аЯрЁБс>ўџ ўџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџ§џџџўџџџўџџџ   !"#$%&'()*+,-.ўџџџўџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџRoot EntryџџџџџџџџВZЄ žбЄРOЙ2КPЯо—Ш/€CONTENTSџџџџ XCompObjџџџџџџџџџџџџVSPELLINGџџџџџџџџџџџџШўџџџўџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџџoff late, scrunched up behind Andy and Xavier on the Saab. I wasn t complaining though as I said because it was fascinating getting a full on view of the runway zooming past the windows and then you plunge into the cloud base, a little bumpy, and then suddenly you are above the cloud and there is a clear blue sky. The plane went onto auto pilot and Andy mentioned to me that they were flying into a sixty knot wind and the plane was going a bit slower than usual because it had a heavy load. I had head phones on so could hear local traffic from Aberdeen, both choppers and foreign flights as far away as Denmark. In no time at all we began our descent back into the cloud base and we were flying about two thousand feet above a very rough sea past Fair Isle. Auto pilot came off and Andy was suddenly hands on the stick and throttle and juggling the plane literally down onto the runway. Phew!! Safe on the ground again but it was fun. I drove home from the airport and the first thing the children told me was that we had chicks! That explained what the hen was doing, she had made a nest underneath the chicken house and hatched three chicks. Sadly though none of them survived because, as a local lady who is a crofter and drives the mini bus in the evening school run expressed surprise at my news. Far too early really for them to survive. I extended the chicken s run around the back of their house to give them more room but ran out of wire netting so used some green garden net which is temporary as it is incredibly flimsy. One of the chicks expired as mother trod on it and the other two just died mysteriously. Naturally the 3Cs were a little upset but they have accepted it. In this heavy snow the wild birds are frantically scavenging for food and I have put out seed for thCHNKWKS XјџџџџTEXTTEXTPEFDPPFDPPHFDPCFDPCJSTSHSTSHLSTSHSTSHL2SYIDSYIDPLSGP SGP dLINK INK hLBTEPPLC lLBTECPLC „LFONTFONTœL<STRSPLC иL:PRNTWNPRM`FRAMFRAMrUˆTITLTITLњUDOP DOP V"to the cloud base, a little bumpy, and then suddApril 2008 I went down south for my uncle s funeral and spent some precious time with my aunt, cousins and their children. They have all grown up so much and they are all credits to their parents. It was nice albeit in such sad circumstances to see them all and my mum s brother and his daughter and husband plus my sister and her partner as well. He and I rushed off to Sainsburys in the morning to buy some bits and pieces for Aunty and I almost had a panic attack in that supermarket. Talk about vast emporium! There must have been at least half of Shetland s population just queuing up at the tills. The funeral went fine except when we were at the crematorium, the hearse with the coffin and my Aunt and other uncle had to wait at the end of this long avenue where there was a red traffic light (no kidding!!) and they sat there and waited& .and waited& and waited. We waited outside the chapel where we were supposed to go in and eventually someone came out and apologised and they said they were opening up another chapel! The traffic light eventually changed. Meanwhile everyone who was invited to the house afterwards had been there for ages and there was a couple of sandwiches left. Later that evening we discovered the quiches and sausage rolls in the fridge!!! The weather was very mild while I was there though it made me laugh when someone was grumbling about how windy it was!!  