Brackin’ da Bröd

I’m not moving off island yet, but i have got a new cyber place over the cyberway there…can you see me? I’m standing by the gate looking for you to come and visit.

Come over won’t you and visit me at http://morrolesssocks.wordpress.com/

IB has been a fantastic start on my blogging journey thanks so much to all those who welcomed me in and came and sat about the cyber-fire with me and had a yarn.

xoxoxoxoxo

There seems to be tumbleweed.

It’s a shame so many have left IB, but I’m not sure I blame some of them.

Our water plans are bobbing along nicely – more signatures on the petition. Mirln and I have had our standard replies from Scottish Water so now we can go to Waterwatch with our complaint.

The community council meeting is on Wednesday and they should object to the marine work on our behalf. We’ve been told to object ourselves also – so we have been doing our research on harbour dredging, blasting and drilling so that we can make an objection with a good chance of sticking.

Knitting has been high on the agenda of late. I knit my first toy last week - a rabbit called Mr Tirin McHoppy for my friend FB’s baby boy. He came by his name as, once I had finished stitching his face he looked quite grumpy – Tirin is the Shetland for grouchy. I didn’t have time to re-stitch it so I gave him, apologising, to FB. But she was delighted, she thought that he’d be a good tool when her wee man was bigger – Tirin McHoppy says GET  TO BED! Ha ha. Anything to help a new parent lol.

I also finished Jam’s wee-est ones wrapover cardi – a lovely fast knit.

My voracious need for new patterns and yarns is becoming a bit worrisome, but I do find it a nice de-stresser.

Throughout this depression I have found the pins to be the best place for a bit of solace, or to work out the nervous energy so I am toying with the idea of knitting blanket squares and producing a piece of work so that I can come out the otherside with something physical to show for it – ok! So it sounds a bit sentimental and daft, but often I find it difficult to focus on the positives when “in the mire” and it’s times like that when I feel the need to get a bit creative and work out the kinks.

Wullie Shakespeare did say “the web of our life is a mingled yarn, good and ill together”, it might make a bonnie web!

Any block patterns would be gratefully received…maybe I’ll even do a wee blog knit-along pattern.

Anyhoo, back to the drilling and blasting!

Yes our beloved local water supply is still under threat so, as you’ll see from mirln’s blogs, we have begun the campaign.

Yes – i can hear lots of people saying “but they’ll do what they want anyway” – maybe so, but you’ve gotta stand up for what you believe in. When we were wee mirln and i thought our water was better than bottled stuff and we even had plans to have a stall in the summer time selling bottles of our water to thirsty tourists and for much less than a bottle of the spring stuff. Ok, so we didn’t know we couldn’t sell public water, but that’s how much we believed in the local product!

Mostly i take issue with Scottish Water’s duplicity. They have presented us with three options – refurb the current water works, rebuild a new one or lay the pipe, but in fact the first option was not an option at all as they say it is way beyond the refurb stage and the second isn’t a considered option either as they say it’s too high a cost – so hey presto! Its number three!

Because we’ve been stamping our feet about this in the media now as well, SW seem to be changing tack saying, for the first time throughout these proposals, that our local water supply cannot support the community! Well there are only about 32 more people since the 1991 census, so i hardly think they’re using it all. Mind you mirln and i have just moved back – maybe we’re crippling the loch?!

Anyway, as i said, you gotta do what you feel is right, even if you face being smacked down by the big bad.

…and we’ve collected signatures from a third of the community already and it hasn’t been a week since we went live with the petition.

That’s mainly been me for the last week – water and work, and a bit of turning a year older too…scary potatoes!

And i got me a bike! It’ll be the same strain on the old knees no doubt, but an easier way of getting to the Bressa Ferry in the morning!

I know i open almost every new entry this way, but Och bairns! Where does the time go? I cannot believe it’s nearly June!

Much of my working week last week was monopolised by writing up a report of a conference that was on the previous weekend. It was a really interesting weekend, but my butt was well and truly numb after 27 lectures! The highlight was a performance of the Papa Stour Sword Dance which my teensy photo does no justice to.

it was a very interesting ritual indeed involving the seven saints of Christendom who danced in a very well choreographed formation which ended in a star being formed with their swords. The budding ethnologist in me wanted to know more of the ritual and drama involved but the following presentation was a textual analysis of which written account of the dance is the oldest, so was left unfulfilled!

Have a look on youtube and see the dance for yourself.

