fairislefaerie

They've just finished filming here on Fair Isle, thankfully I chose the best two week slot in the year to go riding in the cairngorms & missed all the hassle, dangerous driving, etc yadda & so on. Seem to be two sides on the wall here, those who welcome the chance to increase the islands projection, and those who cringe at the island being linked with such awful novels.

Fondly known by us islanders as The Spew Cruise.... New boat please !

man I loved those Texan bars when i were a kid haha. Whoppers Sweet Peanuts Highland toffees Peanut treats rainbow drops. Fruit Polos .

I can't actually remember the last time I slept for more than 4hrs at the most since moving to Shetland, used to bug me & I'd try loads of stuff to get a good nights sleep but none of it worked. These days I just run with it, I use the extra awake hrs to work more & get more stuff made for launching as a business once winter is over with, although I will admit that recently the stress of facing wage cuts (hubby works on the ferry) is adding to the awake problem as the pressure is now pilled on me to make up for his forthcoming drop in wages.

I do agree that to have spent so much money already on these projects, abandoning them now doesn't make sense. We've had a feeling for quite a while now that this was on the cards way before now, the fair isle station was supposed to have been well underway before the new year, there's nae been a single sod broken out yet & everyone's been waiting to hear why.

The only thing that shocks me is your grasp of economics. Shetland's rural areas support a huge range of services in Lerwick - education is the least of it. Generally speaking peripheral communities support the core, lets see how long the average Lerwick business would survive withough country customers and lets see what kind of crappy little junior high would be provided without the country bairns. Besides it cuts both ways. I'm sure country folk would be happy to pay for the hostel if they didn't have to subsidise Lerwick's metropolitan fantasies. Mareel anyone? (Oh sorry, forgot that's going to pay for itself through cunning economic modelling *falls over laughing*) Amen ! When they shut the viking freight center & we end up doing all our shopping online at uk mainland stores, causing massive damage to lerwick high street, you can guarantee the lerwick folks will be up in arms about it. When local bakers close because they loose so much business not having the freight center there to get product out to the isles, then you'll here the lerwick folk moan. I think someone needs to sit back for a moment and really think about just how much freight gets sent to the isles from local suppliers,taking that away will be a huge dent to a lot of local suppliers & could even put a few out of business.

if anyone is diggin oot crowns before spring, i'm after loads !

Hi folks just sounding out local interest in this. Would card maker/scrap booker be interested in a class to learn/help with/advance them, in the use of various colouring mediums ? I already these on the mainland & 1 to 1 on Fair Isle, topics cover the use of various alcohol ink markers (copics/promarkers etc) distress inks, poly-chrome pencils and various methods of blending for different effects, watercolour pencils etc. I also offer classes dedicated to the use of Copic markers for beginners teaching blending, feathering, layering and working to a light source. If there is enough local interest I'd love to get a few classes up and going in Shetland, they would be full day (bring a pack lunch) so we can really pack in loads and make sure everyone gets some 1 to 1 time. If you are interested please send me a PM and let me know.

I wis readin dat dey ir short o funds is weel - so dey might sell da Fair Isle. Dat wid be a fine investment fur da Charitable Trust *chuckles* Best laugh I've had all week !

I swear they think that us folk on fair isle & other islands that use the hostel are made of money & have unlimited sources of income & it hasnt reached the stage where some of us are really struggling to afford to live here yet cannot afford to save & leave. Add to that that some of us are going to have further punishment via the rework of single status wages, cuts in ferry hrs, loosing flights to the isle etc. It really is starting to look like someone sounded the death bell for the small isle's. The effects these cuts could have on fair isle and other islands could spell the death of them.

Sadly, to do so would involve serious cost & much litigation. Firstly you'd have to stand up and scream from the rafters that real Fair Isle is actually a defined way of knitting a garment, it is a definate pattern style that differs from Shetland knitting to the point that you notice the difference straight away. Shetland knitting has repeats, Fair Isle does not. Trying to seperate the two means battling your way through one or 2 generations of knitters & designers who have over time picked up the term Fair Isle as a generic term under which to dump all styles of stranded knitting regardless of it being in trad Fair Isle style, Shetland, Nordic, Icelandic etc, these days anything that involves working with multiple strands of yarn for anything other than a large single motif pattern is lumped under the term Fair Isle, with every outlet claiming to sell the one and only authentic genuine garment, which if we are to split hairs and really nail things down, the only authentaic Fair Isle are those produced on Isle in our traditional format & labeled as such. For the matter of nit picking, last time I was out on the mainland, I did the wander through the shops selling *Fair Isle* and found multiple Shetland Style garments, nordic style, icelandic style, but not a single garment knit in the traditional non repeating pattern bands as traditionally worked on the isle itself. Then we have those outlets who feel they have to go one step further and put the thought into the customers mind that there is a link with this company and the knitwear it produces with the Isle itself, photographs of the isle used as missleading advertising, garments labeled authentic home produce fair isle etc etc, in the past there was even 1 company claiming that some of us on isle produced garments for them when here on the isle, the garments we produce can only be purchased on isle or via mail order direct from us. As was said before, an attempt was made to secure the name Fair Isle in direct relation to the tradition of the garments produced on isle but the lack of support from the council at that time resulted in everyone being grubbed under the term *Shetland Knitwear* and thus the name as something that meant something very specific within the knitwear industry was thrown out to the wolves to be abused the world over, the result being that these days Traditional Fair Isle has almost lost its identity and individuality. Its a sad state of affairs, esp when local councilors are quoted in the press as having little support for an action to retrieve the identity of a very individual style of knitting.

ACAS were great, full of really helpfull info esp regarding witness statements. Very usefull phonecall indeed, they were somewhat appauled at the way she has been treated this past year.

Are there any solicitors who deal good with this ? Daughter is contracted to work for a local bistro, however the newish manager decided he does not want her working there and has been messing her about for months now, resulting in her becoming ill with stress and now having to give up her flat as she's now finding out she's been given 0 hrs on the rota at all. Enough is enough, she's tried to act fairy about it and discuss it with the main boss, however, this manager keeps up his vicimisation, its time to return the favor and land him in the chit.

Pop into high level music in Lerwick, im guessing Brian would be able to help you find someone.

Had a call from them last night, asian accent claiming to be called Mark, straight away had me on guard, soon as the spiel started I did what I always do with these phone calls, lay the handset down on the sideboard and leave it for an hour.