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What? Like this do you mean, Margaid?

I was talking to a neighbour recently (17 yo schoolboy) apropos a discussion I’d earlier had with my husband. I asked him whether racism and /or homophobia were widespread among his contemporaries. He confirmed that they were both very much alive. The values in Lerwick may not be the values...

I used to think it was one of those banal cliches pedalled by little Englanders. But though obviously not universally true does anyone else think that we have a higher regard for courtesy and good manners than most other “white nations” ? I exclude Canadians and New Zealander’s from that...

I used to know this but have entirely forgotten. How do you call up those signs for male and female? (That’s the circle with the arrow for male and the circle with with the plus sign for female). I’m amazed that the vast list of smileys that are now available do not include these oft used symbols.

Mystifies me but I’ve been invited to be the time keeper in the forthcoming Fetlar Sheepdog Trials. This is the local equivalent of receiving an OBE. Problem is that if I make any mistake it will go down in local folklore for way beyond my lifetime. It was sold to me as “you get a free fish and...

Now whenever I hear this term it makes my flesh creep but I’m beginning to think it might have an element of truth! 1) Last week it was being claimed by assorted remoaners, liberal intelligentsia and lefties that Farage had lost because if you added together all the remain parties they outvoted...

Did anyone watch Young Dancer 2019 on TV. If not, watch it on iplayer. Not normally a fan of reality TV but this took my breath away. I’m not ashamed to say that the solo dance by the eventual winner (this was the first person to dance) moved me to tears.

Refreshing change, isn’t it, to be talking about jeans rather than genes! I always promised myself when I was young that I would never be one of those old crusties who witter on about how much better things were in my day. But the truth is that in some cases they were. Take jeans. I’ve always...

Yesterday I lost two thirds of my newly hatched chicks. In the shed in which I put my chicks under electric hens I also have my broody breaker. A hen has been in this for the last three days. I put all the chicks under the electric hens and went to bed. I hypothesise that the next morning she...

Indeed tweetiepie. Had my blue merle sheepdog bitch not decided to remain chaste I was all set to breed a litter of Schnaucolls but I would definitely have been scrupulous about placing them. In my view, fresh subject, a lot of breeds have been so ruined by breeding for the show ring rather...

Never kept pigs and never wanted too. But this last four days I’ve been tending a neighbours pigs while he’s away in England. He doesn’t breed them or eat them. He keeps them as ploughs to rotationally graze, dig and fertilise his land. They are friendly enough but when I appear to feed them...

Every year since Moses was a child I’ve started saving eggs on March 7th for incubation on March 21st. This year only about a third of my hens are in lay. They’ve been flubenvetted, treated for any possible ecto parasites and appear to be in excellent health and in the last month all have...

The recently rediscovered Fernandinho Giant Tortoise “the loss of a single species diminishes me” (with apologies to John Donne)

Interesting thoughts, chrismahon. A few sums convinces me of the truth of what you say. And, big yeti man, as you say nuclear war or super volcanoes decimate the planet for tens of thousands of years. By contrast a species specific pandemic leaves the planet undamaged, so long as someone...

Lovely house and garden, Marigold. Solar panels too. Personal pics? Oh God!

Right then. Let’s see where we all live. The building with the orange roof is the shop and post office. My crofthouse is to the left of this down the track.

OK. In the eighties I thought Jimmy Somerville was disco trash (Bronski Beat, Communards) How judgemental, how superficial. Recently bought a remastered, greatest hits album. Gets me dancing round my kitchen! Great anthems for those of us of minority sexual persuasion. The lyrics must have...

I know it’s an English obsession but it’s a white over. Always feels like the real start of winter once that happens. Should all be gone tomorrow but it was great crunching through it when I took the dog out first thing. Don’t know whether it’s all the reflected light but the cockerels have...

So has anyone tried this Garvo Alphamix? Is it any good?

So why is the comb type found in many breeds eg the Wyandotte called a rose comb. It’s a flat strip with a few knobbles. Now if you stretch the imagination you might say the comb on a Silkie resembles a rose. Or is it nothing to do with the flower at all?