Rob Howard

Look at 'Orkney Longliner' or smaller 'Orkney Spinner'.

Just seen the article about Viking Bus Station and the lack of waiting room facilities, i also see a long running thread on this theme just resurfaced. It reminded me of my trip down to Lerwick for UHA, great evening and time to catch the bus back to Brae. I was expecting to find a toilet at the station before the journey back and recall ( from hazy memory) that I was anxious to find what appeared to be the men's toilet, locked away behind a cage. There were a few ladies coming and going out of what looked like a key fob operated disabled access toilet, holding the door open for each other. Not being the sort of guy who loiters round bus station toilets I was drawn back to 'Da Wheel' to spend a penny, then several more pennies as I was compelled to have a swift pint before heading back to the (not a ) bus station. I'm a very infrequent visitor to town by bus, what's going on with that non bus station ? You'd think on a busy evening like UHA there would be toilet facilities available before folks head off far and wide. Is the toilet ever open during the day ? or is it the case as Mrs Ho says " It's not a bus station anymore" - she's dead right there, it's a grim, dingy dark layby where buses come and go from. It hardly warrants the grand title 'Viking Bus Station' Is Lerwick the only town in the British Isles where the central bus station owner denies it is a bus station ??? I thought Zettrans might have some sort of obligation to ensure provision of facilities, but it seems it is down to SIC. As the main overland transport hub in the Isles it is tragic that there are no better facilities on offer than this. What impression does this give a visitor who steps off the ( maybe cancelled) ferry to continue their journey from the Viking. Pity the non car driver who has to use this frequently for work or shopping. A future cafe to replace the waiting room with no "obligation to buy" sounds well and good, it will be interesting to see how long you could leave your luggage or Granny there free of charge or comfortably sit at a private businesess table reading your paper without buying anything, let alone open your flask and eat your own sandwiches for that matter.

Hi You say you installed the stove a few years ago - what type of flue do you have, is it a flexible 5" or 8" stainless liner, double walled insulated flue pipe through the wall or stove pipe through a closing plate into the original masonary / stone flue? You have been burning wood and were told it is clean burning, that is the stove itself is clean burning, the tars and resins produced when burning wood still go up the flue and vary greatly depending on the moisture content and type of wood. A soft wood generally contains more resins than a hard wood and can tar up a flue relatively quickly especially if unseasoned and allowed to smoulder slowly. You need to get the flue swept as a minimum, you may just have a nest up there from the summer or you may find you have a tarred up flue or collapsed liner or loose masonary in the flue. I'm sure you are aware of the risks of a flue fire and the temperatures that can be reached resulting in severe structural damage or loss of the house. You may also be aware that installation of a stove is notifiable to building control unless installed by a HETAS registered installer who can self certify. If you installed the stove yourself without notification this could be used against you in any insurance claim. I'm offering this advice as a fellow stove user who has installed flues, cowels and stoves in the past, also swept chimneys and removed tarred up and corroded flue liners. i am not a registered HETAS installer but have completed installations complying to building regs . More info is freely available on the web - i suggest you get this looked into for your own safety, it will not fix itself.