Last weekend i was determined to have a long-weekend at home due to being utterly knackered from the previous weekend and the stress of writing the huge 2 page report…as an aside i could never be a reporter full time – i don’t have the stick-at-it-ness i don’t think…anyway – i was in need of some relaxation.

Specsavers were up and i had an appointment with them on Friday – new glasses were the verdict and i also decided to try contacts too. But when i came to choosing frames – lordy! I am so fussy and can’t make a decision to save myself i had to go away and get my sister to come back with me. We settled on two pairs and i still couldn’t decide – if they had my exact same frames i would have probably gone for them again lol, in the end i went for something completely different than my copperbronzey frames and went for ones with pink legs! I hope i don’t regret it when they arrive!

Saturday and Sunday were mainly spent at the pins! My friend in Australia has just had a little girl and so I knit little ballerina-esque bootees and i have adapted a baby cloche hat design to look (hopefully) like a little bluebell (except it’s a whitebell). It’s my first foray into adapting a pattern so i hope it come out ok, it’s still on the needles just now, but i will post pictures when i’m done.

Whilst i was knitting the bootees i was watch the Thorn Birds on Zone Romantica….it never gets tiresome watching that, although i had to rip back a bootee as i was not paying enough attention. Funnily enough i found the book in the loft last night, must give it another read.

The rest of the week zipped on past as it usually does and then i found it to be the weekend again – sheesh!

My friend and ex-landlady was visiting Shetland this weekend with two of her friends. They worked in Shetland thirty years ago so a reunion was on the cards. The Lerwick Lounge was pinned with old faces and hearty laughter on Saturday night; it was just all too short as they are away today :’(

Oh lordy i hope this week doesn’t zip past me – its difficult to grasp on to anything these days before it slips through the old fingers.

Tea cosy came to visit me last week too…

i thought that it might do my constitution good to take my lemon and ginger outside, get some fresh air in the lungs. i was just about to pour the tea and scoff my caramel chocolate goodie when…..

the rains came pouring down!

I don’t think teacosy was any the worse for a bit o Bressa rain and i don’t think it spoiled his wee hols with us.

Thanks for visiting teacosy!

Do you ever see a face in the crowd that takes you aback cos it looks likes someone you once knew, and that you’d rather forget? Usually there is a sigh of relief because it’s not them…well, I didn’t get that relief this weekend, but, rather than depress you right away I’ll tell you about that later.

This weekend was the 29^th Shetland Folk Festival – four days of unadulterated listening pleasure! On Thursday Jam and I went to the Legion in Lerwick; there were a couple of Shetland bands and visiting artistes were The New Rope String Band, The Emily Smith Band and a Scandinavian tour-de-force called Frigg (which is also my favourite word as a substitute for the other F word) – all were brilliant.

We’ve seen the Rope String Band before, when they were the Old Rope String Band; sadly they lost a member, but sally forth in his memory – they even do a very amusing musical tribute to him. If I can fathom out how to add a video amid blog, if indeed i can, i will try my best to bring their jollity to you.

Friday was a nice sunny, but windy day and i went to the Clickimin centre with Jam and the kids for the kids concert where we saw the New Rope String Band again (the kids loved them)and Glasgow trad folk band Anarkali (named after an Indian restaurant!) who had the kids up dancing before they even started playing!

After a trip to Debenhams, who were up visiting at Clickimin, it was off to the festival club with me and a couple hours chilling to some fine local music, but no rest for the wicked as i was off to meet Jam again and go to the Legion for another night of tunes.

Friday night at the legion had a good line up including Orkney band Saltfishforty, Danish band Zar and Asturian band Felpeyu. All were great, but i was particularly taken by Zar, the singer had such a beautiful voice that it didn’t matter that i couldn’t understand her language.

We went to the festival club after that to see who we could see – once the evenings concerts are finished at the different venues then the acts have sessions at the club. Shooglenifty were to be playing there as well as the others that we had seen. Unfortunately i got a bit claustrophobic and we had to move out of the session room and we decided to go home shortly thereafter – it’s a horrible feeling claustrophobia – feels like you’re drowning.

On Saturday Jam and I went to the Legion again and this time I took my eldest niece who loves music. Unfortunately she was starting with the cold (as was i) and didn’t enjoy it as much as she would have. Highlights from Saturday were the Jani Lang Band and Madviolet. Madviolet are like the Dixie Chicks more mature Canadian cousins – we bought CDs!

