A typically fickle-looking Orkney sky – 2009. My thanks to Mike, Pam, Kim and everyone else working so hard this weekend at the 2nd Annual Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) event in New York this weekend, for making a livestream session so fascinating that I was glued to my screen all afternoon despite glorious sunshine and [...]
Posts Tagged ‘orkney’
Orkney: The Mystery of Lighthouse Corner
“Lighthouse Corner? Aaaaaahrr.” This was the response I’d been hoping for. From deep within a creased, twinkly-eyed, wind-ruddied face looking like an elephant wearing blusher, the wheezing voice continued. “Hoos. Lighthoos. Road, blarg, garb oot crossflarp. FLARP”. Now, I’m part Scottish. You’d think I’d have a smattering of understanding at a genetic level about how [...]
Orkney: What Do You Do?
What can you actually do in Orkney? No, forget the sightseeing. Forget the daytrips, the beach walks, the clambering up sea-stacks to watch intrepid archaeologists braving the elements while hugging filthy mugs of tea (more on that topic another time). Forget visiting. We’re talking living up there. I know of a number of people who [...]
The Colours of 59 Degrees North
Orkney Mainland and Westray – all photos M. Sowden 2009.
Blog, Interrupted
It’ll be quiet in here for a bit. Here’s the reason. Departing at 12:50am on Friday morning, the train will carry me north, depositing me ignominiously in Newcastle where I have to hang around for hours before riding in the belly of another iron beastie to Edinburgh, leaping off once more, waiting for a few [...]
Previously on “Orkney”…
I’m heading up to Orkney in a little over a week – a place I worked as an archaeologist for a couple of months, a place that’s in my blood enough to wish I’d been born there. It’s a place where spectacles creep up on you. (No, the other kind). Every day is a different [...]
…and Attempting Something Novel.
I don’t know what stage my book is at. (Except that it’s before all the other ones). I’d use the phrase “brainstorming”, except I think “barnstorming” is far more accurate – all I’m doing is filling a notebook with lofty ideas, blue-sky thinking and as many pointlessly dangerous Immelmans as my imagination can handle. (I [...]
Breathe
A piece I wrote for a now-deceased online magazine back in 2006… I’m holding the cup to my face. Anywhere else, this might look a little strange; but this is Orkney, and it’s an autumn morning with the promise of winter felt in every exposed extremity. I’m bone-marrow chilled, and my legs, shoulders and jaw [...]