Come up to Shetland I said  and experience a proper gale! . I was very lucky to get on to my last flight coming home and ended up being put in the jump seat, which an absolutely smashing experience. Basically in the cockpit there is a very basic seat which pulls out and down behind and in between the two pilots! Now I am a rather tall bloke so I spent an hour and a half, because we took em but now the cheeky things have worked out how to get into the chicken run and have some problems getting out but they have figured it out now. Mind you they will be thwarted once I put some proper netting in place! Indeed it was very cold and we had some really vicious weather with heavy snow which has lain on the ground for some time now. The schools were closed for two days which is a little tiresome when it was so cold and the novelty of sledging surely must wear off at some point? I am just being a frustrated gardener at the moment because it will take a week or longer, once the thaw starts, for the ground to become soft again. I have bean, cauliflower, broccoli and swede seedlings in the garage at the moment which I am hoping to harden off but hope that the temperature will rise at some point. I had to take my youngest for the 2nd Shetland Girls Brigade presentation where they did a performance for us and she got a medal. We also had the pleasure of watching one of our more outspoken councillors making a clown of himself! On the 31st March there was an International Day of Action which entailed hundreds if not thousand of people marching on Chinese embassies all over the world. There was also 2 million signatures put on a petition online. France may well BOYCOTT THE OLYMPICS and I believe they will as they are usually pretty headstrong in making decisions. New Zealand in the meantime, apparently much to the disgust of a lot of its citizens announced that it was going to sign a trade agreement with China. People are annoyed because they haven t been given a say in the matter. Helen Clark has strong family ties with Shetland so make your own mind up. Mind you the PM is just the figure head of Government and they have to listen to the decisions made by civil servants! Personally I do not think we should send a team to China. The Olympics have been boycotted before haven t they? I certainly won t be watching as a matter of principle. Not while there are indigenous people dying on the streets of their own country which was invaded in the 1950s. I had the pleasure of working at the Town Hall last Friday where there as a classical piano recital by a young man from Thailand whose name defies belief; Chaiporn Pookhaothong. He played a delightful mixture of Beethoven, Brahms, Prokoviev and Shumann A campaign is starting in Shetland for our music and cinema venue which is called  I Support Mareel (the name of the theatre). Well I will be supporting this campaign because it is vital to have a central point for a community to converge on to be entertained. Just as the Romans had the Coliseum for their type of entertainment so should Shetland have a suitable venue in order to attract more world class acts of every performing genre to provide live entertainment plus be a venue that gives succour to Shetland s budding ballet dancers, musicians, actors and actresses and film makers and other artists. Not only will this provide nourishment to young developing minds and encourage youngsters to get involved in the performing arts but also such a venue with its multifunctional possibilities will be of immense benefit both educationally but also an invaluable boost to Shetland s entertainment and tourist industry. Most of the funding for this building this venue comes from outside Shetland so it is hardly another case of Shetland s oil funds supporting another (quote)  white elephant . As in all funding venture Shetland has to put something towards the project but most of the monies come from elsewhere. So it is hardly a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul! I have also been following the election speculation coming out of Zimbabwe. God let s hope Mugabe gets a firm boot where it hurts especially after all the damage he has done to that country. I sincerely hope for the best but suspect there will have been yet more foul play! I am also happy to say Spring is finally here! We have had a couple of glorious days here so today after teaching at an Out of School club I got my rotivator out and tilled my vegetable patches ready for putting in the earlies (potatoes that is!) and planting other veges. After earlier expressing my fears about the ground taking ages to thaw out I was happy to find that the ground was in fact quite soft and tilled