On the buses

Fed up with wrestling The Mighty Isuzu through the White Hell, I decided to get the bus today. Which, despite the conditions, has never stopped running the 35 miles into Lerwick and the 35 miles back. £5.40 return. Ginny, intrepid driver, joined me in praising our gritters and snowploughers (ploughees?) for the fine job they've been doing in Shetland. I know it's not the same in other parts of Scotland. We count our blessings!

That's the shadow of the bus as we whizz past the sundrenched snowfields. But by the time we reached the Ollaberry junction, the windows were too dirty and salty to give anything but a ghostly hint of the strange wicker throne in the bus shelter. It's for an ancient ritual I'm not allowed to talk about.

I fell pleasantly asleep for about half the journey there, and half the trip back as well. Which it's not really advisable to do when driving.

There and back in The Mighty Landcruiser

Tricky old trip into Lerwick - Scandinavian conditions, with hard packed snow on the roads most of the way. But the Toyota did what it undoubtedly says on its tin, thanks to the BF Goodrich All-Terrain tyres (actually, the original ones were rubbish).

Dropped Susan at the hospital, then up to North Eastern Farmers for dog and cat food in bulk. When you have a St Bernard, bulk is the only way. Tesco for basics, and then to BBC Radio Shetland. Good and very busy show, main theme being the nostalgia of smells. Some fantastic tales...you can hear it for seven days here.


Drove home alone, as Susan had to take one of the NHS Subaru Foresters up for her associate to use. Great cars, wish I still had mine. Arrived to find a blizzard and both weans (18 and 14) engaged in a sledge race. More of this tomorrow, but frankly, that's enough snow pictures.

Oh, and that's the Sullom Voe Oil Terminal, way past the frozen loch in the distance. If you really believe it's Scotland's oil, that's where the majority of it is dealt with. In other words, it's arguably not Scotland's oil; it's Shetland's...

Snow, hey ho...

Brutally cold, ice on powdered snow, and very windy. Don't let the brightness fool you! Now, after dark, the wind is really gathering force. We've already had one power cut, both the peat fires are on, and both tomorrow and Monday are looking grim. And yet..

The truth is, I love this sense of isolation, the notion that we're thrown back on our own resources. It's one of the reasons I was so attracted to life in Shetland in the first place. Having said that, I've booked the hotel for lunch tomorrow...