Njugle

Ahem, no, not necessarily. I've worked for firms in the past, generally good firms at that, that paid nothing for the first three days, and then you were required to provide a sick line to claim statutory sick pay for any subsequent days, which is about the same as dole. That is common enough in the private sector.

You could though, equally say that the windfarm supporters group would have to come out in support of the Total project, as it seeks to guarantee a greater supply of natural gas, which is a cleaner, greener fuel source than the diesel or coal usage it would replace. Otherwise they would also be hypocrites.

Great programme all round last night. Enjoyed it much more than the second one. Cliff jumping music was a tad overly, but for an all age group, wide demographic docu-diary-drama it was likely appropriate enough. Took a bit of figuring with this series that it was not a wildlife documentary as such and as much about the man as his chosen subject. Last one was a great ad for Shetland and from what I hear the response/enquiries from potential visitors started immediately.

We were speaking about this tonight and... I reckon the Lerwick Up Helly Aa could do with a makeover. Here are the two-ish options to ponder over or add to: 1) Block the drains in the playpark and flood it, to at least emulate a proper fire festival (Think of the photos - and it could also double as an ice rink, huh? huh?) 2) Move the burning to the Clickimin if it's fine wadder- I mean, why not? Far better visibility for the crowd and it would be a proper (cough) fire festival. 3) (really 1.2) Buy and knock down at least two houses on King Harald Street and build a grandstand. Funding could be sought - community engagement and all that. Option 1 would be the cheapest, and with added benefits. The playpark equipment could be moved to the flooer park in winter, or, less favourable, build a bund around the central area to flood it and not the whole park.

Only if you stop arguing with Koy here. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/satpics/latest_uk_ir.html It's just the Met office. There is a clearer patch in the cloud cover moving in from the east. If it continues on current path it should mostly clear over central Shetland in an hour or two and then clear further for another couple of hours. It might still be hazy, but the Mirrie Dancers have been bright enough earlier tonight to be a visible glow through the heavy cloud cover.

Oi! They are out again tonight, you may have noticed. No, not the loonies, the Mirrie Dancers. Guess what... they are right overhead again, but no can see, again. Looking at the satellite images, there may be a clear spell at about 3 or 4am, if you want to take a chance on it. I would, if I could, but I can't. Meh. Mind you they may be gone by then, of course.

Welcome to the forum Fitter. I have no idea what Marooned is on about, but hope you have a nice time around here and when twitch....er, I mean birding in Shetland.

It's been evident above here several times recently, I've seen it twice now myself. Also, I was on a high altitude flight not so long ago that flew directly over here, so I can confirm that we are on a standard passenger route. Couldn't say I noticed another plane nearby though . (One of the movies available was "An Inconvenient Truth" which I thought was suitably ironic. )

With the voice of Marvin the paranoid android: I just thought you'd like to know that the Mirrie Dancers are out right now - fully overhead, in a fairly major geomagnetic storm. It would be quite spectacular. You can't see them though, it's 8oktas cloud cover, chances of it clearing tonight - minimal. More like none. But, at least you know what you are missing now. Oh, and if you drag yourself out of bed between 5am and 6am you can miss seeing the Space station too. It'll be bright as any star, 15' above the horizon to the south, visibly moving, if there's no clouds, which there will be. There now, aren't you glad I told you.

First the toorie, then the head, what next..?! Comedy gold. soz - coat - leaving

Yup, you have to bear in mind that you are now looking at a small part of the visitscotland website and not a dedicated visitshetland site anymore. It will just take a little while for the visit.shetland.org site to gain the same prominence as the old one, and then the visitscotland one will be much less significant.

Brief light relief.

The Visit Shetland site was a place that a fair number of locals used for info, let alone the excellent resource it provided for tourists. Not perhaps the same any more? www.visitshetland.com

It also reiterates my point, with no offence intended, using the formal meaning of the word, ignorant. I've randomly, in passing, spoken to councillors and council employees but I would still generally accept my ignorance on the whole situation. Yes, I have heard a lot of stuff, but I don't know it all, far from it. Similarly, the council services have not fallen apart, but there are many administrative, procedural and strategic things going on in Shetland right now - many of which may have benefited from the support of a visionary figurehead during these 'interesting' times. I haven't polled the department heads to find out whether they feel their governance has been affected, so I wouldn't claim to know it was 'business as usual' either. I'm ignorant once again. Yeah, okay, I'm flogging the point - , there now, I've dropped it.

Now, now, lets just stick to the subject and all leave the personal attacks out, thanks. And yes, that applies to Brian's claim of illiteracy too, before anyone pleepses the 'He started it," line. Perhaps the word ignorant would have been more appropriate and less offensive. Thank you

I remember being able to walk up to the hill to go rabbiting, carrying a gun(in case), with a sheath knife on your belt and not run the risk of spending a few weeks in jail. Aged 14.

- Good people. - Seeing beauty - Learning from creativity (and snow)

From Space - LIVE! (So may be off-air when viewed later) Like Big Brother for geeks - but much much cooler. http://www.livestream.com/spaceflightnow

Erm , at the risk of going slightly off topic, I don't know where you got the above info GR, but the info put to me by fishermen in the fairly recent past told tales "where there was plenty of fish on the ground" of catching fish and then dumping it if the next shot could yield a higher price at the market, and that principal ran for both whitefish and pelagic fleets and for a time was clocking massive figures of discards in the international pelagic fleet, particularly where mackerel and herring were shoaling together, or where there were two distinct sizes of mackerel. Things have toned down a bit again, I'm told, but for a while there the quota system wasn't propagating a generation of responsible seamen, it was propagating a dozen generations of particularly fat crabs and sea worms.

^ You may be able to cure that fairly easily by choosing a different layout. The US keyboard layout has the @ where the " would be and vice versa, is that what's happening with yours? If so go into the settings and change it to UK option.

Quite unusual to see one so far into the town, but in the wild they will travel larger distances into the hills, either taking a shortcut to another known area, perhaps following a scent or if following a burn. Females about to give birth will also look for somewhere quite unexpected to do so - one of my most memorable otter experiences was with a mother and two young cubs who had made their home in a holt on an island on a loch just over a mile inland. Spent more than an hour with them (unbeknownst to them of course.)

Foul! Belladesoto is an award winning website - but not for good reasons and certainly not for being cool! The very antithesis of a cool internet link!

^ That's something that people don't often realise, that there are otters in Lerwick. I've seen otters at Clickimin, Da Sletts, Shearers and most recently at the Greenhead, both at Shetland Catch and 'Norscot'. They are literally everywhere, you either need to practice good fieldcraft and be patient or hire a guide if you want to go looking for them. There were references made in the Shetland Diaries program about having 'a talent for spotting wildlife'. It's true to say that even if you know what you are looking for, otters are not an easy subject, by any standard. Hence the label "notoriously elusive'. We are very lucky, if you like that sort of thing.

For what, exactly?

We may be able to incorporate a reputation system in a future version, t meanwhile, let us know about any body mucking you around. We can only try to sort things if we ken about them. Please.