Skyumpi

ADMISSION: Probably 70% of the books I read are science-fiction, so you can probably see that I have a certain amount of geeky bias. But anyway...... Just finished Iain Banks latest offering "Matter". It's the latest in his Culture based series and incorporates his usual high-end technology pan-human Utopia coupled with the sort of bloodthirsty medieaval society he seems to enjoy bringing into his stories. Every time I get hold of his latest book I seem to race into it to the detriment of other more normal things that I should be doing, but then I suffer a sort of summer holiday type malaise when I realise that I've passed half way and the end is nearer than the beginning. For any Banks fans who haven't read it yet - it's not his best bt it's pretty good with a decent balance between the two converging storylines/technologies and a semi-satisfying ending. For me, he's never written anything to match "Excession" so far but that's because I'm a big fan of the Minds and the absolutely inhuman speeds at which he has them operate. Still, can't wait for the next one.... PS I'm now about 100 pages into "The Time Ships", Stephen Baxters official sequel to HG Wells "Time machine" and it's proving to be a far better book than I expected it to be.

I was lucky enough to be in Embra for the Calcutta Cup match of 1990. England, as the Press would have had us believe, had only to turn up to collect not only the CC but also to take the Grand Slam and the Five Nations. David Sole and Scotland had other ideas and put in a magnificent performance (with some incredible defensive play holding England just a few nailbiting yards from the try line) to lift the trophies. I had made several drink-fuelled outlandish bets with some English friends in the week leading up to this game and magnanimously allowed them to be commutated to cases of beer or bottles of whisky as we enjoyed one almighty party that night. John Jeffries and some of the English players must have had a similarly wild night as they were reputed to have played rugby with the Calcutta Cup itself up the Royal Mile during some of the post match shennaigans

I have similar memories to Hollian of the place - it always seemed a kinda forbidding place and I imagined that someone really important must have lived there. I really loved the big gateposts as you drove by with the round balls on top - I think these might have toppled now? Anyway..... I thought I could remember an article recently about the Amenity Trust looking into buying the place with a view to restoration. I've done a bit of googling but haven't come up with anything, maybe my memory is playing tricks on me. PS There is a reasonably well preserved cairn a short walk up the hill behind Park Hall with a nice little central chamber visible.

^^^

...an da Pubs! Beer or lager, whisky, rum and vodka - whit mair could you want? Dey ir all formica, beer towels and arm-wrestling Burra men. Can't wait till da wheel o fashion turns an we hae retro pubs lik dis ageen.

Even though I've looked through all these before on the net and have a well thumbed copy of the book, every time I look at them some other childhood memory comes pinging back to me. Don't think that I can copy the pictures themselves here but a few that leapt out of the the first couple of pages are: No.3 and 9 - Cases o beer outside o Liptons. I mind dis weel. I wonder if you could do this nowadays? No.16 - Peerie boy sittin in da bow o da boat, mony a happy hour spent dere (an mony a cold, pleepsit wan as weel!) No.27 - Construction Canteen, just for everything that the faces of the three main characters portray. No.33 - The Cinema. Is that the North Star? I remember trying to get myself in to see an over-18's film once then trying to argue that they were charging me too much when I handed over the normal bairns entrance fee DOH! No.39 - a wellknown Waastsider wi his twa fat peerie boys in da Co-op. Does anybody remember the "box mountain" that was in the corner behind the tills? After the seemingly endless drudgery of being dragged through the aisles, being sent to get boxes from here was a real high point. I think I always thought they might come tumbling down, trapping me underneath. It's amazing where you could take your pleasures from! Could go on about this all day. It's funny how much things have changed in a relatively short space of time. I suppose the noughties will look equally innocent by the time I'm a pensioner.

I'll see your Sex Pistols and raise my Stiff Little Fingers...... [sEEQPOD]http://www.seeqpod.com/music/?plid=5d8540b8fc[/sEEQPOD]

Ah boy - du his dat een richt!