However just as came back from the merchandise table i saw that face in the crowd – the one face i could, cheerfully, never see again.

For over three years i have been pursued by a person who has told me that they believed themselves to be in a relationship with me; this is a woman who was an acquaintance. To cut a dreadful and long story short, she told me that i was lying when i said i was not gay, that i was in denial about the whole thing. Needless to say i cut all ties with this person but she plagued me with calls, letters, parked outside my house, came to my job etc etc the full enchilada. I threatened her with the police and the situation got better but she never really went away…so whose face do you think i saw through the crowd?!

Jam recognised her too and asked me if i wanted to leave – I decided that unless she approached me and caused a fuss, like she usually does (screaming “why aren’t you talking to me, what have i done?”) I would uphold the vow i made to myself three years ago and not acknowledge her or talk to her. But if she did approach me i also made a vow that I’d tear her up for arse paper, a lot of my depression is her doing and part of the reason i moved. I won’t be intimidated on my patch GERROFF MY LAND!

Except…she’s the kind of person that likes ANY attention, so even this would feed her sick infatuation! To be honest I’d much rather push her off the end of the pier and gladly hand myself over to the cops!

Determined this individual wasn’t going to spoil my weekend we hastened to the club, but the freak of nature was there too! This time she clocked me, but saw I was with my Jammy bodyguard and scarpered (She, quite correctly, thinks all my friends are gunning for her).

When i woke up on Sunday morning with full-throttle cold and knowing it all wasn’t a bad dream i was glad it was the last day of the festival and that i wasn’t planning on partying into the night, which is a staple on final night of the festival. We went to the afternoon concert though which was Aussie bluesman Hat Fitz, Emily Smith and Cara Dillon. All were great again, the standard was so high this year, but again it was marred by the appearance of that awful person who stood in my eye line as a means to intimidate me. As i wasn’t giving in, it appeared to slump down on to the floor – i felt triumphant at this, like the young boy who slew the jabberwocky, but, as always, i fear that’s not the end of this saga!

And so it was home to my sick bed to sweat out the fever and get an early night – a good weekend, but the memories off it will be slightly tarnished.

This morning i came to work and we watched Martin Clunes Islands of Britain on my computer - what a gyp! First of all he went to Muckle Flugga, then to Unst, omitting to say that you have to go to Unst first to get to Muckle Flugga – and, for the record, Out Stack is the most Northerly British Isle, not Flugga and there is no such place as “THE Shetlands” it’s just SHETLAND!

I felt he and the programme makers totally parochialized us, ok, so we have no cinema (we do have a theatre Mr Clunes!) but we certainly don’t all wait the week-long for a community concert to liven up our poor remote lives, maybe fifty years ago i grant you.

And as for featuring “Forvik” as an island of Shetland! “Forvik” is actually called Forewick Holm, it’s an uninhabited islet and for those of you who have heard of Stuart Hill you will know he’s a complete nutter who loves any publicity for his crown dependency cause.

Shetlanders despair of him and his publicity stunts. Recently he placed an advertisement in local press asking for an old vehicle and has subsequently parked, in a dangerous place, an old Land rover, complete with “Forvik” registration and license plates. He is also reported to have placed landmines around the island for trespassers! “GERROFF MY LAND”– So much for his motto “free Shetland” – of course he can’t physically stop people from going on the holm as it doesn’t actually belong to him – and even if he did there is the Right to Roam! Clunes made him out to be a bit of a hero. He should have done his research, I’m sure if he’d have bothered to he’d have found out we’ve lots of islands to visit and lots of sane people too – and he might have even discovered a wee place called Orkney, which must have completely dropped off Clunes’ map. Needless to say i shan’t be watching next week and I’ve completely gone off Clunesy – I was going to give his Reggie Perrin the benefit of the doubt, but think i shall forget it now!

Anyhow I shall not leave you completley depressed and ranted out – please visit the folk festival website and have a listen to some of the fantastic music I’ve heard this weekend.

Oh! And a certain teacosy is coming over the fence for a cheeky wee Earl Grey!

I went from flat to restless…

As I’ve said before I am trying to lay a new path in old places and one of the reasons I decided to move home to Shetland is because I have depression.

Now that is not a statement to illicit poor-you-there-there’s, for a long time I couldn’t even come to terms with it, but now I know it’s got me the more open I am with my friends and family it’s power lessens a little bit because I can talk about all that feelings stuff a bit more, which is not the easiest thing, as anyone knows, to do if, for however long, you’ve been a total clamshell!

