Warming things up a bit,,,,

After yesterday's cold weather, and cold pictures, things took a quick turn today.
From -12C yesterday morning we reached +9C this evening.... A 21 degree change in 36 hours..

So here's a suitably warm picture from today.

Yun's aa fir enoo.

Mountains v Coca Cola, which is coolest?

Really just a few random images from the last few days.
We've had a mini ice age here this week which gave me the chance for these lovely shots though clear air of 'our mountains', which lie just south of Vestnes.
The highest one in this shot is called "Ystetind", and the little peak to it's left is "Litletind".

This one is called "Remmemstind"

Those mountains look really 'cool' just now, but maybe not as COOL!!! as the bottle of Coke which I left sitting in the production hall overnight.... The temperature was -12C when we got to work this morning. And guess what,,,,, it had solidified. So I just had to set it on it's head for this picture, before I dunked it in a sink of hot water to thaw it a bit. After which it was a nice Coke Slushy.

It certainly looked 'cooler' than Jeemie's bottle of Fanta..

Onywye,
yun's aa fir enoo.

I feel sorry for office workers....

Many people spend their whole day stuck in an office and if they're lucky they have a view over a city, or maybe just a view of somebody else's office window across the street.
To explain what I mean, here's a couple of views from my workplace yesterday.

Looking south towards Tresfjord.

 Looking east towards Vikebukt.

I just can't see me ever wanting to work in an office....

Yun's aa fir enoo.
:D

Sunshine,,, and more sunshine..

With an area of high pressure sitting right over us we have wall to wall sunshine. Maybe the temperature is a bit on the low side, but that's more than made up for with the beautiful scenery.
I had a little wander round with the camera in the early afternoon.
I didn't think this first picture was worth a mention until I noticed the stones in the foreground.

Next I found was evidence of an animal which had been playing in the snow. I thought it might have been an Otter, but the wife says they are rare here, and it's more likely to have been a Mink.

 Here's a beautiful shot looking south over the marina.

It's only about 4 weeks ago that the sun was setting behind the hill to the left of this scene.
The moon was high in a clear blue sky for this shot over to Vikebukt

Looking towards home over the marina, the mirror image in the water was lovely

 

Eventually the sun set on a beautiful day, for the second time. It had previously dipped behind Remmemstind, but showed up again for this shot, which came out rather poorly.

There's starting to be a bit of warmth from the sun, thankfully. The temperature never got above zero today, and now it's dropping quickly, with our thermometer showing -6C just now.

Onywye,
yun's aa fir enoo.

Music post, just since it's Friday...

A bit of music from my homeland.
I've had the pleasure of knowing Eddie Barclay for many many years. A great entertainer who brought to recognition the great writing talent of the late Eddie (Minley) Smith, a neighbour of Eddie Barclay's who had a talent for writing funny songs in the Shetland dialect.
This song however was written by Eddie Barclay himself, and although I'm a bit biased, I think he did a good job.


An, Eddie, if du's readin dis. A'll hae a peerie dram wi dee da neest time wir i da isle.
Göd bliss dee.

Yun's aa fir enoo

I'm old enough to remember when,,,,,,

,,,, the wheelhouse on a fishing boat was just large enough for a man to stand in and steer the boat.
Now, like everybody's house, it has to be larger to accommodate all the electronic gizmos which are deemed necessary in the 21st century.
This wheelhouse will likely be fitted to a boat which is little more than 3 or 4 times the length of the wheelhouse itself.

 There's a lot of room for computer games in that thing. lol

My personal opinion of the fishing effort these days, is that in the not too distant future expensive technology will no longer be able to beat quota cuts. Fancy expensive vessels will cease to exist and fishing effort will revert to more sustainable methods, in order to catch higher quality fish... Hence, I'm going to get my fishing rods out and do some real fishing... For Sillocks, Piltocks, Lyries, Olicks,,,, etc.. etc...  Those are Shetland names for fish which managed to sustain many generations through hard times, when survival depended on getting food on the table, and not the percentage share that the bank owned of the boat you were fishing from.

Onywye,
yun's aa fir enoo.

Things are looking good...

Had a trip to town this morning. Missed 5 hours work because of it. But snapped this lovely view, from the ferry, of Otterøya.

The clouds hanging over the island made it look very good.
Nearly as good as the doctors giving me the all clear for another 3 months. Maybe, just maybe, I've actually managed to beat the 'BIG C'.

Yun's aa fir enoo.

Very Old Pictures - Part 2

Continuing my search through my old postcard collection, I came upon this picture from the early 1900s.
Lerwick from the Ward of Bressay.

 And roughly the same image from 2008. Although there has been a lot of change in the foreground, the major change has been the number of houses in the far part of town.

This change is even more emphasized in this picture which shows how much new housing has been added to the left of the above image.

 100 years ago this scene would likely have shown little more than 20 houses.

Yun's aa fir enoo.

Very Old Pictures - Part 1

I have a collection of old postcards, all from Shetland.

I started collecting them about 45 years ago and there are some beauties among them, so I thought I'd share some of them here.

It's amazing to see how much some places have changed. My original plan was to try and get new pictures from the same viewpoint as the old postcards, then I moved to Norway and that plan got put on the back burner. But here's a couple of examples of then and now.

Scalloway seen from the east sometime in the region of 1900.

Similar scene in 2003

And Scalloway from the west, sometime in the late 1800s

And a recent image from about the same point. This image is courtesy of Clintwiki on Shetlopedia

Maybe one of Scalloway's latest residents, Kevin, will be kind enough to try to take up to date shots from the correct angles... There's a challenge Kev. ;)

Onywye,
Yun's aa fir enoo.

Music post, with a difference.....

Joiking, or Yoiking, the spelling and pronunciation being dependent on which countries language is being used, is one of the oldest forms of music in Europe.
The Laplanders, or Saami people, have used this form of musical chant for hundreds, if not thousands of years, to express their connection with nature, life. etc..

I don't exactly know how to explain what I find appealing about it, it just makes me want to hear more.
Here's a nice video I found on Youtube. Just listen and see if you can see an obvious connection with America:


I think I'm somewhere the mark in saying that the Saami population is about 130,000 most of whom live in North Norway, the others being spread across the northern areas of Finland, Sweden, and the northwest of Russia.
In 1980 Joiking hit international prominence when the following group was Norway's entry to the European Song Contest. It didn't win, but it brought the music to the attention of a larger audience.



Whatever you think of this music, it's different. Unique to a very specific region of our planet. So have a listen, give it a chance, maybe you'll enjoy it.

Yun's aa fir enoo.

Old Picture.... Can you spot me????

Sometimes history has a way of crawling out of a corner and giving you a little prod, just to show that you can't forget your past. Old pictures are the best example of that.
My little sister has been trawling through the family photos recently, and worst of all the old 'class photos'.
She found this one, which was from my first year at school.

Can you spot me????
Here's a recent picture as a clue. (only 49 years of wear and tear, but I can see no difference).

God, I feel old... Must go to bed and dream of younger times.
;)