Five years, a long time since I moved from the Netherlands to Shetland. If you still have found this page, it is no longer being updated….
After five years for me the desire to keep a diary on remarkable and interesting things I encountered after moving to Shetland is no longer there.
I hoped you enjoyed reading my blog.
I will enjoy living on Shetland….
Met vriendelijk groet,
Peter
Last year I did not update my blog as much as I possibly should have. Point is that for me the novelty of living on Shetland has become the norm. Not something to write about facebook style in my opinion. But what is quite remarkable at times is the fact that to my surprise I have become a Dutchman. Never was, but living here it becomes obvious. I do like Dutch music, Dutch books (there is more in this world than Shakespeare, really there is) and most of all Dutch food (specially when the “hagelslag” is running low).
And so “oudjaarsavond” is only complete with proper “oliebollen en appelflappen”. Home made, even the icing sugar (the UK version tastes funny) so I ground down caster sugar to get the right fine sugar on my Oliebol… After Midnight, Dutch Time, I took a nice plate full of oliebollen to the local North Ness Public Hall where the village had gathered to see in the new year. In no time all were eaten. That was to be expected as most Scots will eat anything that is deep fried I’ve learned.
A long time ago still working at my old school, “het LCL” (Lorentz Casimir Lyceum in Eindhoven) I complained about the sound quality during school plays and other stage activities. As happens on every school, next year I was volunteered to coach the pupils that help out with the sound. The good news was that the school allowed me to do a short introductory course to learn about sound mixing and how to set-up the sound a bit better.
This year, watching the rehearsals for the annual nativity play and the Panto at Baltasound Junior High School the inevitable happened. I was again let loose to twiddle the dials on the PA and see if the plays could be enjoyed a bit better by all parents. A real privilege and good fun to do.
Last month (two years after getting on the supply-list of teachers in Shetland) out of the blue I got a phone call asking if I was interested in Supply at the Baltasound Junior High School on the island of Unst, only one short drive and ferry crossing from where I live.
And now it is Back to School for me, three days a week. Computing Sciences and Business Management, the same combination of subjects I taught at het Lorentz Casimir Lyceum in Eindhoven.
Judging only after only the first week I can only say it is a great experience and really looking forward to the next few months. Will try to write a bit more in this blog on my experiences of teaching at my new school!
The Scottish parliament voted against the proposed assisted suicide bill yesterday (36/82). To me and many others a great disappointment. I do not need to repeat the arguments here, for more detailed information you can always visit the FATE website. With medical care reaching far beyond comfortable old age the need to rethink our attitude to life and the end of our lives is urgently needed.
With the knowledge on how to humanely end your live now freely available on the internet I can not see how assistance through formal channels, with proper safeguards in place was rejected again.
Please contribute to the debate and speak to your MSP to change his or her vote if he or she was one of the 82 ‘No’ votes.