October 2006

Battening down the hatches once again for a gale 9, storm 10 northerly overnight, thanking the good Lord I’m not on the boat out of Aberdeen, which even as I type is smashing headlong into it. Susan’s heading south tomorrow night, full of trepidation, but the forecast is for easing winds down to six or…

Thursday was wild. Storm force 10, gusting higher, and from an unusual direction, north east…during the day the sea was all spume, no waves…blown flat. It’s a long time since I’ve seen waterfalls blown backwards, or waves breaking over the Mavis Grind. The power failed two minutes after the programme finished, and was off for…

Although to be honest I’m not sure if it’s even for sale. I’ve posted about the increasingly derelict, empty for two years, St Magnus Bay Hotel, which is in our township, before. It’s historically important, wooden, beautiful, listed, and was shipped to Shetland on a barge after being dismantled in Glasgow, where it was the…

That has to be one of Springsteen’s more ridiculous lines…’the dogs on Main Street howl, ’cause they understand…’ But then so much of what I once loved and was thrilled by in early-to-mid-period Bruce now seems like the most cringe-inducing, breast-beating romantic posturing. And yet he remains capable of astonishing feats…notably the Suicide cover you…

…though in fact, over the summer this was both The Radiocroft, home of BBC Radio Scotland’s Tom Morton Show (2-4 pm weekdays, Zetland Time) and The Bookcroft, officially the UK’s most northerly second hand bookshop. The Bookcroft is now closed for the winter, and slowly but surely The Radiocroft is expanding…new equipment is arriving all…

‘Let them have builders’ is allegedly an ancient Chinese curse, but for us, having brothers Donald and Tom completely re-roof the L-shaped (and B-listed) steading in the grounds of the manse has been a pleasure and a privilege. They came from Cromarty in the Black Isle, and in five straight weeks they removed all the…

…is the name of an old We Free Kings song, and it seems appropriate that, after publicly declaring my motorbikin’ career over, it should be gloweringly, viciously, Shetlandicly soaking the day I pick up a 1980 BMW R80/7, 26 years old and only 28,500 miles on the clock. However, Shetland weather being what it is,…

Alas, the Bog Museum in Coalisland was shut when Martha and I passed through on the way to Sandy and Elaine’s wedding. We did have a coffee in one of the local cafes, and checked out some of the, ahem, somewhat interesting murals before heading to Stewartstown and a truly lovely service. The wedding was…