Anyway I’m feeling fidgety just now and I’m not sure if it’s the feelings stuff, or the change from dark nights/mornings to light (I love the coming of the light, but it always feels a monumental change), or because I’m just back from a jaunt to my other home – or a combination of all, but I think mamajama doesn’t know what to do with me – I’m sitting and I’m fidgeting in chair; I’m up with the knitting and down with the pins and up at the window; I’m sitting outside trying to mediate to the blackbirds song and then I’m up again and thinking about a walk and I’m just not happy in any of these pursuits once I start them. I was almost at the hair tearing out stage on Sunday with it, but yesterday morning I had the proverbial light bulb/alarm bell moment.

I was outside with my cuppa and was tossing out scraps to the birds, I looked around the garden and suddenly thought how much it looked like Dingles front yard, but our junk is numerous containers littering every conceivable corner – few have anything interesting in them, most of them are growing grass and no more.

Dad loved tinkering about in the garden and, bless him, he was no Monty Don, but he liked his containers. After he died the containers got neglected and were left to become overgrown with nothing.

Sighing at the sight I thought, “we really must do something with this sorry mess, give it a complete overhaul, pull up the weeds, rake it over and start all over again”

PING…DINGDINGDINGDING!…hmmm, yes, there is a need to weed out the old and wretched and sweep away some old fallen leaves – where is that rake?!

All that aside, out of the restlessness comes stillness – I ain’t half loving the weather just now first thing in the morning. It’s not warm, but it’s not windy, its just still, this morning I had my cuppa on the garden bench and listened to the Town Hall Clock ring true and clear in Lerwick across the Bressay Sound. It’s a lovely way to start the day.

I very much look forward to the warmer nights like that eating tea on our laps outside, cool drinks, impromptu gatherings, good times – not too long off now. Soon it’ll be the Shetland Folk Festival, what good practice!

I was chatting with my friend on line today about our recent CD acquisitions and we got to talking about Jools Holland (via Carol King, did anyone see her (all too brief) wonderfulness on his show a couple weeks ago?) turns out he’s in Glasgow in December, so we seized the moment and got tickets – I’m very excited, I’ve always wanted to see him live, I think it’ll be a fantastic show.

I’ve had to set myself a wee embargo on CD which I do every now and again (same with books), but this week eddi reader’s new album, Love is the Way, came out, so I had to lift the ban for that – and there’s not many I’d lift the ban for let me tell you.

It’s a lovely album too – I loved the Burns stuff she did (naturally…see last post), but for a while a lot of folk just identified her with that; with this one she’s back to the acousticy, folky, gypsy jazzy, makes-you feel-blithe songs and says“ hey, this is me too y’know!”

If I ever get the actual garden looking lovely, this is the CD for one of those afore-mentioned nights, good friends, good music and maybe I’ll even allow myself a cheeky wee white Grenache too!

Have a wee sample from eddi and have a lovely day from me.

I’m back from my wee gallivant to my adopted hometown and ooh but I am flat upon my return.

No I did not have an accident (nor make Flat Stanley think; “Thank the Lord! At last!”), t’is melancholia that ails me….come on, all together “Oh! Woe is me!”

It is, more than likely, just a case of the post-holiday blues and missing all my friends, but Edinburgh definitely has spell on me and I do miss it when I’m not there. Being a true Gemini, of course, I feel the same about Bressay when I am living in Edinburgh – typical!

Even though I was in Auld Reekie catching up with friends and soaking up the atmosphere in my old haunts, I was actually staying with a friend outside the city in Rosewell, Midlothian.                                                                                                                                 I have a bit of a love for wee towns outside of Edinburgh too having lived in Dalkeith for a while, during college. Towns in Midlothian often get a bad rap because of the crime rates and the drinking/drug culture, but I think, in many cases, the problems are heightened because they are small, everyone-knows-your-business places on the fringes of a city - the drink and drugs problems are the same everywhere you go these days…not that that’s an excuse or that I’m being laissez-faire.

Anyhow…where was I…oh yes, Lothian towns! It’s the green and woodedness I like so much and the history behind them. To look at Dalkeith’s sad little 70’s style town centre, every shop either a charity shop or a bank (or a pub) you wouldn’t believe it had much history.

Rosewell is an old mining town and very close to Roslyn Chapel. There isn’t much there apart from the usual shops, churches, school and pub, but its definitely got character.

