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A mere sprinkling of snow, despite what the forecasters said: and so it was that Magnus and I decided to preface Christmas lunch with a bit of stern striding into the magically clear hillbog of Shetland. This, in my case, after a mere five hours sleep, thanks to Santa-impersonation and Susan being called out at…

I’m in the Barn of Bannocks, and it’s a dirty old Tuesday night, almost midway through this pre-Christmas week. It’s 8.9 degrees Celsius in here, which is well below legal limits for a working environment. Still, back in the manse they’re furiously preparing for tomorrow’s distaff staff Christmas lunch, not to mention wrapping presents for…

So, this is my last day in Aberdeen, indeed on the British mainland, before Christmas. Tonight I get the NorthLink ferry back to Shetland, the Citroen Berlingo so overloaded with stuff from Ikea, Asda, Sainsbury’s and a dozen other shops it’s a miracle the wheels are still clearing the chassis. It’s been a long week…

Phew! Just back from a night out in Dundee, Newport-on-Tay and Broughty Ferry, which taxed my liver to the utmost. It was work, honest. I’m not at liberty to explain what at the moment, but it’s a mega-exciting project which was signed, sealed and is yet to be delivered. Anyway, I’d never been in Broughty…

So, for the moment, the feeling is that the sound quality provided by ISDN wasn’t quite up to the Beeb’s standards, and therefore broadcasting from the Barn of Bannocks is currently in abeyance. We shall see if a few tweaks can’t sort things out. It was rather unfortunate that the webcam system I’d gone to…

Well, here I sit at last in the Barn of Bannocks, connected up to the wonderweb through BT Business Highway (no broadband in the remote fastness of Northmavine, Shetland) at a glorious 128 thingies. The excellent Scott, with help from Duncan, has converted the barn into a relatively comfortable retreat from the madness of daily…

…or to be precise, wide and long seaside pavement of asphalt and cement. Which could soon disappear, so they’re saying (see http://northtonight.grampiantv.co.uk/content/default.asp?page=s1_1_1&newsid=5174 ) thanks to global warming and big huge waves. This, I hereby aver, would be a great pity. Though I have been gently rapped over the knuckles for saying on-air today that Aberdeen’s…

Tatties and Point for lunch, a massive chili-cheese-baked potato (healthy) followed by a Twix (unhealthy) and a Diet Coke (neutral). I now feel strangely bloated, like John Hurt in Alien, just at the point when his character was thinking: some Milk of Magnesia should sort this out… There was a time here in Shetland when…

“Hear it howlin’ around my kitchen door…” …or in this case, the door of the BBC studios in Lerwick. A really nasty day, thick with grey soupy rain, all of which is moving fast, if somewhat lumpily. Winter is here. Still, the weekend was autumnally beautiful, as can happen in Shetland. Saturday, James and me…

I have a friend who works in a hotel, and his job involves being nice to people, polite, offering good service, even when he doesn’t remotely feel like it. The weird thing about what I do – broadcasting, or to be precise, talking between records – is that most of the time, when I feel…