Far North - December 2005

Greetings from the very far north!! It's a beautiful sunny day up here - blue skies, the lot.

Unst is the most northerly part of the UK - we're on the same lines of latitude as Labrador, Siberia and Greenland. We're closer to Iceland than we are to London. Our island is 12 miles long and 5 miles wide, with a population of about 700.

Been in Unst now for over 6 years. I was born in Shetland, but grew up in Aberdeen. So I definitely do not have a Shetland accent!!

The school (Baltasound Junior High School) is gearing up for Christmas. Next week is our last full week of term. Hooray!!

Another mild day in the Far North. Christmas preparations move on at an ever increasing pace. Yesterday, some filming was done at a local beach. This involved our jannie dressing up as Poseidon, walking up to his chest and ducking right under the water. The North Sea in December is not for the faint-hearted!! Feeling is just coming back to his extremities today.

Last night was busy. I'm one of the few male voices that will be taking part in our Christmas concert - 16 girls and women, and only 3 male voices.

Immediately afterwards, on to the RAF camp to rehearse for our panto version of King Arthur. Playing Mordred, while one of my pupils plays my mother!!!

Been a busy few days. Parents Evening on Thurs then headed for south mainland of Shetland. I'd a meeting to go to in Lerwick on Fri morning, so rather than getting up at some ungodly hour travelled down that night. This still involved 2 ferries and a 75 mile drive. Many non-Shetlanders don't realise the distances we have to cover.

Fri evening, Joy, Paul (Herma Ness blogger) & I went to the Wind Dog Cafe at the north end of Yell, where we met up with birthday girl, Maggi (see postings from other Unst bloggers). Great food!! 4 tables in use - 3 of them with Baltasound teachers. (Today the North Isles, tomorrow the World - (maniacal laughter) Ha, ha, ha)

Maggi's birthday has already been covered by puffinbillyunst and Ruthodanort. Take away the bouncy castle & it was just like a normal day in the staff room.

Sun was pretty windy (as usual). Had to get up at the crack of dawn - well 10am. Come to think of it at this time of year up here that is the crack of dawn. Paul had to catch a plane & Joy was driving him to the airport. The airport is at the opposite end of Shetland.

In the photo we see teachers making an **** of themselves. Cannot name person in picture (as I don't want to be banished to having Xmas dinner on my own).

Normal school timetable - in the Secondary Department at least - has been temporarily suspended. Normal service will be resumed after Christmas Hols. Rehearsals for the school concert on Thurs are well under way. The primary kids are doing The Little Drummer Boy, while secondary pupils are enacting that well known Yuletide story, Odysseus - complete with boat, Poseidon, Sirens, a Cyclops and a 6-headed monster!

This is a busy week - as well as school, there's carol singing tonight, rehearsals tomorrow night, concert on Thurs, staff night out on Fri and recovering on Sat.

Photo shows a rather windy looking sky - taken from my bedroom window at 8am.