JAlter, I'm not sure about this. I have in the past invested heavily in this sector but the recent hullabaloo about our binge drinking culture may result in our populist government whopping a big slice of tax onto alcoholic beverages. Now may not be the time to pour my savings away on a venture that, so far, has promised so much and delivered so little to the isles who's name it has taken as its own.

And he would appear to be well aware of it, as he demonstrates in the above article. It's hardly what I'd term as moaning - he's simply stating the facts. I understand what you mean, though - Celtic have the pulling power and financial clout within Scotland to cherry pick/poach from other teams but Strachan sees the tables are turned when it comes to competing in Europe but, as he says, it's up to him to make the best of what is available within a certain price range.

Ah Hah! I know I seem to be answering my own question here but I happened across this tonight whilst trying to find the new Trootie association website. http://www.shetlandseaangling.co.uk/ I guess it explains some of the late night goings on "in the Weisdale area". Nice to see they're doing the right thing and releasing the big pilticks. I did have a 7 1/2lb one out of there years ago - it was on a peerie 6" telescopic spinning rod and was real blast.

I've noticed a fair bit of fishing activity going on round the Loch o Hellister over the past few weeks, including some night-time angling Is it any of you lot and are you catching anything?????

Aah. Ertie, Ertie, I thought this sort of thing was dying out. It's a sort of Shetland version of the BNP's worldview. We've always taken on and absorbed our incomers - those that like it stay, are often changed by Shetland and change Shetland a little bit in turn. Those that don't care for it take what they can and move on, such is the way of the world. From the mesolithic hunter gatherers who may have been the first to land here and the Picts, Finns, Vikings, Europeans, Scots and all the others who've passed through or settled, we're all incomers of some sort - where are you going to set the bar for qualification? I myself only qualify through your "local connections" proviso. My old man had to leave Shetland in the 60's, as did many other young men and women, to find a trade and steady work. Luckily for him those mainland types were much more welcoming than yourself and he, his brother and his friends found themselves Sooth wives and started producing families. As soon as the economic situation started to improve in Shetland he was able to move the lot of us quicksmart back "home" and his Sooth wife and bairns have never looked back. Being a Shetlander doesn't make you good and an incomer bad. I've met plenty of Shetlanders who I'd struggle to find a good word to say about, Soothmoothers who I'd count amongst the finest people I know and vice versa as well. I don't pre-label them according to origin as you get all sorts wherever you go. Try judging people on their merits and after you've done that, if they don't meet your standards, maybe then you can try just ignoring them as you say in your second post - it may be the kindest thing you can do.

MiM, Don't know if you've seen this before........ DISCLAIMER: May get and inside your head, and even the most powerful cleaner can't remove it!

Avoriaz, just on the French/Swiss border. You can see a floodlit piste in the first photo across the valley in Morzine, 600 metres below. Fantastic skiing, loads of snow, loads of sun, I'll definitely be back there.

Ach, I'll hae a go at dis....... http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg172/skyumpi/DSCF0994.jpg Sunset over the French Alps http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg172/skyumpi/DSCF1011.jpg Moonlight on the mountain http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg172/skyumpi/DSCF1015.jpg Sunshine on the slopes

Does anyone who goes beachcasting in Shetland actually do any beach casting? As a bairn I always fished from the craigs as that was were the fish were mostly to be found. I bought a proper beachcaster a number of years ago and set about trying to fish sandy or shingly beaches - Dales Voe Sandbanks, Toft Pier, Weisdale Voe, Reawick, Sullom Construction Jetty and a few others but never really had any success. Maybe some of this was down to my inability to make long enough casts so I just wasn't reaching the fish but I eventually went back to rocky shores where I could lob off a couple of baits with the beachcaster and keep myself amused with the spinny rod whilst waiting for a bite. Can anybody report any success fishing over soft bottom or from the beaches?