beautifully. I have now scrounged plenty of pieces of wood to build some raised beds and will commence making those tomorrow, the 1st of April which also happens to be my wife s birthday. So children, who are on holiday for two weeks, will put to work to make a cake. Unfortunately we have no eggs left ( the hens appear to be on holiday) so it will have to be an egg free cake! We will have a nice bottle of champagne, yes she has to still work on an early shift, and I will cook a nice dinner for her. She can t eat chocolates as she is allergic to chocolate so we will have to find a sweet alternative. Meantime the price of oil and petrol goes up and the price of food stuffs seem to go up every week. Let s not mention the price of a pint of ale and a bottle of wine. I wonder where it is all going to go& .but let s worry about that when the next issue is due. Might be something else to moan about but for now I have moaned enough and I didn t even mean to!!! ertainment and tourist industry. Most of the funding for this building this venue comes ј њ j l VXДЖ^$`$4&6&X.Z.V0X0L:N:t<v<xDzDLGNGPGјј№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№ШШ(2‚"'(Š  л)л @ЗS З Ј$Ќ$J&N&Т@Ц@LGPGшиФиФиФиК "  "PSS"  "PS"  "0р" ."€ @Цƒџџџџ@Цƒ "№” "ttPGHPGJ(@ЦƒTimes New RomanџІ" " " "ЄјУш№ааTTTTи`EPSON Stylus DX4800 Seriesœ<›€ъ odаа EPSON Stylus DX4800 SeriesDLLName32=E_FUICADE.DLLџџД€P TS_URLTSupportURL PSOLVER4š  аа˜: аа@т TTTT@т TTTTdџ2 ,winspoolEPSON Stylus DX4800 SeriesUSB001Fџџџ"\В"€‘"бV"$c"№` "№``""A."@џџџ"\В"№љ"бV"$c"№` "№``"."April 2008.wps""иp"иpp (" )"6&X.Z.V0X0L:N:t<v<xDzDLGNGPGјј№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№ШШ(2‚"'(Š  л)л @ЗS Зўџ џџџџВZЄ žбЄРOЙ2КQuill96 Story Group Classџџџџє9ВqyЙ2КyЙ2КyЙ2КЙ2КuyЙ2К…Й2КЌyЙ2КБЙ2КЩyЙ2КбЙ2КвyЙ2КоЙ2КyЙ2КЙ2К#yЙ2К*Й2КŠyЙ2КЙ2КƒyЙ2К‰Й2КyЙ2КЙ2КFyЙ2КKa case of robbing Peter to pay Paul! I have also been following the election speculation coming out of Zimbabwe. God let s hope Mugabe gets a firm boot where it hurts especially after all the damage he has done to that country. I sincerely hope for the best but suspect there will have been yet more foul play! I am also happy to say Spring is finally here! We have had a couple of glorious days here so today after teaching at an Out of School club I got my rotivator out and tilled my vegetable patches ready for putting in the earlies (potatoes that is!) and planting other veges. After earlier expressing my fears about the ground taking ages to thaw out I was happy to find that the ground was in fact quite soft and tilled beautifully. I have now scrounged plenty of pieces of wood to build some raised beds and will commence making those tomorrow, the 1st of April which also happens to be my wife s birthday. So children, who are on holiday for two weeks, will put to work to make a cake. Unfortunately we have no eggs left ( the hens appear to be on holiday) so it will have to be an egg free cake! We will have a nice bottle of champagne, yes she has to still work on an early shift, and I will cook a nice dinner for her. She can t eat chocolates as she is allergic to chocolate so we will have to find a sweet alternative. Meantime the price of oil and petrol goes up and the price of food stuffs seem to go up every week. Let s not mention the price of a pint of ale and a bottle of wine. I wonder where it is all going to go& .but let s worry about that when the next issue is due. Might be something else to moan about but for now I have moaned enough and I didn t even mean to!!! ertainment and tourist industry. Most of the funding for this building this venue comes ј њ j l VXДЖ^$`$4&6&X.Z.V0X0L:N:t<v<xDzDLGNGPGјј№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№ШШ(2‚"'(Š  л)л @ЗS З Ј$Ќ$J&N&Т@Ц@LGPGшиФиФиФиК "  "PSS"  "PS"  "0р" ."€ @Цƒџџџџ@Цƒ "№” "ttPGHPGJ(@ЦƒTimes New RomanџІ" " " "ЄјУш№ааTTTTи`EPSON Stylus DX4800 Seriesœ<›€ъ odаа EPSON Stylus DX4800 SeriesDLLName32=E_FUICADE.DLLџџД€P TS_URLTSupportURL PSOLVER4š  аа˜: аа@т TTTT@т TTTTdџ2 ,winspoolEPSON Stylus DX4800 SeriesUSB001Fџџџ"\В"€‘"бV"$c"№` "№``""A."@џџџ"\В"№љ"бV"$c"№` "№``"."April 2008.wps""иp"иpp (" )"6&X.Z.V0X0L:N:t<v<xDzDLGNGPGјј№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№№ШШ(2‚"'(Š  л)л @ЗS З