March 2008

Arrived in Glasgow last night and walked from Queen Street to the West End. For some reason I’ve always found walking about cities more interesting than perambulating in the countryside…and cycling even more so. Well, perhaps ‘interesting’ is the wrong word. ‘Frightening’ might be better. Who needs computer games or roller coasters when you can…

Both Susan and myself have been really moved by the tremendous outpouring of support and reassurance over the ‘phone, by email and on this blog. Thanks a million. It’s been a beautiful day here in Shetland – mild, sunny and for the first time in months Susan had a Saturday off. So it was great…

Hell’s teeth. Not, alas, the end of the story after all. When I posted yesterday’s blog I had no idea that some benighted individual had sent letters and emails to The Sun newsdesk, making even more salacious and bizarre allegations about my private life. Or that a reporter and photographer were already on their way…

The thing about living in a small (22,000 people) island community is that your life is not your own. You are on display, visible – this is a bare, stark landscape in which every household and most cars come equipped with binoculars. And your whole life is likely to be the subject of scrutiny and…

If I open the Velux window above my head and poke my mobile phone through it, this is the picture that results. Well, it did just a couple of minutes ago!The Radiocroft looks over the narrows of Ura Firth, which normally doesn’t look quite as mediterranean…

The Radiocroft is looking fairly grim today, as the nasty weather that has been battering the south of England and Wales begins to give us a pasting here in the Zetlandic Archipelago. Bit of a kerfuffle at 1.00pm when we tested the ISDN connection with a view to going back on air from Hillswick this…

Following the disastrous breakfasting experience of Kenny and Bruce (see below)I’m pleased to tell you that excellent petit dejeuner action can be found in Lerwick. The Peerie Shop Cafe is usually reliable, though there have been some truly bizarre burnt-muffin moments recently and the staff’s lack of cheeriness remains astonishing to those not used to…

At Lerwick's new museum on Friday – Kenny Macquarrie (right) and Bruce Malcolm (left), controller and chief operating officer respectively, BBC Scotland. Recovered, just about, from the antics of staff at the hotel they were staying in, where they were told at breakfast ‘the bacon’s aff’. Welcome to Shetland! If this is how VIPs are…

…six months before it's fixed, states A Taxi Driver.