If you're in Northmavine, Malcolm, the easiest place to start might be at Mavis Grind. It's right next to the road but does involve working off an armoured breakwater that might not be suitable - check it out if you're passing by to see what you think. The Hellister loch is similarly close to the road although with maybe a slightly better surface to fish from. There was a path with a handrail installed last summer at the south west corner of the loch that might be useful for access. As I mentioned earlier, some of the piers have good fishing and they should be the easiest of all as regards access. Here's an interesting site for anyone fishing in Shetland: http://www.shetlandseaangling.co.uk/index.php Lots of good photos and listings of sea and shore caught record lists should you luck into a big'un. (I see that I was wrong about the 21lb cod at Hellister - it was only a paltry 17lbs, paaahh! ) If you're looking for bait then fresh mackerel fillet takes a lot of beating as an all-rounder. You can often buy packs of "seconds" that are good for bait from some of the local fishmongers and they can usually do you squid as well. Squid is good as it can handle being refrozen several times. Ragworm, lugworm, shellfish, peeler crabs, etc all take a fair bit more effort to get as bait but most of this can be mail ordered now in vacuum packs through any of the angling magazines or websites.

Seadog, There's no end of places to try your hand for a spot of shore fishing around these isles although there might not be the size/variety of prey you might be used to down on the mainland. Have fun trying a few and enjoy the scenery although I probably don't have to tell you about the dangers of fishing alone, lifejackets, flotation suits, etc. Almost any rocky craig, especially around tidal points, will have some coalfish with the occasional pollack or cod. Below the road between South and North Nesting spring to mind and the stretch of banks along Lunnaness around Grutwick is great for larger pollack using spinner or rubber eels. You'll also find really deep water close in there with ling, cod, wrasse and pout taking ledgered baits. Grip leads are pretty much essential because of the tide. Float fishing close into the rocky faces can turn up ballan wrasse as well. The rock armouring along the east side of the road at Mavis Grind gives deepwater access too and you can expect more of the same, although I've never managed to find wrasse there. Rock armouring again, this time at the Loch of Hellister in Weisdale, just below the main road. There used to be a huge amount of magnificent coalfish in there, plenty up to double figures that could be caught no more than a few rods lengths from the shore - but a period of ridiculous overfishing by a few individuals decimated the stocks. It's only a small body of water that the fish must have entered as juveniles and grown huge over a number of years. The fish tend to be badly wormed and their flesh tainted by the brackish water so I just catch and release there. Haven't fished there much in the last two years but there were still some coalies of 2-3lb last time I tried using a baited spinner and flounders up to just over 2lb on ledgered lugworm and shellfish. The coalfish seem to swim round the loch in shoal so you can have a fairly mad 10 minutes followed by nothing for an hour. Try the Kallibrig inlet when the tide is running into the loch for the flounders. (oh, and the Shetland record shore caught cod came from this loch, 21lbs I think it was!) Under the piers in both Lerwick and Scalloway are home to some pretty decent congers. They are probably all round our shores as they regularly turn up in creels but they're not usually a primary target fish. Night time fishing is probably your best bet - shame you can't have a hip flask now in da Toon when you're doing this! I've never tried it myself but I've heard good reports about fishing near the Burra light - admittedly this info is also a couple of years out of date. The Aith lifeboat pier has been successful for me in the past. No big fish but I did once manage 7 different species in a couple of hours fishing. I'll have to stop now, my typing finger is getting sore, but that may give you something to start with and I'm sure you'll discover better. Best of luck to you and lets hope for an improvement in the weather.

You see, that's the thing. We all know that the Council did not do everything they could to make the road as safe as possible but what they did do was tell everybody that there would be no gritting service on the day in question and we can't make "them" out to be some kind of uncaring monsters for doing exactly what they said they were going to do. I'm all for having the roads gritted at all times so that is maybe where effort should be concentrated, as has been suggested previously although I'm pretty sure that it would amount to more than the "few hours work" that you speak about - anybody with any knowledge on the subject care to guess how many grittters/crews/manhours we are speaking about here? You could speak to your Councillor and the Roads Dept and maybe a few other folk will try the same too. We seem to be heading more and more towards a 24hr society and maybe it's time to look at what we can expect during these "anti-social" hours. Perhaps enough of the gritter men are quite happy to work on these days and it's simply a matter of budgets that prevents it happening. Seeing as the SIC is trying to save money on many fronts at the moment I wouldn't hold your breath, however. On the other hand, maybe the gritty men just want spend the day with their own families which I'm sure we can all understand.

