Trip to Scotland 1983: Four and half months in the Highlands and Islands

**DCampbell16B** · 13th December 23, 05:17 AM

Not much morning. Cn (Downstairs) put stacks of hay into bailer and An and I helped move them to barn, then shifted some sheep.

**DCampbell16B** · 13th December 23, 05:18 AM

Cn butchered carcass (sheep) brought back from Bernera this morning. It was soft and hard to cut. Judicious use of hatchet and saw. Afternoon not much but some fishing facing North Sea [North Minch], just south of light [Port of Ness light], in a cove. Sea very rough. Clouds all day with F3 of wind. High surf with incoming tide for fishing. Salt water tackle awkward, especially on rocks, caught 2 12-14 inch mackerel, 1 saith (silver), 1 laith (brown). An had a lot of 3-4 inch cuidiags. Whole lot of them went to a man in Cross who isn't well. D home.

[I heard a thumping coming from the shed out back. I looked in and Cn looked startled, like I'd caught him. I suspect they killed the lamb a couple days before. I had noticed something going on and was told i couldn't go down there. Anyway, I watched Cn for a few minutes then ended up holding the carcass for him as he sawed down the backbone or used the hatchet tor knife to finish butchering.]

**DCampbell16B** · 5th January 24, 05:49 AM

Church morning. Sermon 1 hour in Gaelic. Took bath. Went walk with D, strained? Met Dandaidh, Donald Maclean at shore. Also other boys 17-20? all Gaelic. Donald very Ness accent. Too late for church evening. Broke Sabbath by watching beginning of My Fair Lady. Evening in kitchen w/ An, C, F and D, so on. [I think I meant F's girls].

A walk on a Sunday afternoon was the only acceptable pastime.

**Jock Scot** · 8th January 24, 06:24 AM

Do I detect a hint of boredom within the story setting in? I am not surprised, a couple of weeks out there fishing is enough for me!

**DCampbell16B** · 9th January 24, 08:42 AM

Well, sort of! But also, no. Part of the reason I wanted to stay out there was to see what living in Scotland was like in reality. Not the "Tartan Twilight Tourist Tat" world. Real living isn't necessarily excitement every day. Unless you're Tom Cruise. Which I am not.

So in effect, I was putting less in the journal because I found I was living normally each day. Not that really interesting things didn't continue to happen, which I did write down.

**DCampbell16B** · 10th January 24, 05:05 AM

And I do need to get back to making entries. I started when I had time on my hands due to a serious health issue. "I got better." (How long will it take to identify that simple quote?). So I find myself busier, and also easily distracted.

**PassingW** · 10th January 24, 07:26 AM

Monthy Python - "She turned me into a newt!"

**Jock Scot** · 11th January 24, 05:49 AM

Originally Posted by DCampbell16B

Well, sort of! But also, no. Part of the reason I wanted to stay out there was to see what living in Scotland was like in reality. Not the "Tartan Twilight Tourist Tat" world.---------------------

In my long experience of the Scottish Highlands and admittedly shorter but fairly extensive visits to the Hebrides the two places do not compare in almost every way. In my experience there are great, marked and profound differences of every day life -----------particularly on Sundays-------between the mainland of Highland Scotland and the Hebrides. In passing, Orkney and Shetland have their differences (in human outlook) too but, nowhere near as much as the Hebrides.

**DCampbell16B** · 14th January 24, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by Jock Scot

In my long experience of the Scottish Highlands and admittedly shorter but fairly extensive visits to the Hebrides the two places do not compare in almost every way. In my experience there are great, marked and profound differences of every day life -----------particularly on Sundays-------between the mainland of Highland Scotland and the Hebrides. In passing, Orkney and Shetland have their differences (in human outlook) too but, nowhere near as much as the Hebrides.

I have been thinking about what you have said here. Without a doubt my experience would have been very different if I had had the opportunity to stay in a community on the mainland. It was mere serendipity that I got to know the nephew of the folks I ended up staying with. And that was in a fairly large, but largely physically isolated, Gaelic speaking community (Lewis and Bernera Lewis, but the Islands in general). Many things were still happening out there that hadn't changed much, and I was extremely lucky to have been there, seen it, and sometimes even been a part of it.