Wanting to move to Shetland

[unlinkedstudent]

Glad you made it safe and sound..

Think i may have spotted your hubby and mate wlking through the street with an ironing board under his arm..and othet housy bits..and in the Hydro when i was in..maybe wrong though..Yoe are going to love it here..

Best of luck and if it is of any help i have spare curtains...pm if any use to you

 

Oooh err yeah that was him. He was chuffed with the ironing board on special offer - cheaper than Argos! No, it is not his moving in prezzie to me - I don't iron and if on the rare occasion I have attempted to do so, I never iron as well as him!

 

Will drop you a pm and thank you for your comments.

[Ghostrider]

dont they have a boost button.

 

Yeah they do. Cheers for the info also Ghostrider.

 

We needed some work doing to it so and it may also be that the thermostat is turned down too low. We aren't getting a lot of hot water and we still trying to suss out the timings!

 

Will see how it is tomorrow.

 

The original fitting didn't include a booster as far as I'm aware, so it would seem that some later work has been done to your's, which is no bad thing. The hot water supply is one of the weaker design points.

 

If the orginal switches, power supply lines etc are still in place, the way they're set up are a bit confusing to say the least in the ones I'm familiar with.

 

The original set up had two heating elements fitted to the tank, one going downwards from the top, which only heats the top approx 1/3 - 1/2 of its capacity, and one going across the bottom, which should heat the whole tank. Logic would dictate that if you wanted the whole tank to be heated to switch the bottom one on, the top one wouldn't matter, the only difference the top one would make would be to how quickly the water heated, not how hot it all got. Not quite so simple though, if the whole tank was cold, and especially if you were drawing off water from it as it was heating, then that one element alone is potentially going to run out of time to get the whole tank heated properly, because of the limited period the power is available to it. Having both heating elements on together during heating periods may well be the only way to go.

 

Another thing is that in the ones I'm familiar with, the control switches on the wall and the fixed points beneath them for the power cable to power the heating elements are crossed. The cable coming from the fixed wall point nearest the door can obviously be seen wrapping around the top of the tank and connecting to the heating element in the top of the tank in the ones I've seen, and logic would say that the rocker switch immediately above it would be the one that switched power to it on and off. It isn't, its the furtherst away from the door switch that controls the power to the top heating element, the nearest rocker switch controls the power to the bottom one, which is powered by the cable coming from the furthest away fixed point. Yup, its enough to get your head spinning before you get the hang of it. LOL.

 

I don't know if all were connected up exactly the same or not, but as some definitely are, its worth checking out if others are too. Probably all you can do is experiment with trial and error to try and figure it out, or get a sparky to have a quick look and advise you if the set up is ever going to be fully adequate for your requirements. It is possible that given the short windows of heating time that looking in to fitting more powerful heating elements in the tank to make sure they have the capacity to heat it up fully from cold in what little time is available, may be something worth considering longer term.

[MitzyMu]

Welcome from me too, my husband and I moved here from the edge of the Pennines similar weather ,similar view apart from the sea which we love calm and blue or rough and grey.

Be aware that most folks second question will be " do you think you'll stay? " A resounding yes will please everyone.

Have great time join the community activities and learn as much as you can, books can be borrowed or bought and if you are into history there is a bottomless pit of that.

|Have fun and take the rough with smooth and you'll survive, we had our parents come up a year after us as a package deal !!!!!! Only Mum left now and she was 98 last week and has a shoal of friends.

we've been here for nearly 20 years and wouldn't be anywhere else

Enjoy

[khitajrah]

Welcome

[unlinkedstudent]

A big thank you to all of you, much appreciated.

 

We think we've got the heating sussed now (had either the element or thermostat changed, can't remember which) and yep, one at the top and one at the bottom!

 

We are, however, still getting to grips with the exact times it comes on and goes off.

 

Had the phone installed today and just waiting on the broadband now.

 

We'll try and get out as much as we can but dosh is tight at the moment so don't think we're being anti-social and miserable so and so's - we're just skint! Also, we have two shar pei dogs (Buff 18 months and Kia 5 years). Kia is a rescue dog and gets separation anxiety (she'll chew herself to bits) if left and also we don't have a car yet. So it may well be that we'll take it in turns to go out socialising until we get Kia more accustomed to be left (that said, we've tried over the last year to no avail).

 

Once again, thank you for your kind wishes.

[akbarsprincess]

Additionally, don't bother taking an umbrella with you.

 

Ha ha! On my first day at work here after moving up, it was raining heavily and very windy so I naturally got my umbrella out. I live 10metres from where I work but by the time i'd got to my office the umbrella was a battered mattress recovering in the corner and is still thtere:-). When I told the rest of the staff this, they just smiled knowlingly and said "umbrellas don't work here!":-).

[akbarsprincess]

It has already been said but I suggest you try visiting here first. Working in sub zero temperatures in a cold store is one thing, walking into an 80mph gale with sideways sleet and rain is another. Trust me I have done both.

