ࡱ>   Root EntryZ O20QϓCONTENTS 8CompObjVSPELLING Beauty Of The Earth and many people came up to congratulate her on her lovely performance. The Jarl s squad also visited and gave a very boisterous rendition of the Up Helly Aa Song for the old folks, family and friends. There were two young boys who could only have been about nine or ten and they played piano and accordion with some professional aplomb. I looked down during their playing and watched with some amusement my daughter s foot tapping along smartly to the rhythm. It was, the event, actually termed as what the Shetlanders call a  Hamefaring where people get together to sing and perform or recite for others. I have told you about these in earlier diaries, the pre Christmas ones. This was the Burns night celebration for this occasion and the piper accompanied the haggis, which bought back memories for me as I had played the pipes once and want to start again. I got to actually talk to the Jarl himself afterwards and admired his bone pendant. He told me that one of the men in his 54 strong squad was a New Zealander and he had carved it for him. This brings me to my involvement in a project, which is called  Home and is being done all over Scotland by the National Theatre of Scotland. There about ten directors all who are doing different types of shows, based on the same theme of  Home , in other Scottish cities in unusual venues. The performances for Shetland are being done on the  Hjaltland ferry, moored at Lerwick terminal. Though my part is small and not demanding it is taking part and making useful contacts with other people that is essentially the reason for doing so. The audience walks around the ferry, in groups of four, with headphones listening to a soundtrack consisting of songs, fiddle playing and spoken verse and characters from modern aCHNKWKS 8TEXTTEXTl'FDPPFDPP*FDPCFDPC,FDPCFDPC.STSHSTSH0STSHSTSH02SYIDSYIDP0SGP SGP d0INK INK h0BTEPPLC l0BTECPLC 0 FONTFONT0jSTRSPLC 1:PRNTWNPRH1FFRAMFRAM5TITLTITL6DOP DOP (6"Shetland Diary It s been a peerie* while since the last diary and a lot has as usual been going on. The visiting Viking got home safely. On his last glorious day  weather wise  we went to West mainland and saw otters and seals and he enjoyed the scenery. There are some pictures of that on the other page here. It has been very cold on and off but still much warmer than where yor Southies are!! Most of Shetland seemed to come down with a virus and stinking cold which lasted a week. The main high school in Lerwick had over 200 students and some teachers off which was rather difficult as the school only has about 300 plus pupils. Our son turned eight years this week and we hired the hall and pool at Sandwick, which is on the East Side of the mainland. When I say mainland I mean the main island of Shetland which is what the locals say, because there are after all over one hundred islands in Shetland. He invited his school friends along and we provided the sustenance for afterwards. We used the Clickermin Centre for our four-year-old s party that was everything paid for but this was better because we had control over what was being eaten! My wife made a super cake, well I made the actual sponge and she decorated it in the shape of a dog reposing. It went down very well needless to say. The hall was the Sandwick High schools and was full of soft play sport equipment and some of the dads had just as much fun as their offspring kicking balls and playing netball! The pool hall was heated I felt like I was melting because it was like being in a sauna. Hard taking birthday photos as the camera kept steaming up. My eldest daughter sang a song the week before at Overton Lea, which was the old folks home. Despite having terrible cold she gave a perfect rendition of  For Thend olden day life are situated around the boat in different roles and situations. Rather odd to explain but apparently it really works well so I will be looking forward to some feed back from my neighbour who is going to see it. The first big rehearsal at the ferry, I walked up the stairs and promptly bumped in to an actor who I had known from working on  Blood Brothers in the West End. I had last seen him about nine years ago so it was a real surprise. He could not believe that we had decided to move up here lock and barrel! I met another Kiwi incidentally who is playing an airman going to war in the production and he works at Scalloway. He came here a few years ago, from Auckland, as part of his hiking tour of Europe, met a Shetland girl and never left! (Well except to visit NZ). This place has that effect on you. I have met several English people who did the same thing& & just get caught up in the magic that Shetland weaves on you. If you do feel the urge to travel up then a useful tip is to book early to get cheaper tickets. Atlantic Airways is flying from Stansted  June to September from 150 return to Sumburgh and it is a direct flight which saves all the time of sitting around at Edinburgh or Aberdeen waiting for a connection to Gatwick. Next month? Well we have the drama festivals, the Folk music festival and lots more coming up so watch this space. * peerie means little and muckle means big!! Confused? Buy the Shetland Diary cotland. There about ten directors all who are doing different types of sh ((f)h)j)l)(2"'( ) @S $ v "!" $d (08@HPX`hpxz "" $h (08@HPX`hpx| "" $h (08@HPX`hpx'$&FHdf, . (*jlHJ^`@BJL$& z&|&f)l)  " v "!" $d (08@HPX`hpxv "!" $d (08@HPX`hpx DD " " ttl)*$l),.VD,Times New RomanLucida Handwriting " " "@ TTTTFEPSON Stylus DX4800 Series< 4d EPSON Stylus DX4800 SeriesDLLName32=E_FUICADE.DLLP TS_URLTSupportURL PSOLVER4  : @ TTTT@ TTTTd2.winspoolEPSON Stylus DX4800 SeriesUSB001F"\""V"$c"` "``""A."@"\""V"$c"` "``"."Untitled""p"pp (" )"is flying from Stansted  June to September from 150 return to Sumburgh and it is a direct flight which saves all the time of sitting around at Edinburgh or Aberdeen waiting for a connection to Gatwick. Next month? Wel Z O2Quill96 Story Group Class9qy2y2y22y2"2|y22y22y22y22y22)y21_2y224y2<2ey2m2gy2m2y2