Strawberry, garlic and mint.

I always like to use my garden to provide some of my favourites but up here in Shetland I'm never sure of what will actually grow but I'm about to find out.

I've just ordered seeds to start me off (hopefully) with mint, garlic and something that I really am looking forward to growing, strawberry.

I think that I've ordered enough of all but we'll have to wait and see there. If I haven't then I'll just have to order more. I know that mint was successful here in Shetland because my grandfather on my mothers side grew it very successfully but I know nothing of the other two, other than the fact that I love them.

All of it should arrive within a week to ten days and I think that I'll get it all planted immediately. It won't produce this year but next year, hopefully, it will sprout away and offer me something to enjoy.

Happy again

The weather hasn't been too good since I got home but today it has changed. There is no wind blowing this morning and there's only very light cloud overhead.

Yet again it gives me the chance to potter about in the garden, feed the birds and keep myself happy. It's amazing just what you do to entertain yourself, isn't it.

Right, better get down to it before I'm too old or lazy or the winter sets in or something. Not that he'll give me any help, jumping around in the water like that.

Back home in Shetland

Sorry that I’ve not been around for a while but I’ve been in hospital in Aberdeen for a fortnight, dealing with skin problems that are not solved but hey, that’s life.

I’m back home now, thank goodness, and feeling good about it too. The weather is a bit fresh but better than that of a ward, eugggggh!!!!!

Now I have all the time that I need to look after my trees, the willows and black hawthorns that I grow.

Perhaps I’ll start some more, maybe something that produces some fruit. That’s difficult up here in Shetland because of the wind and the salt that we suffer but if I make the effort, I just might get a result. I will need to grow a bit around the garden as protection and then , inside of that I can put some apple, or possibly some pear, we’ll see what happens.

All these dreams, grown at ward 29 in the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and they may well turn into reality in the not too distant future.

Fingers crossed, if I try any of it, it will produce something, fruit maybe!!!

In hospital for perhaps two weeks

What do you do when you are stuck in hospital for perhaps two weeks and there is no, wait for it, internet connection available.

Personally, I am lucky in many ways as I have my eReader with me which means that I have all my eBooks with me too. I also have blogs etc on board it, which, surprisingly, update as and when there is an update available. That’s great but it would also be good to have internet access with your laptop as well, so that you could remain in contact with your friends, or if an idea came into your head you could follow it through on the internet, at no cost to the NHS, or yourself,  whatsoever. If you were able to remain in work while in hospital then there would be no time off sick and therefore no loss of earnings.

Here in the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, in sunny northern Scotland, we are told that things are on the change. Supposedly, in December of this year, there will be internet access across the board for firstly the staff working here and  secondly, the patients who can remain here for large periods of time with nothing but the copy of the Scotsman that they arrived with and a magazine about fishing that they used to get every month.

I live about three hundred miles north in the Shetland Islands, which is an absolutely gorgeous place to live, but it is very small so there is no more than purely basic medical services available. This means that you go down to the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for attention to your problem when necessary and that is where I am at present.

I must admit that I’m wallowing in the care being taken but miss access to the internet terribly. As I said earlier, this will change, hopefully in December when Internet access is provided across the hospital for all and sundry to enjoy.

The staff all care very well for me but the internet will make the difference.

Peace in the water

It's almost warm, not quite but almost and it's still, no wind at all. Looking at the Atlantic it's like a polished mirror today, no movement to take the reflection away from the water.

A seal sitting on the sand across from me, watching. Is it because it is looking out for itself naturally or is it hoping that I have something for it to eat, a bit of fish perhaps. It's probably hoping, I think.

So much serenity today, so much peace. No disturbance, no trouble, just the seal sitting.

Peace all around, I hope that it lasts. 

Do you believe in God?

If you do, can I ask you a question, a plain, simple question?

Why, what reason do you have to believe in what the church (of whatever type) either sells you or tells you?

 Perhaps you believe in what your parents told you, but did they give any reason or did they just tell you that there was a God and that was why you had to say your prayers every night and have faith and go to church on a Sunday?

 I always preferred to use my own mind, to question what I was told and to ask for proof. And the result? From a very young age I have known, in my heart, that there is no God because there is no proof, there is no showing, no indication. Nothing more than a row of different churches, praying loudly.

 What about you, what do you think?

One of the differences between Northmavine and the south end of the mainland of Shetland.

I have now lived here in Shetland for just over twelve and a bit years, starting down at the south end in Scatness, where my mother had lived very happily for about twenty-five years and winding up here in Hillswick, in Northmavine, approximately seventy miles north of my starting point.

Hillswick and Scatness are very different places. For a start, Scatness is very close to Sumburgh Airport so there are a much greater amount of buses going up and down to Lerwick which is a great benefit to the people living there. It’s not the same in Hillswick, where there is a bus down to Lerwick at 7.30am and 10.00am and one home at 5.10pm. There is also a shoppers bus, leaving Lerwick at 3.10 for Hillswick and the surrounding areas every second Tuesday and on a Sunday there is nothing, time to get a taxi – if you can.

Very different to the south end where the buses operate seven days a week. I’m tempted to think that some of us here in Northmavine should benefit from the same service because we might need to get to the airport on a Sunday, or perhaps to Lerwick on our day off to go to the museum or the swimming pool for a little relaxation in the same way that the people in the south end can do, without any problem, seven days a week.

 It does surprise me that nothing has been done about this. Why not? Why has no-one shouted and cried about the non-existent Sunday service, or the fact that there is no 10.00am service on a Wednesday?

Why is it impossible for us here in Northmavine to enjoy a couple of pints with our family and friends in Lerwick on a Friday or Saturday evening and then get a bus home?

We don’t get the same service that the south end get, do we. I don’t know why but it isn’t fair, is it???