In a lot of ways it’s a sad place too though. You can see with the naked eye the effects of living on top of old mines. Most of the houses on the high street have literally fallen down, fields noticeably sag in the middle and one of the roads, which leads down to Roslin Glen, has been closed because the road has given way. (I have my own photos of what it looks like now (worse!) , but for some reason i can’t post them today…gremlins!)

We went on a couple of walks around the village and surrounding area. I really enjoyed a walked down to Roslin Glen and the area surrounding the chapel (which we never went to this trip, but have been before). Some of the places we visited had a definite vibe, if you believe in that sort of thing, which I do. I don’t profess to having any ability, but something’s just happen and you can’t explain them. For example at one ruined building along the walk we stopped and every time I walked into a specific part of it I had a powdery substance in the back of my throat and was actually coughing it up and spitting it out, I would come out and go back in and the same thing happened three or four times, I felt as if I was choking…it was only afterwards I was told that I had been standing in an old gunpowder mill. For the most part though the walk was a nice experience – there were deer too apparently…I was busy calling to the birds and listening for their reply mad woman that I am.

Anyway after a week of visiting in Edinburgh it was back up the road and an afternoon in Aberdeen before getting on the boat. My friend and I paid a little visit to the gallery. I love wandering around there and always head to the impressionists bit to get a glance at the little Monet they have there. The Burns Zig Zag exhibition was just ending on Monday but we managed to see it. I saw it in Edinburgh in January, but my gallery going companion hadn’t. I think the key was to go in one door and start at the beginning of his life, but we “zigzagged” and went in the wrong door, coming in as he was going out as it were.

I had forgotten about THE portrait, I shan’t ruin if for others, but if you are going to see it, when it reaches a town near you, look out for the famous Alexander Naysmith portrait of Rabbie and watch it raise a few eyebrows, literally!

I love Robert Burns, if he were around today I reckon he’d still be a heart-throb, having all the ladies after him like George Clooney or something! Its awffy sad the way his life ended, his final letter is more of a tearjerker than any poem, asking a friend for the loan of some money.

I read Tinder Heart recently (I think it’s by Hugh Douglas) which is sadly out of print now, but that is a very good biography of his Life and loves…I shall have to try ebay to get my hands on a copy as it was a good reference book.

Oh well fellow bloggers I am away to do some sense as they say! Its my friend Jam’s birthday on Friday, as mirlnlass, mentioned so that’ll be a good day of catching up and a bit of pampering thrown in for good measure, so hopefully that’ll banish the post holiday blues.

Also, in the further adventures of morrolesssocks and mirlnlass, we might possibly be thinking about going to Tai Chi classes - discussions are abound!

I suppose I should get a grip over missing auld reekie and listen to the wise words of Rabbie himself, Had we never lov’d sae kindly, Had we never lov’d sae blindly, Never met-or never parted, We had ne’er been sae broken-hearted”

And to you all “cock up your beaver” til next time!

Today’s Blog was brought to you by a mug of tea, ginger snaps and Ballad of the Broken Seas by Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan.

Och what another flyby kind of a week this has turned out to be…

This time last week I was coming home from the Community Council meeting with mirlinlass. We both decided after the last one that we should make a regular thing of it. Bressay is an island much in need of a rejuvenation of community spirit. fifteen/twenty years ago the community was thriving - always something on at the hall, always a good crowd out in the pub, always a craic to be had  in most quarters and always a real interest in doing things for the sake of “community”. But there is a real apathy now I think. For a community to survive it needs a real injection of young, or young-er, people to kick things into shape.

Bressay is, sloowly, becoming a younger community again and I do see some little groups of shape-kickers and shades of how the community could be in those people. but still only me, mirlin and mirlin’s dad turned up the the last two community council meetings. I find that a real shame when the people in the community get on their soapbox about “community matters” and then not utilise the council when they are there to deal with such matters…for instance mirlin and I went to the meeting last month to hear about the proposed plans to make major changes to our water supply. Lots of members of the community had their two-penneth worth to add when it was discussed in the ferry or in the shop “somebody must do something about this!”, “We want to keep our water!”, but they didn’t turn up to the meeting.  As it happens, the water dudes said that what the community want will be taken into consideration and they will be having a consultation evening, but if no-one turns up to that we’ll get tinny old Lerwick water and folk will complain that nobody did anything!

