Most Northerly Gig

On Friday night, I did my most northerly gig in the UK's mostn northerly venue - Haroldswick Hall in Unst.

I had originally intended going to see Steve Earle at the Clickimin Centre in Lerwick.  However, when I got the chance to do some stand-up at the Baltasound Junior High School staff 'do', I jumped at the chance.  Turned out Steve Earle was cancelled anway. He got stuck in Inverness due to fog.  Will get a refund on my tickets anyway.

For those that don't know, Unst is the most northerly island in Shetland and involves 2 ferry crossings to get there.  After the first ferry, driving through the island of Yell, I was reduced to a crawl for much of the way due to freezing fog.  Thought I was going to reach the next ferry in time.  Did though and coming over the hill, before dropping down into Baltasound it all looked very ethereal.  A cloak of low lying fog hung over the houses, penetrated by a yellow glow from street lights.

I'd lived in and taught at the school there for 6 and a half years, so it was a bit like coming home. On to the bus laid on and got a great welcome.  The same when I got into the hall.

After the emal, did a fifteen minute spot - most people hadn't known I was coming up - never mind doing stand-up!

Unst is a great wee community, but now their small secondary school is being threatened with closure.  It's a great wee school, and an important hub for the whole community.  The Unst folk are resilient and I know they will not take this lying down.  I hope there's many more do's I can get to.

Want to see more about the school, then check out their web-site:  http://www.baltasound.shetland.sch.uk/

Also check out Sandy Nelson's blog on the right-hand side for snippets about Unst life.