A Shetland friend, Susan Bowie, shared this Seamus Heaney poem yesterday as Storm Ophelia approached the UK… To all my friends across the sea sheltering from the howling beast We are prepared: we build our houses squat, Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate. This wizened earth has never troubled us With… Continue reading Storm on the island
Three weeks later…… some thoughts
Our sky has shrunk, we are hemmed in by trees and houses, edgy about the multiple cars on driveways and roads, the local water is contained in a man-made channel, the air feels warm…… For now we are reduced to the ordinariness (and extra-ordinariness) of everyday life. Droitwich has the same population as Shetland but… Continue reading Three weeks later…… some thoughts
Some of the best
After three months away it takes a while to sort out life here in Droitwich as well as reflecting on and sorting through all the experiences we had whilst we were away in Shetland – so expect some more on the blog in due course as we work our way through. In the meantime …..Malcolm… Continue reading Some of the best
Shetland living – living Shetland (3)
Of course oil fields are not bottomless pits of black gold and some of the North Sea oil fields are now reaching the end of their economic lives. For an island that has built much of its current economy and community life on the promises of the 1970s there must be concern about the future.… Continue reading Shetland living – living Shetland (3)
Shetland living – living Shetland (2)
From the fifteenth to the twentieth century the most northerly tip of the Shetland mainland, Fethaland – just a couple of miles north of North Roe – became a summer home for hundreds of deep sea fishermen and fish processors, including some women. They lived in basic stone lodges, roofed each summer, and worked from… Continue reading Shetland living – living Shetland (2)
Shetland living – living Shetland (1)
As many tourists do we arrived in Shetland with an interest in history, in my past, in my parents’ experiences when they came here 70 years ago – and even further back than that – how had life in Shetland developed over the centuries? How did the Methodist church take root here? How did people… Continue reading Shetland living – living Shetland (1)
Born before the NHS
My mother gave birth to me just a few weeks before the NHS was born in July 1948. When the NHS was ‘celebrating’ its 60th birthday in 2008 the Shetland Times ran an article on the early days of the NHS in Shetland – you can find the full article here 60 years of the NHS… Continue reading Born before the NHS
