Uncategorized

On screen or in print, it’s a work of tremendous power I read Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies when it was first published, and wrote the piece reproduced below. It and much else is at http://www.thebeatcroft.com. Oddly enough, I now find myself in our wee Ayrshire flat, round the corner from where chunks of the BBC’s TV…

O Come, All Ye Unfaithful… Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) Walt Whitman, Song of Myself 51 A humanist funeral in Christmas week, and we are singing hymns and praying.  Not capital H Humanist, approved by the official societies of stern secularism. We humans are…

On day four without power: a reflection on snow, Shetland and survival I have always loved snow, and as a child I longed to be stranded by it, preferably somewhere warm and fully equipped with crispy bacon sandwiches and chocolate. At Christmas. This was the fault of two writers, CS Lewis and Arthur Ransome. In…

Island life, the joys and sacrifices. Embrace or leave. And Tom’s 10 rules for public drinking. Former Guardian writer Peter Hetherington liked Shetland very much. But he could never live here, he said.  “I don’t think my wife could handle the lack of sun-dried tomatoes.” Nowadays there’s panko breadcrumbs, gluten-free Belgian chocolate and tinned water…

From fine dining in Glasgow to council secrecy in Shetland Back on the Old Rock after a relatively smooth 12-and-a-half hours overnight from Aberdeen “atween wadders” as Zetlandic dialect has it. Our sleep fuelled by anti-histamines and the NorthLink ferryfood I always enjoy, in all its cheerful, bluff heftiness. Still, a steak pie is NOT…

Banking on the climb up a childhood mountain in Troon The Ballast Bank is my favourite walk in the world, and not just because Troon’s legendary harbourside fish and chip shop, the Wee Hurrie, huddles next to the fishmarket at one end. Though the thought of what deep-fried delights may be waiting for you certainly…

Zetlandic diary, week ending 19 November Everything’s been off all week, pretty much. Ferries to and from the mainland, freight boats, most of the inter-island links. Supermarket shelves are being stripped. Fresh fruit has vanished, scurvy is endemic and there are reports of cannibalism in Ollaberry… Well, not quite. Perhaps a few fingernails are being…

My weekly diary of Zetlandic doings  We’re half-past Hairst, waiting for winter,  the Great Darkness descending. Beyond 60 degrees north, it’s a battle now for light and warmth. Our household’s carbon neutrality is, to say the least, questionable. Here we run, to quote those surprise musical superstars of the Western Isles, on peat and diesel,…

The late Kenny Macdonald played a crucial part in the city’s most vibrant music period BOUGHT BEGGED AND STOLEN – remembering Kenny MacDonald. 60 North Radio 7.00pm UK time, on Radio Garden, the 60 North app and on Mixcloud – link below. If you remember the 80s Glasgow music scene, were you really there? For…

Conducting funerals: first secure your trousers… I have three black suits. One is wool, two are various forms of electrically charged hydrocarbon byproduct. One is in Ayrshire, just in case. Two are here in Shetland . I tend to wear the waistcoat from one and the jacket and trousers from the other. The waistcoat is…