Ok, I maybe generalising a little bit…because there was a few who  turned-out to the public transport meeting the night before, but it really crumbles my oatcakes to hear folk waste all their energy on sounding off when they could save some to attend the odd community council meeting and learn how they can play a part in making significant changes to their own community…………and breathe!

Anyhoo, a lot of interesting things were raised at the meeting including the possibility of a turbine for the island - fab idea…mind you…months from now, after its been discussed at, virtually, unattended meetings, all the forms have been filled out and the work is about to begin, some smart alecs will see the turbines coming over on the ferry and say…”and when was all this decided?!”

 Friday was a quiet one as I fully intended it to be. I was let slip home alone at the weekend as mamajama went to Aberdeen for a shopping and a show jaunt…it sounds silly to say “let slip”, but just to flatch out on the sofa with the remote all to myself, for an entire weekend…such bliss! I sat and knitted a camera sock for my sister and watched season three and four of Coupling on DVD.

On Saturday there was a jumble sale and coffee morning at the local heritage centre (a mini-community of potential shape-kickers helping out at it) and my friend Jam and her two wee ones came over for it. Unfortunately mirlin wasn’t able for it. Every time Jam attends a social function in Bressay it’s like the prodigal daughter has returned, although, as she says herself, most of the folk who seem to flock to her, wouldn’t have so much as said hello to her when she lived on the island years ago lol.   We ended up enjoying some sumptuous homebakes in the 1960s ben-end mock up, watching plastic budgies fly up the wall and admiring the obligatory waally dugs! I went home with far too many books, having only been resolved to but no more second-hand books just the week before!

Sunday was another knitting day, but I ended up with a migraine, which is usually what happens after a weekend of clicking wires, unfortunately it kept me off my work on Monday and I spent the day in bed with the curtains closed.

Mind you having the curtains closed does very little now that the light mornings are upon us once more. I wasn’t thankful of that fact on Monday, but I do love the lighter mornings and evenings and going to bed and waking up to blackbird song. There are a good few nesting in the old dyke across the road from me and it’s just a joyous sound to behold!

I am looking after the nieces tonight and tomorrow night, their mum and dad are off to Aberdeen for a wedding so Aunty Morrolesssocks has come to stay. It’s only been one night and already I think a migraine is better…haha only kidding, we are off on a magical mystery bus trip tomorrow and once I have handed them back on Saturday morning its off home to pack…I’m heading south for a jaunt myself, a week in Edinburgh to do some much needed catching up with friends including a Belated Happy Birthday Doris Day party! It’s the great lady’s birthday tomorrow, 87 I believe! She’s always been an idol of mine and my friend mojo is an even bigger fan, she’s bringing the gingham, I’m to bring the chiffon head scarf and pearls!

right time for bed…hope the silvrey moon is shining on you!

My second day in Oslo wasn’t really a day at all. Our flight was leaving at 1.45pm and so I was up at 6am determined to see as many as the sights as I possibly could.
As much as I would liked to have gone to the Culture and Heritage museum, the Edvard Munch museum and the National Gallery most places didn’t open until 10 or 11 and so it was a walking whistle stop tour.

Before leaving I thought I would grab a bit of breakfast, but grabbing was out of the question. The hotel’s massive selection made it impossible to choose just one breakfast item. There were cereals on one side, fruit on the other, meats on the far side, next to the startlingly huge range of breakfast fish (!), and that was not all; there were breads, pastries and assorted fillings in the middle of this smorgasbord along with pretty much any other food or drink item not included in the afore mentioned categories! I had a bit of it all, including fish, which was a new experience for me at 6.30am! Fish and other breakfast items on board it was then off to explore.

I had caught a glimpse of the palace on my way back from the event so I wanted to get an up close look at that which is at the end of Karl Johans Gate, a rather long street where I’d get to see the parliament and the national theatre along the way.

The town was very busy so early in the morning, which is surprising given that nothing opens until at least 10 am. As I admired the buildings around the cathedral (which was sadly scaffolded up – there is a lot of work and scaffold around the town just now) a middle-aged woman came up to be speaking in Norwegian, I said I was Scottish and, for the first time that day, I was told I looked native, thanking her for the compliment she then told me I was very beautiful too – sensing she was after something I tried to back away, but from nowhere she produced a bouquet of flowers and asked for 30 NOK (£3 ish) for a poor looking rose. I did my best to apologise politely and get away and she realised that I wasn’t the kind of tourist to be taken in so she swore at me and spat at my feet – a lovely memory for the holiday album!