@Stuajan I’m not exactly sure where the SIC’s responsibilities begin and end as regards providing a perfect road surface 24hrs a day, 365 days a year, but as has been previously stated they certainly made a point of trying to let us know that there would not be a full service on Christmas Day. There were notices in the Shetland Times and their website and information was given out on both Radio Shetland and SIBC warning that the last gritting would be carried out on Christmas Eve with no further treatment till 7:30am on Boxing Day. I don’t know enough about the legalities involved to say for sure but it seems, on the face of it, that they’ve made the situation fairly clear. This isn’t a new thing either – I can’t remember overnight gritting or Christmas/New Year’s Day gritting taking place in the past. If you have to travel at these times as many people have to, including me, then you know that you need to take extra care. Having said that, the road on Christmas Day from Voe down to the Scar Quilse was absolutely treacherous and I’m not surprised that so many vehicles went off. I had a fair tirl there myself in the morning and things had got worse by teatime. The road seemed fine everywhere else, including other places you’d normally expect ice, and I was left relieved but kicking myself for being caught out. I did try phoning round people I thought would be travelling this stretch of road to warn them but I didn’t inform the Police so, if you want, you can hold me responsible as well for your misfortune. The thing is, if I had gone off the road, it would still be myself I was blaming not the Council. There seems to be a belief that we should all be able to carry on our lives in complete safety and that “they†should make sure that nothing can happen to us. “The Council†or “the Government†or whatever seem to be the first to be blamed whenever the finger is to be pointed instead of taking responsibility for ourselves. Please don’t think that I’m saying you were at fault here, that’s not what I mean, just that trying to somehow get back at the SIC for what was, after all, an accident hardly seems like the right course of action. We’ve probably all become too accustomed to the standard of work and long hours the gritting crews do and the generally good conditions of our roads during the winter months I do agree that if the gritters were not available to come out then more could have been done e.g. set up warning signs in the area. I saw that this did happen eventually but not till early evening and there had been a further two crashes. Since you were the first to go off the road then none of this would probably have helped in your case anyway. I wasn’t in the area during the daylight hours so things may have been OK then but the road was certainly an awful lot worse in the early evening as it had been in the morning. A gritter did arrive by about 8pm but the 4th and 5th crashes had happened as well by then. I really hope that you, your family and everyone else involved in these recent accidents are OK. Forget about the car, it’s just so much metal and plastic - and be thankful for what you have and that we’re not dealing with a real tragedy here.

Wheeee! I really am fairly pashed (cheap french wine and expensive brandy) and there are no Mods around. I can swear and rant and run round the house causing no end of trouble, or maybe just scribble a few silly posts before sloping off to bed - either way, Chrimbo shopping is going to be a chore tomorrow as I'm sure I'll be lacking in the Christmas spirit by then.

Malcolm, You are, indeed, a star! I suspect that there will never be a dull moment with you around here - although sometimes it's a case of "never mind the quality, feel the width"!

Aah, Pern. There's a place I haven't been for quite a number of years now. I used to be a regular visitor and was fairly enthralled by what was probably only my second visit to a "Fantasy" land and the genre (although I'd maybe already been hooked by a chance encounter with Donaldson's "Land" of Thomas Covenant during a chance encounter in the AHS library during 1985.) I think it was the nobleness and self-sacrifice of the characters that took me, as I'm sure Ms McCaffrey intended, but it shaped my reading habits for a long time to come and I worked my way through a fair chunk of the series although I'm sure I've fallen off the pace now. NOTE: Just realised that I've gone off at fair tangent to the purpose of this thread - sorry! (*** Mod - moved this over to the books thread now ***)

Ah yes, Heimdal. It wis a bannock recipe dat I wis efter, silly me Ony help appreciated.