puffinbillyunst

Still feeling bit under the weather.

Mind you, you can't get the sandeels these days. Having to survive on pipefish. You ever tried eating one? Wriggly little buggers that wrap round yer bill and there's no food in 'em.

Can I start reposting? Or will I just be controversial and mention island C and amnesty irony?

Would anyone care?

They still use my photos though.

Lots of photos - from me and the Swan Maiden (do you think she's got bird flu?) and others at www.baltasound.shetland.sch.uk

Time for another pipefish.

Feeling a bit under the weather.

Hope I haven't got flu.

I'm not very good at this blogging lark. Partly I'm too busy; partly I'm too esoteric (who cares about Red-rumped Swallows?); partly its the subjects I want to talk about. Are they too controversial?

Take decentralisation. Now the SIC talks about it, but they don't actually do very much. When we had the meeting on Unst about the closure of RAF Saxa Vord, the SIC councillors and officials went a strange shade of purple whenever moving anything outside Lerwick was mentioned.

But if you spend your day in front of a computer screen does it matter if that screen is in Lerwick or in Baltasound? There seems to be this strangely quaint idea that generating council jobs outside Lerwick means moving whole departments, as though e-working has never happened. 'And you can't just move people if they don’t want to go' we were told. I know a few people who'd like that in writing!

Anyway, just as Unst has a glimmer on the horizon in the form of the proposed redevelopment of the camp, a report published recently threatens another kick in the teeth.

Now I probably can't say too much, so I'll give you this hypothetical situation. There are two islands, which we'll call A (nearest the Mainland) and B (furthest from the Mainland). Island A has a building that needs replacing (it was built in a bog, but we won't go into that now) and island B has a building that has the potential to be used more fully.

It seems likely that the building on island A does need demolishing - reasonable so far. If so, a new building is needed to replace it. O-k-a-y, that follows ... but surely that’s pricey. So the idea is that island B then closes its building and moves most of its users to the new building on island A.

Hang on! I've just detected a bit of a flaw here. Why not just move the users of the building on island A to island B, where there is already a building with spare capacity? That would save millions and surely moving from A to B is just the same as moving from B to A? Probably not, at least in the eyes of those in Lerwick - how can it possibly be right to move AWAY from the centre?

Well, ask the Norwegians, who know a bit about decentralisation and preserving rural communities. They're always put forward as the ideal that Shetland should be working towards, but few can see much evidence of their philosophy being adopted here. If they had a situation like the hypothetical islands A and B they would concentrate the facilities on B, the furthest island, to help encourage settlement away from the Mainland, even (in fact, especially) if they built fixed links.

Whereas you suspect that Lerwick-based agencies would like everything in Lerwick, or on Mainland, or, if absolutely necessary, on an island but as close to the ferry (bridge, tunnel) as humanly possible.

If you live on island you know what I mean: 'sorry, can't come today, the ferries might be cancelled' (used on any day with winds higher than force 4); 'the roads may be bad' (used on any day on which a snowflake is sighted); 'we'll see you first thing. That's about 11 as we won't leave Lerwick till 9. And we need to leave about 1 to get the ferries as we need to be in Lerwick before 5.' Doesn't apply the other way though, does it? We're expected to be in Lerwick for 9.

No, overall I don’t think that many of the people in high places have really understood the concept of decentralisation.

But I know one thing, taking facilities away from Unst just when it is trying to attract new blood is hardly the sort of encouragement we want to see. Leaving things as they are would make sense, at least until it is clear what is going to happen to Unst and the issue of fixed links may have been resolved. Full marks to our councillor Brian Gregson for trying to get an amendment to remove Unst from the considerations – unfortunately the motion was narrowly defeated.

Time to remind the SIC that the word Islands in it’s name is plural – there is more to Shetland than just the Mainland.


Shetland as viewed from Lerwick

I wonder if this works!

It seems that we are missing something in Unst. Who would have thought that we would be speechless without Far North!

It's not as if things aren't afoot. After months of pessimism as RAF Saxa Vord has closed down and local businesses have gone into administration there has been some recent optimism, with a very promising meeting at which the preferred bidder for the camp painted the rosiest picture most of us have seen for a good while. Fingers crossed.

Here is more snowy imagery. Enjoy.

We got a stange phone call today as well. Someone called Anne told us there will be no 'school' tomorrow. What is this things called 'school'?

Not feeling very literary at the moment. Too busy editing BS3 (the third 'Birds of Scotland') or being chief cook and bottlewasher as Mrs Billy recovers.

So here are pictures of Unst. Without snow ...



... and with snow.

Where do we start?

Up Helly Aa is a great Shetland tradition which helps pass the time in those long winter nights. It started as a tar-barrel-dragging contest on the 24th day of Yule, but when tar barrels were banned in Lerwick in the 1870s the locals devised other ways of entertainment, eventually deciding upon a squad of Vikings processing with torches and setting a Viking boat alight.

The tradition spread to Unst in 1911, the Uyeasound Up Helly Aa being the second oldest in the world, while Norwick on Unst has held an Up Helly Aa since 1985.

Last year, the Jarl in Norwick was our glorious leader at Baltasound School, so as visitors to Evil Twinny's blog (aka So High ...) will know, there was a teacher's squad ('Andy's Funny Farm'). And what a glamorous lot we were ...

One of those days when everything has been going on at school. My class began by writing letters and taking photos to send to a class in Japan who's teacher visted them last year. Then we had the dentist arriving for dental checks, which we completed in time for a visit from the Dogs Against Drugs team. In the afternoon, the 'high heid yins' from Lerwick were up for a look round and then we handed out the reports which have been occupying our thoughts and evenings for most of the week.

None of these things deserve being called 'outstanding', but the results of the HMI Nursery report were published in The Shetland Times today and this was the very word used to describe the Nursery provision. So well done Catherine and Alison and all who work in the Nursery.

As Far North commented, Saturday was a beautiful day - a real day between weathers with all the storms and rain either side of it. We went to Lerwick where my better half got her hair done and I went looking for photos. In the evening I was giving a talk on The Birds of Panama, which went well enough, apart from the techno gremlins!

Even the football went well on Saturday, but in answer to Herman Ess, no visit to Anfield at Christmas - no time. When will Herman get his blog sorted though? Or why not just start another!

Must get some Unst photos on here next!