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I have lived in Shetland all my life and have almost always gone to our torch and galley burning festival/celebration/ traditional / cultural ceremony, and have sometime in the past gone to a 'Hall' - you go at nine o clock dressed in your gud claes, and wait to be entertained by the visiting squads of men (always men, never women) its always good fun. You stagger home at nine the following morning. By tradition its held on the last Tuesday of January - all the shops usually stay closed next day - so you can sleep all day. Schools are shut, and Lerwick is dead to the world.
This year I decided to join in again - and I really enjoyed it.

Why is it different? Well for a start no one takes their partner with them. The women tend to be in the Hall ( there are about 12 halls open for guizers) and the men visit the hall. they arrive in a bus or truck and come in to entertain the folk in the hall. They might do a funny sketch, a political skit or a dance. Then the band plays a dance of their choice and we have a dance. And then another squad comes in. Did I mention you can have supper - soup, bannocks, tea etc ALL through the night? and if you know the host and hostess of the hall ( the enthusiastic people who organise the event) you will be invited for a dram too. what could possibly go wrong? if you get fed up the next squad are waiting at the door. Fresh men. in every sense. and as I mentioned no one has their partner so everyone dances wi everyone else, its fine. My mum warned me before I went to my first Up Helly Aa - no not about men or loose morals - nothing of the sort - she said:
'NEVER refuse a guizer a dance. and if he askes you for supper - YOU GO' apparently its an unwritten rule.

well folks, I did venture North on Friday to Unst to the Up Helly Aa (or would that be aaahh...) and I had a GREAT night. was it better than the Lerrick een (Lerwick one)? hard to say, it was brilliant and I laughed so much. I saw Ruthodanort in a squad, on stage, doing very strange things - was she drunk or just acting very well?
The weather was very cold but excellent for the procession, and we stood outside to watch the guizers go by, then stood as close as we could to the galley as it burned, but had to retreat pretty quick as it was burning our faces. my young son took off his jacket and lay down on the beach with his friend, and obviously thought it was a sensible thing to do. I suppose he hasn't got the experience to realise that facing an inferno, being scorched on one side of your body whilst being blast frozen on the other side is NOT a good thing. Never mind, he understands now - he was off school with a throat infection and temperature today (Monday).
One of the squads did a sketch on an evening class, attempting to show unsuitable new women how to catch and keep an Unst man (one of the problems currently facing Unst is depopulation) the women were instructed by a very prim grey haired elderly woman who told them in no uncertain terms how to do it. apparently you NEED TO KNOW ALL ABOUT SHEEP and they sang a song to demonstrate this point. absolutely brilliant.
And then we had supper, and danced till 2am.

PS yes I was in a squad last year and my outfit was sensible!! that's a whole new story...

I have made the decision to go to Glasgow for the weekend! I can't wait. A friend has to go to collect a car from the mainland so we are off for a jaunt to Edinburgh and Glasgow. On da boat on Thursday (pray for a calm night) Aberdeen on Friday morning! hurrah! back on Sunday night's boat (don't care so much but please make it another calm night.)

shops. bars. restaurants we haven't been to a hundred times. more shops. we're thinkin to try and get to Ikea. visit friends too.

Last time I was on the boat I took the usual 2 Stuggeron tablets, but by 8 o clock was feeling terrible, trying not to think about food and being sick, when I thought why not take more travel tablets. I was feeling so lousy that I could hardly be bothered to reach down for my handbag, but on investigation I realised I had not taken any Stuggeron - I had taken 2 Nurafen which obviously had NO effect whatsoever on travel sickness!

will let you all know how the trip goes.

Glasgow was great! had a really good weekend and managed to relax a bit too. Da boat was so gentle on the way down, but on the way back they warned us it wid be rough. Force 8. I gobbled down some stuggereon but forgot about the instruction to swallow whole, and chewed them. So I conked out pretty soon. And the trip was really smooth, no need to panic at all.
To make matters worse I made my friend eat them too, and she conked out too.

On the first day we travelled by bus to Edinburgh, did some shopping and met a good friend and ex-neighbour, caught up wi all the news and gossip, and had wir tea in a pub. Because of the rugby we couldna get any accommodation, so we went through to Glasgow. Amongst other things we wanted to buy a drum, a very kind taxi driver took us round all the drum shops in Glasgow. I left da lasses to meet my son who is studying in Glasgow, and had a very nice Moroccan lunch wi him. Lamb, cous-cous with almonds and prunes, in a tagine.Must make it at home. (must buy a tagine first) On Sunday we picked up a car from a friend who bought it at auction, and drove back to Aberdeen. It should have taken us a couple of hours but we took most of the day. One of us wanted to visit a pal in Woodend hospital, so we tried to find it - and failed, gettin lost several times. We had to have to car at the boat by 4 at the latest, and when we left Woodend we had 20 mins to get there. I was map reader, but through no fault of my own(?), missed the first instruction and took us on a detour through Aberdeen's back streets. Fortunately I could remember Aberdeen quite well, but unfortunately I had never been in this bit before. We ended up drivin through containers over narrow cobbled streets, and at about 1 minute to four I waved my hand in an 11 o clock direction (north-north westerly for the sailors among us) and said - 'Da boat's ower yonder - I ken it is'. When we drove past some Shetland Transport containers I knew we were gettin close, and as if by some miracle we emerged out of the container park - and we were just across the road fae da NorthLink ferry. Phew. THEN they said they mibbee widna be sailin till 8 because of the tide....
And I never got to Ikea!