 

 

You're right it is best to live there through the winter. Somebody said some of us were highlighting the negative aspects, they're far from negative they're realistic. The weather can be bad in winter, the days are very short that far north and although being isolated in a quiet part of Shetland sounds great the reality of it may be somewhat different.

 

Seriously if I was the OP I would try and live there through the winter months, if they like it then the rest of the year is no problem.

 

 

I've had the same good advice too. actually good winter or bad winter wouldn't affect my decision to stay here. I love it here and am staying put. it's perfect for raising children, myself and my husband value our privacy and i'm addicted to Sky TV so I never feel as isolated as I should. The advice concerns me more from the point of view of where i'm renting. i move into a lovely little house/cottage at the start of july with a fantastic rent but it's down a single track road which has been suggested would be difficult furing heavy snow and the winter for access reasons etc. Our tennancy will last until the start of January and that will give us chance at least to see if the place is suitable for a longer stay. if not then we will find somewhere else but we will still stay in the Islands. I think a few sensible precautions such as snow tyres and parking on the road will make my life a lot easier.

 

Lyndsey

[akbarsprincess]

^Agreed. And what is it about Mossbank? It's not as if it's Moss Side (or even marginally comparable).

 

and yes I've stayed there before (Mossbank that is), albeit very briefly, and had some great times too

 

Admittedly they are not the prettiest houses but the views are stunning. Some people pay millions for views like that. And speaking for myself, if i hadn't found a place to rent privately at a steal of a rent, I would be incredibly grateful to get a council house at all wherever it is. Waiting lists where i come from are just static things you put ur name on and where they write to u each year asking if u want to stay on the list, which is pointless as u never get anywhere.

[snow]

Admittedly they are not the prettiest houses but the views are stunning

 

Nearly all of the council houses ( well SIC ones ) are built to the same design and A coat of whitewash would probably make them a 100% more attractive,certainly on a dull and wet day..having said that I am in Firth just along the way from Mossbank and It is a fine place to live. The people are friendly and there is no trouble to speak of. It grieves me that evrytime the sublect of where to live in Shetland comes up Mossbank gets a bad press..That was all in the past and it should be left there.I would say that the council could do more to alleviate folks worries about the area..

[tarotangel]

Welcome everyone

 

I don't live in Mossbank but I have lived in an SIC house for most of my life and never really had any complaints. If something has gone wrong the SIC have usually been pretty quick to come and fix it.

[jenesequa]

Ok guys and gals i understand why you are narked off with me.Firstly the reasons I never was able to make it up before are purely because of my family...i.e wife and kids. Marital problems inother words.We both want different things .I was always wanting to bring my wife and kids up the Shetland islands for security and a better life.Now yet again she has asked me to leave .I am not wanting to come up and live my life on handouts.I am not wanting/expecting to be givemn everything on a plate.In doncaster I am staying with friends temporary .I am/will looking to pay my own way not just by working for cash but also i will be more then willing to volunteer my time and effort to be a part of your community.So please not all of us who arrive with no job or place to stay lined up are all bad . At some point in our lives everyone has to do what is right no matter how hard/awkward it may be to do what they believe in is right. If I have to stay in a cardboard box then i will .But believe me I will spend every waking moment looking for work to be able to support myself..

 

All I'm asking is not to judge a book by its cover .

 

Take care all and if everything goes ok this time I will be catching the ferry across wed.night .

 

Sal (Saleem)<<<<<< Male lol

[Kavi Ugl]

Hi Saleem, well I am genuinely sorry for your personal problems but if I had a pound for every incomer who had moved here in an effort to get away from their problems south I'd be able to retire!. Literally....

 

Maybe you have what it takes to make it work but one of the things that concerns me, for example, is that if you end up going to the Shetland Islands Council for "emergency" accomodation and you get it, what that means is that you've jumped the que of many Shetlanders who have spent many years on the housing waiting list. Is that fair?.

 

Trust me you won't survive in a cardboard box!, and renting in Shetland can be, and is, extortionate.

 

Also remember that you'd be very, very far away from your children and is that really what you want?.

[JustMe]

I thought the council had a policy of not offering emergency accommodation to single people just off the ferry. At this time of year it is quite possible to find hotel work with a bed thrown in. Could be a good way to consider if you want to stay. Possibly worth checking on-line at the job centre website in the next few days.

[paulb]

very true about the cardboard box. even in summer shetland is not a place that you would want to live rough. if you want to come to shetland for a new start do so but your problems won't go away. think what support you have were you are and then think about moving somewhere were no one knows you.

 

you would be a very long way from your kids. and if broke you would find it expensive to get to see them.

 

i would suggest that you wait until things calm down in your life and then plan it.

[jenesequa]

I apreciate what you are saying but , this has been ongoing for a number of years. My wife would not stay in doncaster anyway as she has family in Newcastle so it is a case of six and two threes.At least I will be happier in the shetlands rather than doncaster. Either way I have to build a new life for myself so I may as well follow my heart and get off this roundabout that my life has become.I have been wanting to move away somewhere like your Islands for the past 15 years now. simply put I hate cities and towns and generally feeling like I don't belong in a place which ahs no community spirit and where people don't know or care who there neighbours are.

 

Sal