tidying up time! just realised that I have not done any blogging on this for a while! I found a load of old show tapes and posters I had collected lying around in my wardrobe. any one interested? they can email me on matthewvl@hotmail.com and put Theatre in the subject heading so I don't delete it by error.
well then well then I just got back from a sortie down South. I went to see Al Jarreau, the American Jazz/Funk singer, at the 02 Arena (used to be better known as the Millenium Dump!) and also view the Chinese exhibition of the Terracotta Army. Both were awesome and my friend Bob who came with me thoroughly enjoyed himself as well. We also visited the Medway Beer Festival which had a small but tasteful selection of real ales. The room where it was held was bloody freezing!
Caught up with friends and spent far too much money but it just had to be done. I also went to visit a very dear friend in hospital who has really been to hell and back but hopefully is now on the mend. It was good to see her.
All in all a thoroughly nice trip and the only marr to it all was the baggage going missing at Sumburgh. Servisair who handle desk check in and luggage are, I can officially say, useless! I checked my bag in and the ditso at the check in desk said 'oh you have to put that bag through the luggage room at the end because it is a rucksack and can't go through the escalator system' (er...duh it went through Heathrow alright!!) so I complied as the plane was delayed and I wanted to be at the right gate. It went through the X-ray and they asked if I had packed it myself. yes yes yes! I sat on the plane and watched (what I assumed) my bag being bought out by a little man who put it on our plane. At Sumburgh I went to the Carousel and one of Loganair's staff came up to me and said 'excuse me but that is not your bag'. 'What! of course it's mine!' then I looked for the CAMRA luggage tag, not there! So to cut a long story I got home and found a message on my phone from someone in Aberdeen who had picked my bag up in the airport, off the Domestic Arrivals carousel! (what the hell!!!!). How did it get there then? ' well I went to pick up my bag and there is was but then I saw the luggage tag so took it to the desk! thank goodness as there were Christmas presents in it. Alls well that ends well
Well I have to say when we are almost upon the next edition of the Shetland Diary that I continue to be bemused by the state of the weather. I mean this time last October we were cowering inside our houses with shutters down and curtains drawn and earplugs at the ready in order to get a good nights sleep and this year what? cold with some rough swell out on St Ninian's Head where the reefs are but blue skies and sun with a slight cold breeze but nothing equinoctial like last year. Perhaps it is all around the corner though I did read an article saying that the Met office said we are not going to get a huge amount of gales this year due to the fact that the cyclonic cycles are moving further outwards to mid Atlantic and going straight up. Dunno if this is a direct result of the so called global warming effect, don't know what to think anymore apart from guilty every time I have to get in the car and drive somewhere! All agreed it is rather odddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd!!!!! stand posted!!
I haven't posted anything here for so long as I have been so busy. I am conscious of so many things to do outdoors which are all weather dependant and being that the weather has been absolutely disgusting I am hamstrung by this. Carrots to dig up and patches to clear to leave fallow over winter.
I have been going up to Yell twice a week to teach and started work on a Pantomime choreographing a routine for it which is fun. Hard work too!
My wife is off to Newcastle this weekend to run in the Great North Run for charity. She does it every year and does quite well.
The latest Diary will have to be written this weekend and posted up so I will keep you all posted.
Posted by Matthew Lawrence
at 03:53 AM on April 13, 2007
Busy night for Shetland's coastguard and oil rescue services. The Bourbon Dolphin capsized in a comparatively calm sea, well calm for the Northern Atlantic, and a number of crew are still missing though 7 have been rescued. The nearby oil rig had to be evacuated because the boat is hull up and could drift into the rig so 80 workers were airlifted off to Sumburgh during the night. A number of my wife's colleagues had to work all night seeing in the flights and now relatives of the workers are being sent up to Shetland so the airport is going to be incredibly busy over the next few days! The missing crew members are all Norwegian so our thoughts must be with their family members. Very sad. I have just noticed from the weather report that there is a thick sea fog around the Northern Isles which will hamper rescue attempts....
Nice weather though so I will be out in the garden catching up on tasks.
