a windy place and the Islands council provides an “on demand” bus service and limited scheduled service. This also doubles up as the school bus. One winter several years ago the bus shelter near Balta Sound was blown away in a gale, and not replaced until a small schoolboy named Bobby wrote to the council to ask for a replacement. The council obliged and Bobby was so happy that he and some of the other kids decorated the inside of the shelter as thanks and to show their appreciation. Not sure how long ago this was, but several years.
It has become progressively better known and features a Visitor book and the décor is changed every year and there is a roster of people who visit the site daily to keep it tidy and monitor the content of the comments in the Visitor book.
I did not know the detail of this until last evening (Wednesday) several days after our visit. This was because Alison had a visitor at her house. Naomi is a Doctor on Yell but lives on Unst and is also a bassoon player who is taking lessons in Lerwick to improve her skills. She (as it turns out) is also one of the bus shelter keepers, so we were treated to insider stories on the history and how it all works.
Google Earth has several images of former styles. Go to Google Earth and type in Baltasound and you can see them and the afore mentioned airport
There was another bus shelter at the end of the road to our cottage but it only featured two garden chairs no doubt donated by local bus users.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Shetlanders have made good use of the oil and gas revenues, and one cannot help but reflect how harsh life could have been without it, and the need to plan for the day when those revenues are no longer available.
There are proposals for some large wind farms, and there is significant local opposition to the proposals based on the carbon cost of the construction. No doubt the concerns are genuine, but I have to wonder if the same people actually have any alternate proposals, or if their preference is just to complain without offering solutions. You can go all over the world and the basic issues appear to be the same!
Unst ... More
Unst Saturday Second post.
Unst is about 15 miles long and is the most northerly inhabited island in the archipelago. There are about 600 residents with a couple of small communities and then greater metropolitan Baltasound!. While Baltasound is the largest community, it can probably rustle up 250 inhabitants, and is a shadow of it’s former self when the herring industry was at it’s height. At that time there were pickling, salting and smoking factories and many more people in the late 1800s. The sound is well protected by Balta island and has a small airstrip for emergency medical evacuations, but does not have the inter-island air service because of the ferries and the reliability of that service. We looked at the airstrip and I had expected a gravel runway but it is concrete with an apron and a hangar. Looks about 2500 ft long with runway lights and VASI lights for you pilot folks.
Our cottage is on Westbay and within 100 feet of the sea. Not exactly the white sands of the Caribbean.
It is about 450 square feet total with two bedrooms upstairs and a kitchen/living room and bathroom downstairs. So tiny but cozy and with a wonderful view. We had a peat fire every night. You look out over the Bluemull Sound and in the distance is the very top of Yell, one of the other islands.
In May Bluemull Sound attracts a lot of whales. Orcas and Minkies as well as killer whales. The bad news is that they are attracted there to feed on recently born the seal pups.
The road ends about 200 ft from the house and you have to navigate a kind of causeway liberally scattered with sheep deposits, as are most things around here. I just noticed on Google Earth that there is a photo of “sheep eating seaweed”. This is immediately outside the cottage we stayed at.
Unst is about 15 miles long and is the most northerly inhabited island in the archipelago. There are about 600 residents with a couple of small communities and then greater metropolitan Baltasound!. While Baltasound is the largest community, it can probably rustle up 250 inhabitants, and is a shadow of it’s former self when the herring industry was at it’s height. At that time there were pickling, salting and smoking factories and many more people in the late 1800s. The sound is well protected by Balta island and has a small airstrip for emergency medical evacuations, but does not have the inter-island air service because of the ferries and the reliability of that service. We looked at the airstrip and I had expected a gravel runway but it is concrete with an apron and a hangar. Looks about 2500 ft long with runway lights and VASI lights for you pilot folks.
Our cottage is on Westbay and within 100 feet of the sea. Not exactly the white sands of the Caribbean.
It is about 450 square feet total with two bedrooms upstairs and a kitchen/living room and bathroom downstairs. So tiny but cozy and with a wonderful view. We had a peat fire every night. You look out over the Bluemull Sound and in the distance is the very top of Yell, one of the other islands.
In May Bluemull Sound attracts a lot of whales. Orcas and Minkies as well as killer whales. The bad news is that they are attracted there to feed on recently born the seal pups.
The road ends about 200 ft from the house and you have to navigate a kind of causeway liberally scattered with sheep deposits, as are most things around here. I just noticed on Google Earth that there is a photo of “sheep eating seaweed”. This is immediately outside the cottage we stayed at.
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