Island Paradise: Orkney in the News

I have three recent about Orkney to share.

Pope Francis has issued a blessing for the Italian Chapel. (You can review my own post about the Italian Chapel here, and you can read the text of the blessing here.

The BBC runs a weekly "Scotland in Pictures" page, and one of their recent editions included a picture of an Orkney blackening. You can see my own coverage of Orkney blackenings here.

And finally, Orkney.com has released a new video showcasing Orkney's many attractions. It' features many of the places I've written about here on the blog, so it's worth a look!


As always, more to come.

Sad News from Orkney

There's sad news from Orkney: my favorite Indian restaurant has been shut down due to immigration violations. According to the article:

Sixteen men have been detained by immigration enforcement officers after an operation in the north of Scotland.

Three restaurants - Dil Se and Indian Garden, both in Kirkwall in Orkney, and Spice Tandoori in Wick - were targeted.

Fifteen Bangladeshi men and a Nepalese man, aged between 23 and 47, were detained.

A Home Office spokesman said the business owners involved faced large fines if they could not prove that proper checks were carried out.

A few thoughts:

1) If these guys were actually illegal, they picked the right place to hide. Kirkwall and Wick have to be about as far as someone could go to get away from the long arm of the law (other than going to Shetland, which carries its own hazards). The one complication is that it would be tough for South Asians to blend in at a location that's both sparsely populated and ethnically homogeneous.

2) I can't for the life of me imagine the Kirkwall police force, which is tiny, hauling in ten Bangladeshis. I especially can't imagine ten Bangladeshis languishing in the Kirkwall police station, which is about the size of a large home.

Hopefully, the whole thing will be sorted out soon enough. Odds are that it will be: according to CN Ness, who brought the story to my attention:

I walked by it yesterday and it says it should be open by Wednesday.

Let's hope so. Their chow is outstanding.

Around Aberdeen: Ugly Wee Loaner Car

over the Summer, while I was working on my dissertation, I spent nearly every afternoon at a particular Starbucks in Aberdeen's city center. It was an interesting vantage point from whence to observe various goings-on in the city. One thing that I found exceptionally amusing was the day when an "Free Ugly Wee Loaner Car" - apparently the Scottish version of the cars that a mechanic's shop will loan you while they're repairing your car. Fortunately, it was stopped at the traffic light directly adjacent to Starbucks, so I was able to grab my phone and fire up the camera before it sped away. There was also some grocery store whose trucks said something along the lines of "Mums love XYZ", but I don't remember what the "XYZ" was - all I remember is that it was something that didn't quite translate back into the American dialect.

The Songs That Remind You 16: Taylor Swift Redux!

A few months ago, I did a Taylor Swift Special Edition(!), and since then I've picked up several additional songs by the fetching Ms. Swift that will continue to remind me of my year (and some change) spent in Scotland. The first of these was one that started getting airplay while I was still down in Aberdeen.


Here in Orkney, while studying at a local pub, I also discovered a track from her previous album entitled Back to December...


... as well as the title track from her current album, Red.


I don't know that I'd say that I actually have a bit of a thing for Ms. Swift. What I would say is that in an age of really vapid and oversexualized garbage (Miley Cyrus, to name but one), it's nice to see a female performer with actual talent who seems somewhat normal and doesn't resort to auto-tuning, flagrant sexualization, and bland lyrics written by committees in order to sell records.

I was going to include an interview with the fetching Ms. Swift on some radio station with a bunch of chumps, but I'll dispense with that. Have a great day!

The Royal Cyphers: G VI R in Bermuda

Readers may remember my July adventures with Navigator on the Aberdeenshire Circuit. Navigator returned to the States a few days after that outing, though we keep in sporadic touch via Facebook.

Navigator recently posted a bunch of pictures from her recent trip to Bermuda, and she shared this exciting picture with me. Readers may also remember my discussion of the G VI R cypher. Bermuda, a British Overseas Territory, apparently hosts post boxes (in various states of maintenance, as evidenced by the fatigued paint on this example); this example bearing the cypher of King George VI dates back to at least 1952. When Navigator sent it via Facebook, I was immediately chuffed, and thanked her profusely. Now, I share it with you, the valued blog audience.

Photo Selection: Marischal College Selfie

In early August, I was sitting on a bench outside Marischal College for Gin Afficionado to finish her shift at Starbucks so that we could go out for a drink. I decided to screw around with my mobile's camera and try to take a unique selfie. Marischal's Gothic spires and the puffy white clouds overhead made for a perfect backdrop. I frequently use this picture as my Facebook profile picture with the caption "Go boldly forth." (Gray 1 asked the obvious question: "Towards the next split infinitive?") This is definitely one of my favorite pictures of myself from my time in Scotland (though, to be fair, most of my favorite pictures aren't of myself).

