clanchief

I was "wackened" at 4.00am this morning by my wife violently punching the duvet. These were full elbow back with shoulder follow thro' punches. I woke her up to find out what she was dreaming about, apparently she had been assaulted by a criminal & she was retaliating. This scary violence came from someone who leaves the room when I watch the boxing on TV! I sleepily muttered something about the next stage of the dream would be the police probably charging her with assault & also commented on her punching style being better than anything seen on TV boxing lately & I then went to sleep hearing her giggling away to herself! Anyone been the victim of "sleep punching" ? Should I consider wearing a headguard & gum shield in bed?

I see that the SIC have published a prioritised list of 49 Capital projects worth £124,002,001 for discussion at the Cooncil meeting next Wednesday. The £400,000 Papa Stour Project is prioritised at number 40 in the list. The SIC plan to spend £20m on Capital Projects each year so it will be some time before many of the projects are delivered. It is interesting to note that the hyped rural development project of a £5.4m Sellaness Pier is now only ranked at number 47. In front of this once flagship project at number 46 is a new roady-man's shed to be built at Murrister costing £150,000 !

In today's newspaper: American Mum has 12 year old son arrested for opening Xmas present early! She called the cops when he disobeyed her by taking a Nintendo Game Boy from where she had hidden it at his Grans. The cops handcuffed him & charged him with petty larcency. She did it to teach him a lesson, "he's been going thro' life doing things....and getting away with it". "Its not even about the Xmas present " she said I hope he is put on a programme to stop him misbehaving.

The Countryfile/Landward forecasts are now available on the BBC web site

I got a packet today from Healthcraft for about £4. I have had one mouthful & so far nothing dramatic has happened!

Thanks for the response, there is some interesting info on that site. I found a photo of the Funeral group on the Shetland Museum web site: www.shetland-museum.org.uk/collections/maritime/antartic-whaling.htm The Shetlanders names were: Willie Sandison Geordie Manson Magnus Leask John Byrne Jeemie Brown James Leask

I read in last week's Orcadian Newspaper that Shackleton's coffin was carried by 6 Shetlanders when he was buried in South Georgia in 1922. Does anyone know the names of the pall bearers?

Someone phoned into Tom Morton's radio programme today and said that they had a tin. He said that it should be worth hundreds of pounds!

Quote from a Royal visit to my pan making factory: ( you must say this fast) Are you aluminiuming them my man? No, I'm copperbottoming them ma'am.

Last night there was a guy on BBC2 making a Black Forest gateau. Part of the process of making the Aero type chocolate filler involved a plastic piece box with a small hole in the lid a vacuum seal platic bag and a household vacuum cleaner - I kid you not!

What online weather forecast do you use ? I tend to use theyr.net, this forecast comes from Iceland and I think it provides a tremendously good 3 day forecast for Shetland. It used to be free but they now charge £30 per year - well worth it though.

Quote: It appears from the outside that no-one but the inner echelons of the SIC team involved in the branding exercise actually now know what is going on with it. I remember being at a meeting about 5 years ago when this idea was discussed & Sandy Cluness told the meeting that it was vitally important that the development department delivered this project or they would have to answer to him!

[quote]I may of missed something but can anyone tell me if the flat that Tavish made £36,000 on was in Edinburgh?[/quote] I think that it was in London Street , Edinburgh

My wife wants a boob job, I told her we couldn't afford it. However, I suggested that she could increase her boob size by rubbing tissue between her boobs every morning. She said don't be stupid, how can that possible work. I told her that I didn't know the answer to that, but it seems to work well on her bum.

The photo in the Herald showed a 3 bedroomed Victorian semi detached hoose in a well to do area of Edinburgh.

(** MOD EDIT ** This topic has been split from the outdoor activities thread) I was out walking the hills this lovely afternoon looking for game to shoot for the Game Pie that I always enjoy at Xmas. Over the next few weeks I hope to get a few snipe, woodcock, perhaps a Grouse and breast of duck. I will bulk this up with cuts of Hare & Rabbit. Today's contribution was a brace of snipe. Does anyone know who erected the cross on top of the Hill of Steinswall above Asta Loch? I tightened up the three guy ropes this afternoon, so perhaps kneeling before the cross helped my shooting !

Tavish Scott certainly hit the headlines when he had almost 3 pages of the Sunday Herald dedicated to the fact that he has used (abused?) the scheme whereby MSPs from outwith daily travelling distance of Edinburgh can claim for maintaining a property in Edinburgh. The scheme was apparently intended to cover the cost of renting/buying a small flat . Apparently after making a tax free profit of £36,000 on his small flat, our MSP then moved on to bigger things by purchasing a £350,000 house in Edinburgh and is currently charging the £1,000 monthly mortgage interest through his expenses - all perfectly legal apparently. Tommy Sheridan is quoted as saying that the system is immoral ( maybe the Herald should have asked someone else for a quote!) Anyway, my point is that yesterday, Tavish launched a pilot electronic scheme in Shetland used for monitoring the use of the pensioners travel card. He was quoted on local radio & in the press as saying that the new system was necessary as it was important to monitor the use of taxpayers money and obtain good value for the public pound. As soon as Tavish made that quote, there was obviously an opportunity for our local press to ask a question as to whether his claims for the mortgage on his "overly" Edinburgh house were good value for the public pound - but no question asked. Can we therefore conclude that a very cosy arrangement exists between our MSP and the local press and no embarrasing questions/issues will ever be brought up.

Perhaps a bit futuristic but how long before failing to report to the police that you have committed a crime becomes a crime in itself. I think that this situation already exists e.g. there is a charge of "Failure to report an accident"

The Burgh Road end smell is definately a faulty sewer problem

An article in todays P&J describes how the Jail in a small US town has been painted completely pink, walls, window bars, toilet, all pink bedding, prisoners are issued with pink uniforms, underwear - you get the picture. The re-offending rate has apparently reduced by 70%. Thought provoking, wonder what colour would have the same effect on the Shetland neds.

There was an incredible advert in the Daily Mail two days ago from Standard Life - " Having different mortgages from different lenders can be a real hassle. But it doesn't have to be like that. With a Freestyle Buy to Let Mortgage you can invest in up to 10 properties with us within 12 months and we will only charge you £500 in arrangement fees, potentially saving you thousands of pounds, not to mention a lot of paperwork, Each application must be taken out by the same applicant during the 12 month period following the first mortgage application" This didn't appear to be an advert targeted at financial institutions etc it was tucked away on page 16 next to some crap about Tommy Sheridan a hit & run accident etc. My question is, am I living in a different world from everyone else. Who can this advert be targeted at? 10 properties are going to cost somewhere in the region of 1-3 million pounds, depending on where you buy. Could I use this scheme to set up in opposition to Hjaltland Housing association? An afterthought, maybe the Daily Mail is just trying to wind up Tommy Sheridan by putting this advert next to news of his continuing troubles!

Ironic that there is now one less "muckle jet" in Faroe after that one crashed yesterday

There used to be a boom defence cable from Calback to Gluss which was raised & lowered to control shipping/submarine access to Sullom Voe. Anyone know anything about this?