beckb

Congrats Khit and family xx

I hope you don't mind me asking these random questions as they pop into my head,even though i can get lots of answers from various sites its really useful to hear your opinions,my husband now has a job interview and will be visiting in a few weeks. What is driving like in Shetland,are the roads quite,i hate driving here because everyone is in such a rush,there are so many cars,I'm wondering if it will be easier in Shetland? What(in your opinion) is the best and worst place to live and why? What is the education like,and what year group would an 8 year old be in,birthday end of March? What is healthcare like,is it easy to get a doctors appointment,what is the hospital like,can it cope with all things or would you have to be transferred else wear for some treatment? What is the ambulance service like? Are there NHS dentists,we have none where we are have to go private! What would you say is the best and worst part of living on the Shetland Isles? I told you they were random questions ,i keep thinking of things i need to know,especially with young children the healthcare and emergency services are very important,well for everybody there important. Thanks for your time,Becky.

Thankyou everyone for for replies and comments,they have all been helpful,i know everyones experiences are different but its still good to hear all your views Khitajrah:I have been to playgroups like the one you have described and when i was a new mother trying to find people to talk to and children for my child to interactive with i felt very isolated,although i have lived in this town all my life,after stopping full time work to raise my kids it was like starting a whole new life,i am lucky in that some people were friendly but i did have to really try to make friends,i then trained as a pre school worker and a large part of that is including parents and the community together,i would of thought a lot of the other mothers were feeling the same as you.I appreciate your honesty and did'nt find anything you said off putting as i'm sure it was'nt meant to be Auld Rasmie:Thankyou for your comments Hobbiniho:My daughters are 8,3 and 6 months,so i am interested in the education,preschool and mother and baby/toddler provisions,my eldest loves swimming,horse riding,dancing,brownies are these areas well catered for and what year would she be at school as the system is different from here?My husband is sending his cv off to the three companies suggested at the beginning of this post and once a job is secured would probably move up on his own until we could all get there.As for the leisure centres here it would be unheard of to have it to yourself and makes Aith quite appealing Just Me:We were thinking of private renting to start with until we got a feel for the place and found the best place to settle,this is a concern as i haven't found much to rent advertised for a family of five and a dog! Malcolm:I have been looking at the Northmavine website and it looks very appealing,my husbands commute is 2 hours at the moment, a long dirty,dull drive down the motorways so 35 minutes through Shetland sounds fantastic! We plan on visiting in February ,unless my husband manages to get a job/interview before then,it has been really interesting to hear what you all have had to say so thankyou,Becky

Thanks for your reply MuckleJoannie,thanks for the links to the construction companies,my husband is going to send his CV to them,I have seen the thread you mentioned and the comments made interesting reading,a lot of people seem very positive about the benefits of Shetland but others seem quite negative and also makes me wonder how welcome we would be made ,one of the main draws for us is community life a better place to bring up children than the "whatever!" attitude that seems to be all around us "down south" although we are from the midlands and see ourselves as northern rather than southern,but i supppose everyone else is from the south in Shetland Is it easy to fit in and would we be made welcome,we want to make friends for ourselves and our children and become part of the community,this would be a life changing move for us so any more advice or thoughts would be welcome,where are the best places to live,to go to school,are there many places to rent while we find our feet?Thanks,Becky

Hello, My husband,I and our three children are trying to decide if moving to Shetland is for us,we haven't even visited yet but obviously are planning to do that,we are just at the research stage at the moment.Shetland looks a fantastic,wild and unspoilt place,i've seen the glossy magazines and the You Tube videos of the weather and am trying to gey a more balanced view of what its really like most of the time.I've heard about the weather,we plan on visiting in the winter to get the worst of it then it can only get better can't it? I am really interested in jobs in the construction industry,carpentry/joinery for my husband,is this a sought after trade with many job opportunities?What is it like bringing up children on Shetland,the leisure facilities seem excellent,are there many playgroups,youth clubs and community groups for mothers/fathers and children,i would be interested to hear your views on living,working and raising children/growing up on Shetland.Many thanks,Becky