Shetland, sun or storm, always beautiful!!!

I couldn't see the sun

2013-06-21T14:12:00.000+01:00

I never made it for simmer dim last night. It was cloudy with a little mist so I couldn't see the sun coming up and that's the main bit for me, which meant that I went back to bed instead of going out for the simmer dim.

It's just left two o'clock in the afternoon now and it's brightening up a little but I won't get my hopes up.

Songs of Thule

Simmer Dim

2013-06-20T13:20:00.001+01:00

Firstly, I have to apologise to everyone for not writing here lately. I have had thoughts on other things and that has taken me elsewhere but I'm back, at least for today.

Today we will enjoy Simmer Dim. The sun came up this morning at about 03.35 and will go down again at around 22.38 this evening. The sun will be back up tomorrow morning at 03.36 which means that tonight will be very short indeed.

It certainly won't be very dark tonight, regardless of the weather. There are twenty-three and a quarter hours of visible light today and I personally see it as a twenty-four hour day because, to me anyway, it won't get truly dark tonight. Dusky perhaps but enough light to stop me getting lost.

I am hoping that tonight the weather will be good as I would like to be out for a few hours tonight to enjoy Simmer Dim. If it happens the way that I would like then I'll tell you all about it tomorrow and hopefully have some photo's to show you.

A Black Country Lad Explores; The Wildlife of Shetland's Simmer Dim

The Simmer Dim

What's the weather like?

2013-03-23T11:12:00.000+00:00

This says it all about the weather this year and tells us just how poor it is in comparison to last year. What do you think, is it just a cold spring or is it a sign of what is on the way?

Thanks to the BBC for the copy. It shows yesterdays
weather and a year before that.

I certainly hope that it gets better quickly but looking out of the window and seeing that the snow is still coming down doesn't help very much, does it!!!

Walking on the Shetland moon

2013-03-11T17:39:00.000+00:00

Should have waited

2013-03-09T15:00:00.000+00:00

I should have waited a few minutes before I put out the last blog. Then I could have mentioned that the sky was going to be covered over by clouds, throwing snow everywhere.

I can't complain, I love it and hope that by tomorrow it is at the very least, six feet deep and lasts for a week. That's Shetland weather for you, always paradise :))

More Mistakes

2013-03-09T12:01:00.000+00:00

I've done it again, I thought that spring was with us so I put the peppermint and the strawberry seeds that I'd just potted out to the wee greenhouse-on-the-wall that I'd recently put up. They haven't risen yet, not a single one of them has even stuck a finger up to test the temperature.

Peppermint leaves

Perhaps they know the truth, perhaps they know all too well that it's too bloody cold for them to come up yet. If they wait another month then they will come up smiling and the paranoia will leave me alone, at least I hope that it will leave me alone.

That's Shetland for you :))

Hillswicks weather and its internet connection

2013-02-25T13:20:00.000+00:00

Blue sky over the water

Unfortunately, we no longer have the clear blue sky that we had for the last few days. It really was lovely and well worth going out and enjoying while it lasted. Now we have a little cloud cover and a very, very light breeze blowing at around four or five knots so not worth getting worked up about.

And because it's a Monday all the children are off to school and all the working adults are doing their bit to support society, or more likely, to support themselves and their family. This means that I have no problem getting connected to the internet – at the moment!!!

There are times when things are a little different though. First thing in the morning, between six and eight, every day of the working week, it can be almost impossible to go on the net. Every day of the working week, from four o'clock in the afternoon until perhaps six o'clock in the evening it is more use washing the windows because again, you won't get onto the internet then either.

All these promises that they make!!!

There is, of course, a reason for these problems. In effect we live, here in Hillswick, Northmavine in Shetland, at the end of the line and all the people further down the line suffer this problem less and less as they get to the beginning of the line.

Now I don't know about you but this annoys me. I pay for this service just like everyone else but I don't get the same service as those further down the road and I do not get any discount for that.

I do know that they can install what they call a “Cabinet”, please don't ask me what it is because I don't know. What I do know is that it is the solution to the problem we get in this area, as told to me by BT.

