Colgrave Sounds

Colgrave sounds has been slumbering for a while, cosseted by the hum of the 360 diggers and the soft swishing of the ready mix truck working on the new Pier and breakwater in Fetlar.

Last Monday i was treated to wakening to a lovely day and the wonderful sight of yachts under spinnaker and sunshine heading south on their competitive cruise (or is it crews?) from Cullivoe to Whalsay. A fine day for it was the general consensus.

Today the Sound has been fair busy with ferry boats carrying people to and from the auditions for this new Movie and auntie beeb with her one show was there to record all for prosperity. Dom Littlewood inspired as a real down to earth gentleman. A thought also for the poor fellow we the camera who soldiered on despite a mirackled leg. Allegedly he was filming a nurse when it happened and she bandaged him up. That sounds like a bit of a tall tale, but who am I to argue, many times the truth is stranger than fiction.

By all accounts a great day was had with a tremendous atmosphere in the hall with people pre and post casting gathered in the main hall over a cuppa.In a textbook example of the Shetlands fast changing weather, it virtually mirrored the plot for the movie as after a bright start to the morning the weather closed in we mist, rain and rising winds…… However after lunch the weather gods obviously thought the joke had gone quite far enough and settled down to an afternoon nap leaving mr currant bun to take charge again!

Colgrave sound is looking forward to the start of filming and congratulates George Stroud for his generous and forward thinking investment into the film. It is a pity that some local public funds have not been invested, as I’m sure they would get the whole amount back plus all the other spinoffs which would acrue.

Plenty is thrown into other black holes with zero chance of ever getting the money back. But then such decisions take courage and vision……

i regret that you are likely to be troubled by more rantings from the sound as that horrible Moder Dye is giving me no peace

A swittle and a sloosh tae you aa

This winter has certainly seen more snow lying for longer that I can really remember. I like snow but the novelty has been wearing a bit thin. I can only hope that this will be an indication of more defined seasons and that spring and summer will again be fine. Until 2 years ago there had been a drift into an almost perpetual autumn climate.

On the far side of Colgrave things are looking up for Fetlar however the amount of effort being expended is very significant and with hindsight a smaller effort much sooner would have been a much better idea. However as with everything in Shetland things are left to get to crises point before anyone seems to take any notice. Maybe we should look closer at our outlying communities and try and spot problems and target help earlier.

Some (in Shetland) may argue about the viability of islands the size of Fetlar, or for that matter the size of Yell, Unst or Whalsay. What these people should remember is that Shetland is itself a small island community and it could be argued not sustainable in a Scottish or wider context, especially now that the oil and gas could be easily piped somewhere else. We in Shetland must look after our smaller communities or we will look fairly hypocritical if arguing for better support from Edinburgh if we don’t set an example ourselves.

In conversation with Tavish Scott a few years back when discussing the distribution of Scottish Executive jobs to remote locations, he remarked that we would not have much success persuading them(the Scottish Government) if we could not manage to devolve even a few jobs from Lerwick to the outlying communities.

Despite efforts by vested interests in Lerwick to continue to do their best to slow down, block or otherwise put hurdles in the way of allowing remote working( despite public protestations to the contrary), a very few are now managing to work remotely.  Although when it suits during recent snowfalls it is remarkable how many Lerwick based SIC staff seemed to be working effectively from home!

I am not foolish enough to suggest that all jobs are suitable for remote working, as they patently are not. But a lot of jobs could be done at least partly from a remote office. This would allow more people to live in the country, where they are at present, reduce the demand for housing in Lerwick and also reduce the strain on Lerwick schools. This would mean that we shouldn’t have to build or extend Lerwick schools and the new Anderson could probably be smaller and thus cheaper. This may even, shock horror save some money and the odd hunderedweight of CO2.

A good start would be a sea change in SIC policy in that you should be able to apply for a job as remote working from the outset, where at the moment you have to apply for the job and only if you get it can you then dare to ask if you can work remotely. I did notice lately several SIC jobs being advertised as NOT suitable for remote working but have noticed NONE which were.

It might also be an idea for ALL the new planned council housing to be built outside of Lerwick. This will allow many businesses outside of Lerwick to expand, something many of them are constrained from doing by the lack of local labour, which is a direct result of a lack of local housing. Lerwick has I understand over 1000 houses owned and rented by either the SIC or Hjaltland. I think that is probably plenty for the moment.

Rant over, thank you and good night

Despite the very mild hairst that old winter feeling is on us again. Temperature has gone right down and the wind has moved up a gear meaning the wind chill is doing the business. Its days like this that make you wonder about the theories on global warming.

Of course the theory is that if the seas heat up it will affect the ocean currents meaning the end of the gulf stream and for us in the far North a much colder climate, more akin to the other counties on the same latitude.

Having said that several ice ages have come and gone, the ending of these must have involved an amount of warming on a global scale and yet there were no humans around to supposedly muck things up then. Perhaps our thoughts that we are responsible for global warming shows a tremendous arrogance on the part of the human race, nature is a lot more powerful than we can imagine! Perhaps there are vested interests at work or perhaps not? What is true is that we have access to limited resources on our “small” planet and we are certainly using some of them at an alarming rate. Most notable of these is oil , those who would seek to inform about peak oil and all that jazz have a fairly fair point IMHO.

At the end of the day its all down to each of us to decide  how we want to act to try and address some of these issues, or not as the case may be.

As I’m not likely to post again before 2010, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all

Colgrave sound is set to become the scene of a mass migration this weekend as that most excellent annual event the Fetlar Foy is due to take place on Saturday. Now in its 11th? year this years event looks set to be a cracker. The theme this year will have a viking flavour with a number of Vikings invading for the day. There will be a torchlight procession and a bonfire in true Up helly aa style.

The Fetlar hnefatafl panel will again be offering people to try the ancient viking board game and to add a little spice this year there will be a massive “board” with real vikings making up some of the pieces. Volunteers will be called for to  prevent the Jarl or King from escaping. The game will take place in a hollow and there are surrounding broo’s from which you can cheer on your choosen side. As the game will be played using the “speed hnefatafl” rules it will be quick moving and dare I say it exciting.

Entertainment will come from full sprootle(well you try and say or type the name), Koli forboli ( not sure if im spelt dis right eidder) Some idder band I canna mind da name o and finishing with those old timers who refuse to act their age - No Sweat (if some een keens aa da right names lit me keen)

Anyway enough o da advert ! I’ll be tackling Yell Sound da moarn but no doubt Colgave will still be where I left her da night n will hopefully be welcomong and slight on thursday and the rest o the weekend. While I have been at good foys wearing oilskins the best ones are when the sun shines……

Pack up your kitbags n head for Fetlar dis helly, hit ill be a spree

Ok ok don’t get o your high horses, I know its a pretty limp play on words.

Just starting to find my way around the site and looking at how I can customise the look of my blog. A new header pic will be first although I have to say that as a default this one is fairly good.

However with the Up Helly Aa season approching quickly they’ll probably not be to much time for mucking around with changes just now. The incessant druming of the rain on the roof and the gales make me wish this Global warming would hurry up and get here. Of now to the release from reality of Dancing on Ice, a version of the show is to be staged in Yell shortly under the “Dancing on Gutter” heading.

For those of my friends I haven’t already seen a happy 2009 to you all.

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