Scottish Parliament 2011

Voting for the Scottish Parliament comes up shortly and here in Shetland we have the usual sorts to choose from. We've got the Lib Dem's, Labour, SNP but only one is worth the vote, only one is doing it with a heart. Vote for Billy Fox!!!

Billy Fox – Independent Shetland candidate for the Scottish Parliament 2011

The old mackerel

I've just picked up on what Iceland and the Faroes are doing about the amount of mackerel that they can catch, as deemed by the European Union. They are going to go ahead and ignore it, as they did last year. They will take all the benefits that they can from the EU, plus the fish that they ain't supposed to.

Now, to me that just ain't right. If a country is going to take the benefits then it has to play the game too, it has to follow the rules. If they are going to take with one hand then they give with the other.

But will they - I doubt it!!!

Travelling on a Wednesday

On a Wednesday the bus service here in Hillswick is poor. There is a bus to town, leaving at seven thirty in the morning and a bus leaving town at ten past five in the afternoon to bring you home. Not up to much is it?

Today I had an appointment with the dentist at quarter to ten in the morning so got the bus to town which was fine. I got there at nine o'clock and wasted a bit of time before heading to the administrator of pain on Burgh Road, Lerwick. I was only in for a few minutes and when I came out I went to the Harbour Cafe for breakfast before I caught the bus up to Brae. Before the ten past five bus on a Wednesday it's the best available, that's why I took it.

Walking out of Brae with my thumb out I got a lift all the way home which was great. I couldn't believe that I got a lift so quickly and the chap took me almost to my door, thanks mate, I owe you one.

But you have to admit that it's a pretty poor service here in Hillswick where, all too often you have to do what I did, namely, get the thumb out. I have on a number of occasions had to walk the whole way.

Our MP, Alistair Carmichael has contacted the Shetland council to see what can be done about this. We'll wait and see what the council has to say about it.

Don't stay quiet about it though. The more people that stand up and shout, the quicker there will be action by the council that will benefit us - so remember and shout out loud!!!

Oh Gawd, age is going to hit!!!

Between now and August I'm going to slowly but surely realise just how old I am. I was asked last night if I'd like to join in with a 10km run and while not thinking sensibly, like the fact that I'm forty-nine and never do anything more physical than get up in the morning, I said yes.

Having said yes I now feel that there is no way out. No problem with the person that invited me, actually getting the invite is really nice but now I've got to get fit and able and it scares the s**t out of me. Never done a moments exercise in my life, oh well, I said yes so I guess that I've got to wear it.

So I started the exercises this morning, slow easy-going stuff. I walked three or four miles to the Braewick cafe, looking forward to a cup of coffee and a bun when I got there. When I did I found that it opens next month. Great, I turned around and walked home. The time spent out in the fresh air did me no harm and I'm sure the legs will get better - sometime.

I certainly learnt one thing though. I am not as fit as I kept telling myself. No here near at all.

The cashline card and the Co-op

I have found out what happened at last!!!

Remember the story about the cashline card and the Co-op? Well, it turns out that some chancers have been trying to pinch my money, accessing it via the cashline card and because of that The Royal Bank of Scotland had, quite rightly, stopped my card. The annoying bit is that they had, quite correctly, done that - but, and a big but too - the information about it had not reached me at that point in time so I tried to buy food using a piece of plastic that was nothing more than that - a piece of plastic.

It's all sorted now though, the new card is on its way here and I'm aware what has all been happening. Well done RBS!!!

But now I can't pay for the grub - can I come around to yours for dinner please?

What sort of day was today?

A good day or a bad day - well, there's a bit to consider, I suppose.

For a start I slept in and that's not the best way to kick it off, now is it? And it's Wednesday and that means that there ain't too many choices, are there?

Let me explain. You have the choice of getting the bus to town on a Wednesday at half past seven (I've possibly mentioned this before) in the morning and travel on the bus home, leaving town at ten past five in the early evening, or finding some other means of transport and if like me, you suffer from epilepsy (oh, I've mentioned it before as well) then you don't drive so you need to find other means to travel.

Well you can walk, it would keep you fit and if you timed it right then you would only (ONLY!!!) have to walk eleven or so miles to Brae where you could get the necessary bus. At least it's not Sunday though, no bus coming or going that day. Perhaps they all spend the day praying for their souls. They possibly need to (Please ignore that one Jenny.).

Or you could thumb a lift, that was what I did today and a lady that stays in the village picked me up after I'd walked four or five hundred yards. Brilliant, that was that problem sorted. Thumbs up, thank you!!!

I had come into town for a hospital appointment that would last about fifteen minutes so I went to the Harbour Cafe for breakfast and it was great, always is, my stomachs idea of paradise. Then it was off to the library, where I could go online and spend some time wastefully but happily before getting it done (I won't describe any) and then having plenty time to do the next bit of necessity - the shopping.

And this is where I got angry - very, very angry indeed.

I wandered down to my favourite, absolutely supermarket - the Co-op, walked through selecting my grub and then heading to the checkout. It was all added up as I put it in the bag and the girl gave me the total. I pulled out my wallet and handed her my card, only to be told "No, sorry". I was a bit put out because I had checked it this morning. I suggested she put it through again and she did - and came back with the same. I needed the food so I wasn't in a position to say "Stuff it" and walk away so I paid cash for as much as possible and left the rest behind.

I was a bit put out so, as I walked out the door with only half the food required, I decided to pop down to the bank and find out just what the score was. The first question to the teller in the bank was to tell me how much was available from that account. His immediate response to that, after checking, was two thousand, two....you get the idea, plenty to pay for a weeks food so what had happened there? Had the Co-op made a mistake or was there a problem with their BT link to the British mainland where the Royal Bank of Scotland would deal with all the payment malarky, or was it the Bank themselves?

Whoever made the mistake made a big one. There are now people in the shop who saw what happened, what do they think? I have to go back to "a shop" tomorrow, probably a different one and get the food that I tried to buy today.

I will contact each and everyone of them and complain profusely, making a real nuisance of myself and I'll stand proud for doing it too. If we don't then what will happen? That's right - nothing!!!

Then I got the bus home. Thank God for that!!!

Why have I not been on the computer?

Sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning there was a power cut. I don't know how long it lasted for but by the time I woke up the power was back on so, what the heck, off I went about my business. I had a good day, spending the morning at college and in the afternoon I had an appointment at the hospital and then I went and did the weeks shopping.

Then I got the last bus home at ten past five,getting in at quarter past six.

And when I got there - no electricity - again.

It's my fault that I don't have a torch, or any means to get by when there are power cuts because they happen everywhere, to everybody.

But it doesn't happen quite so often to the rest of the population as it does here in Hillswick, Shetland.

And is a reason given?

Or perhaps an apology?

No, never. There is no sound of them improving the electricity supply either.

Wonder why?