Please, please, make a real nuisance of yourselves. Moan and groan incessantly at British Telecom. If we don't do that then things won't improve.

The price won't go down either, it will only go up.

Sorry, I forgot....

2013-01-30T11:39:00.000+00:00

With all the wang-dang about Up Helly Aa yesterday, I forgot to mention that after doing most of my shopping at the Co-op, I popped over to South Road and went into Tesco for some cheap burgers for dinner last night. Now I'm a little horse.

Having said that, I do prefer My Lidl Pony :))

Up Helly Aa again

2013-01-29T19:17:00.000+00:00

It's Up Helly Aa today and I'm grateful that this year I've made no attempt whatsoever to be in Lerwick tonight to see the men marching through the town and the burning of the boat at the end of the march.

Normally, I wouldn't say that. Usually, I would want to go along and see the march and the burning of the boat followed up by a really good evening, sociable in the extreme, where everyone, the men that did the march and the people that went to see it, is happy and friendly but tonight, unfortunately, the weather is not perfect. It's pouring down with rain outside my house. I'm thirty-five miles away from town but suspect that it will do exactly the same in Lerwick.

Ah, well - that's life, I suppose. I bet that it will still be a great evening for all that are there.

The shortest day of the year

2012-12-21T07:22:00.000+00:00

It's only four days until Christmas now and it's also the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. The sun will come up here in Shetland at 09.12 and will go back down at 14.55 which means that the sun is up for just under six hours, a very short day indeed.

An hour before sunrise

Come the middle of June things will have changed. The sun will go down at about 22.30 and will come back up at about 03.30, meaning a long, long day and an almost non-existent night as at this time it is never really dark, only dusky for a while.

I find this quite difficult at times. At the moment I'm comfortable living in a predominantly dark environment. Come the spring and it starts to change, becoming very much the opposite and for a while it's hard work coping with the change but I will get into it – and soon after it will start to go the other way again and it's time to settle into that yet again.

Some things never change and yet, they change so much. From winter to summer, the time that the sun goes down changes by approximately seven and a half hours and the change in the morning is similar.

I wonder why I can't sleep sensibly?

I had plans

2012-12-06T14:47:00.000+00:00

Today, my perhaps shrunken mind was full. It was full of plans to go rushing out and grab some beautiful snapshots of the freshly laid snow and the sun bouncing off it, making the whole place really bright and beautiful.

Linlithgow Castle

Aye, that will be right. It's rained off and on all day and the sun has been hiding behind the clouds the whole time. Pity that I didn't put a little more effort into it yesterday when it was just as I needed for spot-on photo's all day but I was too bloody lazy to go out and get them.

The picture was taken a couple of years ago. It's Linlithgow Castle, down in central Scotland. It's the snowiest that I've got to show at the moment.

Brilliant weather

2012-12-05T13:13:00.000+00:00

I love the snow. I know that, at my age, I really should have grown up and got over it now but it's been snowing off and on for a couple of days now and it's brilliant.

I just hope that it lasts like this for a good few months :))

I missed it!!!

2012-11-28T18:18:00.000+00:00

I missed the lunar eclipse today. It was only half my fault though. I forgot when to look for it but it was all cloudy anyway so it was hardly visible.

I checked up for the next one to miss, either by forgetting to look in my diary or by bad weather making it impossible to see here in Shetland. April the twenty-fifth next year there will be a partial eclipse and October the eighteenth will be a penumbral one meaning that the sun is on one side of the earth and the moon is at the opposite side of planet earth.

Keep your eyes open on the twenty-eighth of September, 2015 as there will be a total lunar eclipse which will let all the bad luck fall upon us - if you believe in that sort of thing.

I believe in it but I call it marriage :))

Oh, I nearly forgot to say that there will be a total eclipse of the sun on the twentieth of March, 2015. Remember to get some new batteries for your torch!!!

