Counting the cost

Interesting to see e-bay selling a 750 ml jar of Shetland fresh air for £40 - I will be back in a minute.............. I now can offer 100 750 ml jars of Shetland fresh air - job lot  for £1000 (what a bargain)

We all take fresh air for granted, back in Sheffield certain areas - around Meadowhall, have warning signs about air pollution and this will only get worse with the go ahead for Meadowhall extension and a new IKEA

No such problems in Shetland, clean air is one thing most people don't even think about unless you have some sort of breathing problems.

Space for one car bin please 

                                                                 Shetland Bus memorial service on Norwegian day

                                                                                      Bigger than your average insect

The Shetland Times has just published an article about the Conservatives pledge support for the bigger Wind farm projects including those on remote Scottish islands including Shetland. as far as i am concerned this is bad news for Shetland

Dr Wills said `` Some folk will not be pleased, of course, but when they consider the potential income to the charitable trust perhaps they will cheer up''

Alot of folk have said that the the oil money that the Charitable Trust was looking after for the Shetland people has been wasted, why should this be any different

Cute Perrie Shetland ponies

What cost the Shetland Landscape and wildlife ???,

Once the interconnector is in place it is not just the 103 Viking turbines that will blot our landscape but Peel projects will also start their Wind farms including a further 21 turbines near Lerwick and 17 in Yell, others will follow.

Currently Shetland has 5 large turbines at Burradale, construction of these completed in 2003 and a further 5 smaller ones in Yell

Also remember that on Offshore windfarm project may get the go ahead, a map sometime ago showed Shetland surrounded by  deep sea wind turbines

Back in 2014 eighteen companies expressed an interest in building a large wind farm in Unst and Yell, with a small cable connecting to the interconnector at Kergord.

If you are up in Shetland or any part of Scotland this autumn be warned, The Police have announced that they are axing the speeding thresholds. Scottish drivers even going fractionally over the limit will receive a formal warning letter. If they are stopped a second time they will receive a £100 penalty and three points.

Today i wish the police could have caught a 4x4 driver who decided to overtake three cars on Cunningsburgh hill going at least 80 mph, while just missing an oncoming car. If they had crashed it would have also involved another three of us.

Anyway the rants over for a while, it is still a great place to live,  we have been here for over 3 years and never regretted the move. Things do change but sometimes you just need to stand by what you believe.

Facebook - Shetland Aurora hunter - send me a request to join

http://www.amazingshetland.co.uk (Canvas prints)

Interesting visitors

Normally Shetland roads are fairly quiet but earlier in the week I had to go into a layby as two helicopters came down the main road. Not that either could fly down , they were on heavy transporters going from Sumburgh to Lerwick and then Scotland via the ferry.

These Super Puma helicopters have been grounded as 13 people had been killed off the coast of Norway in June following a crash.

We have visited the harbour in Lerwick on a number of occasions recently( must be coming a Shetlander as they regularly check out the ships and boats)

This week the `Ernka' a former Shetland bus boat made a three day appearance in Lerwick. This 107 year old fishing vessel carried 60 Norwegian Refugees to Shetland in 1942.

In 1940 the German Kriegsmarine requisitioned the Alesund built boat but was stolen by the refugees and then sailed across the sea to land at Lerwick, this was the largest number to come over on one boat.

The Ernka made another three trips to Nazi occupied Norway before being retired as it had become too recognisable due to its steel hull. The owners father was part of the Shetland bus making 43 trips on the sub-chaser `Vigra'

A number of old Norwegian sailing ships also visited Shetland including the interesting `Framstig', which was built in 1914 and later ran a ground and was left to rot

Four people discovered the boat in the 1970's and started what was a 5 year project to restore the boat to sailing condition.

Once completed they set sail for a 2.5 year trip around the world and from there it has been travelling between Norway, Shetland, Orkney, Faroe and Greenland

A shinning light

Other visitors included Oil related vessels, Shetland tug and seabird tours as well as a Norwegian fishing boat Haugefisk which was built in Norway in 1978

                                                                                                          Time for a rest

Visiting the harbour is always interesting as you never know what is likely to turn up, its also great to see where the boats come from.

Please visit my new website www.amazingshetland.co.uk, it will be updated on a regular basis, you can also follow on amazingshetland.blogspot.co.uk