After that I stopped at the small park, between Stortinget (parliament) and the beautiful old National Theatre, called Spikersuppa, which usually has a lovely fountain, but the pond was frozen over and resemembled more of an ice-rink. I should say that there was a lot of snow in Oslo, and everyone was so happy as its been the longest lying snow they’ve had in years, they have the right attitude to snow there too; they just pile it up from the roads and pavements so that they are totally clear, no messy slushy roads like we get! And big piles of snow to play in…or for the children to play in! It was here at Spikersuppa that my love for statues became apparent.

I’ve always likes statues – their expressions, what they might be looking at, what they represent – even the scary looking ones. Oslo is abundant in sculpture and statues…Vigelandsparken is testament to that (but it was too far to walk) , so needless to say, my photos are mostly statues and signs (I do like nice signage).
After a visit to see Ibsen’s glum-faced statue at the National Theatre and then to the palace (Crown Prince Haakon wisnae in!) I went down to Radhusbrygge and nearby Aker Brygge at the Harbour.
The harbour area was pretty and there were lots of statues to admire there too.

I was aware of my time, so it was off to do something I’d been itching to do since I knew I was taking the trip.
I am a total wool junkie, I enjoy knitting (small things, nothing overly adventurous) and I love wool. In fact it’s becoming an obsession of mine – my stash bag is almost overflowing!
About a month before the trip I was reading Yarn Forward and noticed that they have started a section on wool and stores around the world and this month was Oslo. Thinking that chance would be a fine thing all I could do was look longingly at the pretty pictures and practise saying “er det en garn buttikk i nærheten?” (is there a wool shop near here) in vain…or so I believed.
Fully prepared with my handy key-phrases from the magazine, I made my way to Husfliden and I was not disappointed; all natural and local fibres, no acrylic to be seen and the friendliest staff. Again the girl began talking to me in Norwegian and when I said I couldn’t understand her she told me I looked very Scandinavian with my dark hair, blue eyes, fair skin and cheekbones (I wasn’t aware I had prominent cheekbones!), I said I thought it was possibly just a far north complexion!
I was completely spoiled for choice wool-wise, but because everything cost double in Norway I, unusually meagrely, bought only four balls. Two hanks were Spelsa wool, which I believe are used in Norwegian mittens and is a quite hairy and hardy wool; there were lots of gorgeous colourways but I was restrained in picking only two!

Soon it was time to head back to the hotel and I was quite sad to be saying farvel to Oslo, I had really enjoyed the little time I had there and I was beginning to see why a lot of Shetlanders have up sticks and moved there.
I spoke to a young Shetlander at the event who had moved in the last 18 months – he was so passionate about living there and walking around I could see the appeal, plus he had told me that the wages were double, the holiday entitlement is exceptional as Norwegians like their down-time, and the country are, allegedly, handling the current financial climate better than any where else – I don’t know if that’s true, but when it costs £7 for a beer I’d say they were taxing the right kind of things to be able to survive more than adequately!
So, no sooner had I arrived it was time to leave Norway again! Getting to Aberdeen was a much mort comfortable flight that it had been going to Oslo, but getting out of Aberdeen was not so easy!
Fog in Sumburgh hampered our departure and eventually cancelled it, so they put all the other disgruntled passengers and myself in taxis to the Britannia Hotel. I was not favouring the prospect of having to get up at 4 am to go back to the airport or getting off the plane on to a bus which would drop me off, pretty much, right to my desk, but a power nap on the plane (And then on the bus!) saw me not too bad, and after an intravenous coffee drip I cockered up enough to do start proof-reading!
What a whirlwind couple of days!
Back to Bressay again and yesterday was another will it/won’t it kind of day weatherwise. I was up for a drink at 5 am and noticed my clothes were still on the line, but wasn’t too bothered as it look like a lovely windy morning. WRONG! When I woke up at 9 they were all droopin on the line heavy with rain!
As it was Mammy’s day my sister invited us all to tea. My sister was keen to see my Oslo photos and after scrolling through the camera she declared, “anyone would think you have a thing about statues”! If there is anyone else out there who appreciates a statue, particularly a Norwegian one, and nice signage, you can look at the rest of my photos here.
I know its Monday again (boo hiss!) but I hope the week to come is warmer and cheery for you!

Tags: knitting magazine, photos, sculpture park