As you may, or may not, be aware, our broadband is pretty poor at best and, at worst, non-existent which is recently becoming more and more often.

The constant promises of better faster broadband by BT is not coming to us.  Not never, apparently.

If we (I mean my local area of the West Mainland – Walls and Sandness) want to have full-fibre connection, we have to ask the Scottish Government for the project to go ahead. It will not happen automatically.  This has to be a community project for it to go ahead because the Government funding is linked to individual households and not to the general area.  Folk have to come together to get this to work.

So OH and I were driving around in our given area distributing leaflets about this to every householder asking them to fill out an “expression of interest form”.

At this stage, there would be absolutely no financial interest and no commitment either.  If enough folk said yes, (100+ houses) then Digital Scotland would find a solution to the obstacles with the approved supplier of their choice.

There will be a meeting later on in November (16th – 7pm at the Walls Regatta Club) which the Stakeholder Director, Broadband Delivery, Digital Directorate, Scottish Government will be attending to answer questions from us.

I cannot tell you just how much I want this to go ahead.  It could make such a huge change to the infrastructure.  Satellite and Mobile broadband are all well and good, but the more folk sign up to them (if nothing happens), then in turn the signals will become weaker (ie slower) as they become more diluted with users and everyone will be back to square one again.

So, we spent the afternoon with me driving and OH nipping out to talk to residents and/or drop leaflets through their doors.  And while he did the work, I took photos of my beautiful surroundings.

This morning’s breakfast photos.

The ponies seem to be making in-roads into the field – I know this when I had to climb up to the top of the hill to retrieve Pepper who had gone off hunting while I was waiting for everyone to finish up their bowls and buckets

Vitamin now approaches me at a stonking trot, shouting for her bucket NOW!  Based on this, I diagnose that she does not have laminitis anymore and is feeling a whole lot better now.

Everyone, these days, is arguing about food.

I roasted some old lamb flanks that were no longer for human consumption for the birds and the starling fell on them.

And then, of course, a fight broke out.

On my way to see the Waxwings yesterday, I stopped to take a few photos of the mist that was sporadically lying low on the ground.

And then of course, when the sun is starting to set, it is always beautiful and you can see just how close my nearest neighbour is.

They are kind neighbours who look after Pepper, often returning her too, when she goes a-visiting.

So that’s us, really. The weather has deteriorated, two ducks are missing (I am praying they’ve put themselves to bed somewhere safe and will appear tomorrow morning for breakfast) and it is raining hard.

My interest in birds has peaked again as I noticed, living in the stable, a blackbird (male) who has random white feathers.

I often find him in there.

But the whole white feather in his tail is what caught my attention.

I shall try hard to keep him safe from Pepper and Monster.

Apparently it is quite common for blackbirds to have the odd white feather, but I think this is incredibly special and I have never seen this before (possibly because I wasn’t really looking).

According to the RSPB – “Leucism (abnormal white or pale plumage due to a lack of melanin pigment) can occur in any bird species but does seem to be particularly common in Blackbirds. It is caused by a genetic mutation so it’s not unusual to find several affected birds in the same area, they are probably related.” 

So maybe there will be more.  We always have some blackbird couples around.

These past few weeks, I have also been trying to photograph the visiting Waxwings with absolutely no success.  A friend messaged me that they had a couple so I immediately drove over to see if they were still there.

Success!

Such a pretty little bird and they will over-eat if they possibly can.

So I spent the morning creeping around with my camera, hoping they wouldn’t fly away, which they constantly did.

But my friend had the “Hey-Waxwings-there-are-apples” call on his telephone and he kept playing this over and over again, while I stalked the birds around the outside of the house, using the walls as cover.

According to my research (Google), I think these are “Bohemian Waxwings” that come over from Scandinavia for food – berries and apples.

They are very sociable little birds who like a good argument!

I took this photo for comparison of size.

It was a great morning and I also saw a Blackcap (so I am reliably informed).

We’ve had some fairly spectacular skies recently.  Although usual for this time of year, I do love the beautiful expanse of Shetland sky and, you know me, I am always on the look out for a good photo.

This is the sunrise from my bedroom window this morning 07:45.

Then around two o’clock this afternoon.

And the last glimpse of the sun (a few nights back).  Shetland is breath-taking.

Meanwhile, the view from the backdoor two night’s ago.

Not bad, eh?

(though I realised the trees have grown a bit this year so I had to go and find a better spot in front of them.  Obviously I trudged out in my bedroom slippers, of course. I did regret that choice).

And then there was an immense green glow around West North West.

Once they had died down, I went to run my bath and off the Mirrie Dancers (Shetland dialect for Northern Lights) went again.

So this is the view from the bathroom window!

Apparently they may appear tonight so I am planning to get my real Northern Light watching kit together – wellies, fingerless gloves, warm coat and a proper camera on a tripod.  All these photos are with my phone perched on a fence-post, which is not ideal.

On Friday evening I went with OH to the 2023 Shetland Craft Fair at the Clickimin Leisure Complex.  I had a quick perusal but left without buying much – mostly because I could not do my shopping in secret and OH is not an enthusiastic shopper.

So, this morning, hoping the fair would be fairly empty, I returned with all the time in the world and two like-minded friends.

The annual Craft Fair is organised by Shetland Arts & Crafts Association – showcasing “unique woodcraft, knitwear, textiles, fine art and more. Inspired by Shetland’s dramatic scenery, heritage and culture, Shetland Arts and Crafts producers offer a unique and diverse range of crafts, from the islands’ traditional knitwear designs, handed down through generations, to more modern and highly original craft work.”

All I can say is wow, and I got much of my Christmas shopping done too but no, sadly, no one is receiving a beautifully crafted Hardanger fiddle this year!

I had to physically stop myself from buying Christmas presents for myself!

But I might have added to my “secret soap stash” just because lovely soap is my luxury and a necessity.

And, yes, I possibly got a few edible things for later.

I even found a well-made klibber so if you’re interested in buying one, let me know and I will pass your details onwards.

These are called “creepies” – a traditional milking stool or to creep nearer to the fire.

And of course Shetland Reel gin – free samples – and I might’ve had a few for my breakfast!

When I looked at my watch, I suddenly saw that we had been there three hours.  A perfect way to spend a Sunday morning, drinking free samples of gin and shopping!  My idea of heaven.