Hameward Boond.

SO! When I'm down in Glasgow I stay with my Mum & Dad ( cup of tea in the morning, piece on sausage, washing done, "phone if yer staying out all night!" and so on.) So here is my journey back to Baltasound as taken this week.

1. TRAIN Gilshochil- Queen Street. 13 mins
2. TRAIN Queen Street- Aberdeen. 2 1/2Hrs
3. FERRY Aberdeen- Lerwick. 12 hrs (overnight)
4. BUS Lerwick- Toft. 40 mins
5. FERRY Toft- Ulsta. 20mins
6. BUS Ulsta- Gutcher. 25 mins
7. FERRY Gutcher- Belmont. 10 mins
8. BUS Belmont- Baltasaound. 10 mins

An epic 22 hour adventure! The plane is more expensive and easier but also there is no bus, repeat, NO BUS to meet the plane from Glasgow. Are they trying to tell us something? So no plane unless I can get a lift.

HOWEVER, yesterday on the Shetland leg of my journey I cleverly fell asleep in the middle of Step 5, the Toft -Ulsta ferry. The night before I hadn't got to sleep till 1am and then some drunk tit came into his bunk (shared cabins like a floating youth hostel) at 3am and fannyed about for a while! Basterd! Ages to get back to sleep then up at 6.30 in a "bing-bong" hi-de-hi style "get-oot-yer-bed" announcement.

So asleep I fall on the middle-sized ferry waking up to see us docked at the isle of Yell with no idea how long we'd been there or if we were about to shove off again. I ran down just in time to have two deck hands point at me and laugh. Missed the bus. Fuct!

Luckily there were two cooncil lorries parked at the shop. I managed to hitch a lift from Lowrie, a workie from the North Mainland.

He was going to MY STREET! (well, the airstrip round the corner from my street.) He even gave me coffee and biscuits as we awaited the peerie (wee) ferry. Braw!

BTW, the way I found out there was no bus at Sumburgh to meet the Glasgow plane was by arriving at Sumburgh on the Glasgow plane and standing there like a pure diddy. Sumburgh is in the extreme south of the islands and I live in the extreme north. (see map A=Sumburgh Airport, B= My House .) If I'd waited for the next bus, 3 hours later, I would have missed ALL my connections home. Had to get a cab to Lerwick where the bus to Toft left 5 minutes early "as it normally does" I was informed by a helpful memeber of station staff. I hitched a lift from a council electrician. I told him I was off to the ferry to meet my wife who was at a workshop in the Bonhoga Gallery- so he took me there!

Not since I was a child have I had so much fun getting into cars with strange men.

Norwick Exposure.

We've had a GORGEOUS month of sun. So we've been spending a lot of time at Norwick Beach.


It's only about 8-10 minutes drive from oor hoose.
Soft sand, rolling surf, big bay view, arctic terns diving for their dinner. Beautiful.
Here's Caroline and the dug enjoying a good splash around. (left)












Even on a cold day it's lovely.
Do you like my John Lennon New York Just Before He Got Shot look? All dubbed up for the cold arctic wind.

Bracing sea air, wind in your hair, the dug fighting with the sea. Ooh Arrr! I gonna have to get myself a Sixareen! That's a Scandinavian six oar boat that fishermen keep dying in. Oh, but, arrrrr! She be harsh mistress, etc.