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Here I am back in grey, misty, cold, wet, blustery and on thewhole rather dreich Shetland, and yesterday saw me driving almost 200 miles in the service of the junior members of the clan.Saturday morning music club in Lerwick as soon as I got in, then the shopping, then lunch, then back home, then Magnus…

So, Stuart Murdoch from Belle and Sebastian came into the Aberdeen studio yesterday for a wee chat, and I must say I was a bit concerned, as B&S are one of those bands I’ve never quite managed to get a handle on. The fact that they come from Glasgow, that Stuart’s lyrics are by turns…

I struggled off the Hrossey at 9.55 this morning, groggy and swaying, almost three hours late in arriving at Aberdeen.As nights on the boat go, this was among the worst I’ve experienced, and easily the roughest aboard a NorthLink ship. Though I shudder to think what it would have been like aboard the St Sunniva…

This picture was taken by my dad during his visit to Shetland at New Year – I think this was 2nd January. We were out for a walk on the glorious Ness of Hillswick, looking over to the red cliffs of Eshaness (not the black vocanic ones near the Lighthouse). Good grief, am I really…

Phew, wind’s getting up again…these gales are getting a bit wearisome.Amazed to hear about the Stornoway lorry driver who saw a sheep flying past his windscreen…I’ve never seen that, but it’s possible that the native Shetland breed is less aerodynamic than the Hebridean equivalent…I have seen one apparently levitating over a fence. Funniest thing from…

Big south westerly gales do this kind of thing in the Shetland Isles. All the power went off in Hillswick in the early hours of Wednesday, thanks to winds gusting up to 11 (Nigel Tufnell would have loved it). Last time this happened, a window blew in at The Radiocroft, and almost next door, this…

This is a Wolseley, and it’s the car that dominates my memories of childhood. Even though my father tells me it gave him “nothing but trouble”, as I suppose you’d kind of expect from a British vehicle this old…cars nowadays may have less character, but my goodness they work.I can remember long overnight journeys from…

Just a wee collage, showing, variously, the coward’s view of Eshaness this morning (9th January, so windy I could hardly stand; force nine gusting more); two shots of sunrise on 1st January, 2006 (around 9.00 am); a boat just along from our house, not mine; a remnant of the MOD presence at Eshaness, taken this…

30th: Bang crash wallop. Bash Susan’s borrowed/rented pick-up into sister’s rental Corsa. Not good. Completely fed up and knackered.31st: I am 50. Surprisingly good. Party starts at 3.00pm and continues for around 12 hours. Great music, food, moderate drinking. Only big disappointment is Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottling of 12-year-old Aberlour which tastes like bad…

….sorted out for tomorrow, and the arrival of my dad, his wife, my sister and her family, my pals Stewart and Jo. They’re all on the boat tonight, so I hope they have a reasonable trip. We’ve had a three-month battle to sort out Gateside, home of The Radiocroft, as suitable accommodation for my sister…