Glorious sunshine, just like wot our Spanish readers will have been experiencing. I could almost see my seedlings growing as I watered them. I was very industrious this morning. I cleared out the entire garage and swept the floor and threw out a load of junk that we didn't really need anyway. All the useful things like pieces of net and rope I put in a corner for use in the garden later on when I get a moment to do some actual work in the garden. Once the ankle biters go back to school that is!! I got a load of old window frames from a neighbour who wanted to get rid of them and I will use them to make cloches out of as I have loads of young plants sprouting everywhere. Quite a challenge in the Shetland climate. It isn't that bad actually because it is milder and there is more moisture in the air and as long as it is not blowing too much you don't get a lot of salt in the air which doesn't help the veges. I have lots of potatoes in already and broad beans, peas, carrots, parsnips and radishes. Mange tout do quite well here also so I have bunged some of them for good measure. What surprised me last year was the fact that lettuces grew so well here. They are quite a hard vege and very tasty. Broccoli and calabrese is another vege that I love and they do quite well too. I would love a poly tunnel but they are expensive so there you go! Just have to stick with old window frames eh?
Apparently last night about midnight was very windy? I didn't hear a thing..maybe something to do with the large ear plugs I was wearing! It has been rather orrid weather admittedly. We have had so much rain you would not believe it. The ground is absolutely soaked. I dug the garden yesterday and the spade was just sliding in unaided, that is how soft the soil is. I got some very nice vege seeds from a Scottish seed supplier called Alan Romans so I am looking forward to planting some very soon. A skip was delivered next to our house today and within half an hour cars started pulling up. Someone very kindly put in a very large window frame with the double glazing glass intact so that is another cloche for me to use!!!
Hopefully the weather will now improve. The clocks will be going forward (or is it back?) in a few weeks so the long evenings will start. Can't wait for simmer dim!!..
I went into the Town Hall to help Billy set up the hall for a concert this evening and as it didn't take as long as we envisaged I got to come home again for a few hours. Beautiful calm day, the children have gone out for some 'exercise' with a friend who is looking after them while my wife and I were both out. The weather is forecast to get rather bad over tomorrow night and Monday into Tuesday (I mean come on how much rain can we really put up with) I was hoping to get some of my garden dug up this morning but it is just too wet! Not a chance shame really as I want to get planting later on, around about end of April! I have lots of potatoes coming and other seeds which I want to try up here, shame there is such a short growing season too. I have to go back in about 1830 to the show and work that then help set up for the next item. Was supposed to go to darts tonight but need to earn a few spondulicks! Oscar Charlie has just flown overhead. Probably just routine but you never know around here. (Oscar is our rescue helicopter!)
Rehearsal of our play tomorrow. I was most taken back to see that my photo was in the paper, it had been taken while we were rehearsing in The Garrison for our dress rehearsal last Sunday. God I looked ghastly...mind you I didn't have my glasses on!! next Saturday is the big night!
goodness none of that nonsense here in Shetland!! well the girls here seem to revel in wearing low slung jeans and t-shirts revealing the kidney area of their backs (most susceptible to chills) even in the most freezing cold weather!! I haven't seen any strutting around wearing mantillas and clicking their castanets lately either!!
Howling cold weather here but dry at least (for the moment). Only 70mph winds mind!! Just watching the depressing news about teenage shootings in South East London. God I am so glad we have moved from there!....sad so very very sad.
Goodness me we are half way through this month already. Gales forecast for tomorrow. Maybe dry some of this wet out, every thing is completely inundated. No water shortages here then! Thanks Christine for your comments. Here, I bet it is a damm sight warmer in Spain than here?! I saw your grandson being taken to Sandwick nursery this morning when I was packing my threesome on to their school bus. I have to wonder at the instantaneous effect of the web, here I am sitting in little old Shetland in a howling storm communicating with someone who is living in sunny California or someone who is considerably warmer in Spain at the touch of a button! amazing!
I was a bit tired this morning. Been rehearsing for the Shetland County Drama Festival up at Bigton Hall last night and again tonight, then on Saturday and Sunday! Plus I have to drive to Whiteness this afternoon to teach in the school, then to Aith on Friday to teach there and Sunday back to Whiteness in the morning before rehearsal! Ooh matron its all go I can tell you. Still it keeps you busy. I am looking forward to Spring though. I just want to get out in my garden and start getting things ready! Seeds to propogate and potato beds to prepare! food to grow.