Serco Northlink Ferries

2012-11-25T12:55:00.002+00:00

At last, at long, long last it has been announced that people travelling on Serco Northlink Ferries between Shetland, Orkney and Aberdeen in Scotland, no longer need to provide photographic ID to allow them to get on board the ferry that they have bought the ticket for.

It was farcical in the first place. You don't need ID to get a taxi and you don't need ID to get on the bus (just yet) so what justified the demand for ID to get on a ferry that never leaves the country that we live in, in the first place? Sorry, I cannot work out what goes behind it - other than the stupidity and big-headedness that goes with the company running the ferries, of course!!!

In a couple of days I hope to be on the bus into Lerwick, the only real town in Shetland. If they demand any ID other than my bus pass then I'll let you know.

Shetland's shortening day

2012-11-23T17:36:00.000+00:00

Today the sun came up at 8.27 and went down again at 3.15. That cannot be called a long day, now can it.

A good day but a short one.
In just over a week the sun comes up at 8.50 in the morning and goes down again at 3.00 in the afternoon. That's about six hours of sunlight - how much shorter can the day get? Will it be worth getting out of bed in the morning? Will I still be snoring in the afternoon? Who can tell and who cares :))

The days are getting shorter

2012-11-16T09:21:00.000+00:00

The days are really getting shorter now as the sun comes up at around ten past eight in the morning, stays up and visible for less than seven and a half hours and goes down again a minute before three thirty in the middle of the afternoon.

Certainly not a long day now but don't worry, it will get shorter yet. Sunrise and sunset at the moment are beautiful and happen at just the right time to enjoy!!!

That's Shetland for us, eh :))

Internet problems in Google Chrome

2012-11-10T13:03:00.000+00:00

Anyone having trouble with MyStart by Incredibar and would like some help getting rid of the problem?

In the top right of google chrome there is “Customise and control Google Chrome” Click on it then click on Settings/ Manage settings where you’ll find a list of search engines. Right down at the bottom (You may have to screen down) you’ll find Incredibar. Delete, run spyware, have a coffee and smile!!!

This won't keep the problem away for ever, it'll reappear regularly but it gives you a solution that works until you pick it up again.

My girlfriend and I

2012-10-13T14:50:00.000+01:00

We're all home in Shetland now, my girlfriend and I, and of course the wee cat. In all honesty, not so long ago he was a kitten but he's settled quickly and yesterday he made his first visit into the back garden. The window was left open for him, he took a quick sniff of the air and jumped out. Now he jumps in and out all the time.

The sun is out today and the wind is non-existent which is good for people to move into but it won't be long until both Kate and the cat are both aware just what the weather can be like on the Atlantic coast - and let's be honest - it's only three or four miles away from the North Sea. No protection to be had here at all.

It's going to be a good life for us here in Northmavine at the northern end of Mainland, here in Shetland. It's a good place to live if you appreciate a quiet life, surrounded by lots of natural life, both on the land and in the sea. It's amazing how many seals, dolphins and whales that you see in the water.

Must admit, I've never caught a kipper yet though :))

Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham

2012-09-26T13:52:00.000+01:00

Strangely enough for someone that lives in Shetland, at the moment I'm sitting in Nottingham where my girlfriend lives. It wasn't a long trip down. A night on the boat down to Aberdeen and then the train to finish off the journey and I'm so glad that I made the trip. Anywhere, or everywhere, is the right place to be with the girl that you love.

Nottingham has turned out to be a lovely place. Lots of trees all around, which is a novelty to me because you don't see them up in Shetland as many years ago neolithic cut them all down and used them for fires and to build houses or whatever.

Haven't seen anything of old Robin Hood yet. Haven't spotted the Sheriff either. Perhaps it's because I've behaved myself or the Merry Men are out fighting.

Thanks to all the nurse's

2012-09-09T14:04:00.000+01:00

Please, show the nurses some love, some care and some consideration. I've just spent a fortnight in the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in Aberdeen in Scotland and I have been superbly looked after. If they wern't there then it would have been entirely different. Please give the doctors a pat on the back too.

