A beautiful morning

It really is a beautiful morning today, sun up at about ten past nine and the wind down too. The wind is forecast to rise to approx 46mph at midnight tonight so it's well worth considering starting to prepare a cold New Years Day dinner today - while the power is still on.

It might not be on for long though. After all, there are no promises in life, are there!!!

Oh, and I've just realised, I'll have to get on to Ms Patel at the BBC. The Scottish North Harassment Division of T.V Licensing have sent no threatening letter today. Is that what is really paid for by the BBC, a half-done job of threatening people that don't watch T.V. After all, they are expected to do a full and complete job.

I got home - eventually!!!

This Christmas and New Year was wonderful. I spent it four hundred miles south of home with the lady that I love and the biggest wee man that I've ever known. Nine years old and a great guy. I hope everyone had at least half as much pleasure and celebration as me, this time around it was brilliant.

There was a problem though - getting home. I got the boat up from Aberdeen, Scotland to Lerwick, Shetland overnight, landing at seven-thirty in the morning and I caught the first bus up to Brae, which is about twelve miles from home. There is a bus that leaves the garage in Brae at about twenty to ten and goes up to Hillswick where I live and that was the bus that I stood waiting for.

Up to this point the journey had been fine. I slept well on board the boat, the first bus was on time to pick me up, all went well until the nine-forty bus came along. It drove up towards the bus stop, the driver waved - and carried on driving. The next bus is in the late afternoon so I invested twenty pounds, angrily, on a taxi.

After calming down I set out to find out why this had happened. I contacted the council who informed me that there is a summer-only service, from Brae to Hillswick at that time in the morning but it is only a summer service.

That, it turns out is true but it is also true that throughout the year there is a ten o'clock bus leaving Hillswick every morning bar Wednesday. To provide that service the bus leaves the garage in Brae at - yes, you've guessed it - twenty minutes to ten.

Surely this is a bit silly. During the summer there is a superb service up to Hillswick, available to all and sundry but off-season the residents of Hillswick cannot go home in the morning, people who wish to visit friends or family cannot catch a bus to do so, even though the bus is making the same trip that it makes in the summer. People in Hillswick cannot pop down to shop, or visit for a short time and then catch the bus home an hour and a half later.

All because a bus that travels up five mornings of every week of every month of every year only picks up passengers in the summer.

It's a long walk - or twenty quid in the taxi!!!

New Year at last!!!

The sun is going down and New Years Eve is coming upon us. The last day of the year has been beautiful, still and sunny so hopefully a sign of the way the new year will be. I'm not writing much today as I want to spend the eve as it should be spent.

I wish you all a good, prosperous and very happy new year!!!

It's been Christmas and the New Year hasn't started

We're right in the middle just now, a brilliant Christmas has just been and a perfect New Year is only days away. Hope that yours is as good and I wish you many more!!!