individual views

The adult barked at this young seal for posing! Typical adult no sense of fun!!

 

Had a number of interesting conversations in last couple of days. Looking at the way communities are working in Shetland, certainly on the mainland at least. There is a great feeling of openness, both the landscape and the people. One discussion was about how public transport works and certainly have noticed that a number of more remote bus stops have car parks so that those who live more remotely can travel by car but then use public transport for journey to work. Yet there are issues for young people who find it difficult to interact with friends from school because the public transport reduces after a certain time and for a teenager to have to ask parents for a lift to a friends 20 miles away is obviously awkward. Is this where facebook comes into 'real' life? Also what efforts are made by the social and cultural groups to enable participation - does last nights 'Orpheus in the Underworld' production make an effort to involve young people?

 Do activities in the outdoors present a sufficient challenge to encourage young people to make the effort, for example one friend's daughter loved her power boat course with the local lifeboat coxswain but how many others couldn't attend? Many families know great walks, stunning scenery, wildlife are on the doorstep but get in at night and just 'close the shutters'. How many others do as the local bar man said and 'forget that what they can see isn't common to the rest of the population' (he was talking about the seals and otters on the beach outside!) Mindfulness isn't just recognising but appreciating. Made even harder of course as sometimes you have to really work at it.

         

How many seals can you see?

Another discussion looked at who was new and welcome and who regarded them as 'incomers' or 'offcomers'. It seems that for most it doesn't matter, everyone who stays is an islander, a Shetlander. Yet when asked why people come and stay, why they move, the most common reason was safety. Surprisingly for me at least, strong community, low crime, good local authority services all came before the natural environment and our enjoyment of it. Yet is the because as highlighted earlier this is taken for granted? More questions I think.