If they didn't do their jobs, where would you and I be now?

Strawberry, garlic and mint.

2012-09-04T13:36:00.002+01:00

I always like to use my garden to provide some of my favourites but up here in Shetland I'm never sure of what will actually grow but I'm about to find out.

I've just ordered seeds to start me off (hopefully) with mint, garlic and something that I really am looking forward to growing, strawberry.

I think that I've ordered enough of all but we'll have to wait and see there. If I haven't then I'll just have to order more. I know that mint was successful here in Shetland because my grandfather on my mothers side grew it very successfully but I know nothing of the other two, other than the fact that I love them.

All of it should arrive within a week to ten days and I think that I'll get it all planted immediately. It won't produce this year but next year, hopefully, it will sprout away and offer me something to enjoy.

Happy again

2012-08-31T11:12:00.000+01:00

The weather hasn't been too good since I got home but today it has changed. There is no wind blowing this morning and there's only very light cloud overhead.

Yet again it gives me the chance to potter about in the garden, feed the birds and keep myself happy. It's amazing just what you do to entertain yourself, isn't it.

Right, better get down to it before I'm too old or lazy or the winter sets in or something. Not that he'll give me any help, jumping around in the water like that.

Back home in Shetland

2012-08-27T16:46:00.001+01:00

Sorry that I’ve not been around for a while but I’ve been in hospital in Aberdeen for a fortnight, dealing with skin problems that are not solved but hey, that’s life.

I’m back home now, thank goodness, and feeling good about it too. The weather is a bit fresh but better than that of a ward, eugggggh!!!!!

Now I have all the time that I need to look after my trees, the willows and black hawthorns that I grow.

Perhaps I’ll start some more, maybe something that produces some fruit. That’s difficult up here in Shetland because of the wind and the salt that we suffer but if I make the effort, I just might get a result. I will need to grow a bit around the garden as protection and then , inside of that I can put some apple, or possibly some pear, we’ll see what happens.

All these dreams, grown at ward 29 in the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and they may well turn into reality in the not too distant future.

Fingers crossed, if I try any of it, it will produce something, fruit maybe!!!

In hospital for perhaps two weeks

2012-08-18T14:41:00.002+01:00

What do you do when you are stuck in hospital for perhaps two weeks and there is no, wait for it, internet connection available.

Personally, I am lucky in many ways as I have my eReader with me which means that I have all my eBooks with me too. I also have blogs etc on board it, which, surprisingly, update as and when there is an update available. That’s great but it would also be good to have internet access with your laptop as well, so that you could remain in contact with your friends, or if an idea came into your head you could follow it through on the internet, at no cost to the NHS, or yourself, whatsoever. If you were able to remain in work while in hospital then there would be no time off sick and therefore no loss of earnings.

Here in the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, in sunny northern Scotland, we are told that things are on the change. Supposedly, in December of this year, there will be internet access across the board for firstly the staff working here and secondly, the patients who can remain here for large periods of time with nothing but the copy of the Scotsman that they arrived with and a magazine about fishing that they used to get every month.

I live about three hundred miles north in the Shetland Islands, which is an absolutely gorgeous place to live, but it is very small so there is no more than purely basic medical services available. This means that you go down to the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for attention to your problem when necessary and that is where I am at present.

I must admit that I’m wallowing in the care being taken but miss access to the internet terribly. As I said earlier, this will change, hopefully in December when Internet access is provided across the hospital for all and sundry to enjoy.

The staff all care very well for me but the internet will make the difference.

Peace in the water

2012-08-05T13:52:00.000+01:00

It's almost warm, not quite but almost and it's still, no wind at all. Looking at the Atlantic it's like a polished mirror today, no movement to take the reflection away from the water.

A seal sitting on the sand across from me, watching. Is it because it is looking out for itself naturally or is it hoping that I have something for it to eat, a bit of fish perhaps. It's probably hoping, I think.

So much serenity today, so much peace. No disturbance, no trouble, just the seal sitting.

Peace all around, I hope that it lasts.