Photo Selection: CN Vlad versus Shite Piper

In July, CN GBU-16 sent me a picture that had been posted on Facebook by some random denizen of Aberdeen. What's noteworthy about this picture is that it features a woman wearing a sort of ridiculous pink outfit, right next to her (then-)boyfriend, CN Vlad. For those of you who are new or rusty, CN Vlad was my Romanian coursemate who first introduced himself as being "from Transylvania, the same as Dracula!"

There's something else in the picture that's worth mentioning. See that sort of broad guy behind the pedestrian signal pole? That, dear friends, is Shite Piper. Shite Piper is a guy from Georgia - like, the American state of Georgia - who stands there on the corner of Union Street and Union Terrace Gardens, at the base of the statue of King Edward VII. Why is he called "Shite Piper"? Because he's absolutely awful. Behold, a Facebook post and ensuing conversation from August...

To the guy from Georgia who plays the bagpipes daily on the corner of Union Street and Union Terrace: please stop. You're awful, you're embarrassing yourself, the locals call you a "shite piper", and your "music" makes everyone uncomfortable. Your piping makes angry cats sound melodic by comparison. I'm begging you: please desist immediately.

KH: Might have more impact if you said this to his face...
Tom: I've learned to avoid people from Georgia.
CS: He's American? Bloody immigrants coming over here and destroying our music. That's our job. Wearing skirts and being overweight. That's our fucking job!
JF: Tom, will this persuade you to stop wearing skirts?
HM: He plays really stereotypical music and even then can get the notes right. He never shuts up even late at night which makes me feel for the people staying around that area
Tom: JF: No.
HM: I put one of my friends up in the Caledonian Hotel, and his rubbish piping was my only concern.
DD: Shite Piper is a GREAT name for a band!
DD: JF, Tom, SW and DD, AKA, Shite Piper! Let's get the band back together!
KM: He could nae join with Guitar wifey the famous musician frae Aberdeen and be called Wifey N shitey! .x.
LM: no that is an insult to the legend that is wifey

Just to clarify: KH is a girl I dated briefly in college, CS was one of my coursemates, JF and DD (and SW) are former co-workers from when I worked in Virginia, and HM, LM, and KM are two sisters and their father whom I met in Aberdeen. The "wifey" is Aberdeen's Guitar Wifey, a popular busker who plays a guitar (maybe a ukelele?) on Aberdeen's sidewalks.

I have to agree with DD, though - "Shite Piper" is a great name for a band.

Scottish Secession: A Narrative Win for Better Together

On Sunday, Critical Mass shared something from the Better Together campaign's Facebook page, and I immediately loved it, because it's absolutely dead on. The Scottish National Party and its leader, Alex Salmond, are responsible for convincing Scots (not to mention the rest of Europe and the rest of the world) why Scotland would be better off as an independent state. Thus far, many relevant individuals have raised one issue or another, and their questions and/or concerns have yet to be addressed in any substantive manner. One of the biggest recent issues has been the SNP's claim that Scotland will continue using the British pound, without any corresponding influence on the administration of the pound. First Minister Salmond, his subordinates, and their supporters in the general public answer such questions with vague appeals to patriotism, rather than detailed explanations.

Later, I saw this article: Shell boss: Scots should stay in UK. The tagline reads: "The chief executive of the oil company Shell says he would like Scotland to 'remain part of the UK'." It seems significant to me that the Scottish nationalists see themselves as a potential petrostate on the order of Norway or Sweden, but the actual energy companies think that secession is a bad idea.

E posted this article, too: 5 Reasons Why Scottish Independence Would Be A Disaster.

As I keep writing this post (this is technically now an update, I find more and more items of note to post. For example, the BBC reports that Scottish independence: Citigroup says formal currency union 'unlikely'. Notes the Better Together campaign...

A new report from Citigroup says it is "astonishing" that Alex Salmond has failed to spell out a Plan B on what would replace the Pound if we left the UK.

The report goes on to say that 'Scotland's fiscal deficit was "now significantly above UK levels" because of a recent fall in oil revenues.' This is likely to be confirmed by the Scottish Government's own figures next week.

Alex Salmond wants us to take a big leap into the unknown, but it's a risk we don't have to take. As part of the UK we have the strength, security and stability of the Pound, and can take advantage of North Sea revenues without putting our public services at risk.

In case you're interested (and on Facebook), you can subscribe to Better Together's Facebook page. In the interest of balance, you can also subscribe to the Yes Campaign. I remain skeptical of the proposed Scottish secession referendum, but I'm also willing to be convinced that the SNP has a plan and a justification for secession. The wait continues, and the SNP is running out of time to convince me or anyone else.