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It’s four years old…a fabulous wee video that was shamelessly ripped off for a pet food advert.

Here we sit, 180-odd miles from Aberdeen, 180-odd miles from Bergen, preparing for our abandonment by Greater Scotland. That’s what it feels like. Stewart Stevenson, transport minister at the Holyrood Parliament, has announced that, to save money, the part-CaleyGov owned NorthLink Ferries will, from May and without any consultation at all, run its boats on…

Thanks to Lord Jo Grimond, I was once in a car with no floor, trundling unevenly around the single track roads of Yell, the unsilenced exhaust roaring. The late Orkney and Shetland MP accomplished many things, but for generations of drivers in the outer islands of Scotland, his amendment to the Road Traffic Act remains…

Duke Special and Tim Minchin duetting live in Belfast. Strangely disturbing.

I could drive, I suppose, using the not-so-mighty (chassis condemned by local garage)Isuzu, which is still working fine, if now a little wandery when it comes to steering. It’s a bit like guiding a boat into harbour on a very stormy day. However, the £2.70 bus ride is a no-brainer in weather like this. Over…

If I’d had access to this at university it would have transformed my (lack of) appreciation of Finnegans Wake. “Me back! Me back! Me back!”

A still and very cold but beautiful night for Da Nort Up Helly Aa, the galley burnt on the water (once the ice had been broken) and a great time had by all. The picture shows The Two Sandy Nelsons and The Two (heavily swaddled) David Nelsons (one technically a Seoras), Elaine and Caroline Nelson.…

The galley Baresark is in position at the Hillswick seafront, there are vikings in the vicinity, the weather is cold and clear, with the occasional flurry of snow. All is set for a day and night of revelry, polite waving of axes and general good behaviour…all the best to Brydon Anderson and his merry men…

The usual Saturday morning trip to Lerwick for Music Club, which leaves me with space for my usual fruit scone and cappuccino at The Peerie Shop Cafe. I’m never there at the right time for the legendary strawberry cheesecake or even one of the cataclysmic sandwiches, which is weighing heavily on me. I must adjust…