Thursday 7 February 2008

Despite

Despite Jonathan's idyllic little portrayal of Shetland on the CD we sent, there are days when it is just not possible to lie on the beach and get a suntan. If one was desperate for a brown skin it would be quicker to lie in the peat and get pickled. So I thought, to quell the overpowering desire to jump on an aeroplane (and become a Viking, Sage) I would send this little Jonathan antidote. But the picture here is not at all as barren as it looks. Since Victorians came out people have been asking me what I am going to do next and I have been saying ... 'oh, nothing at the moment I think'. Then out of the blue I was invited to meet the HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT in the Council and subsequently asked to submit a proposal for a book on Shetland Emigrants for the 2010 hamefarin. Well, I have just signed the contract with the Islands Council. They agreed to everything I asked ... why didn't I ask for more ... ever had that feeling? Shortly ... I will let you know ... there will be a piece on the Shetland Hamefarin website about it with an email address for people to contact me. By the way, sons and daughters, you all have bit parts in this, after all you are all Shetland emigrants, I might get my dad in too. So now I just have to get my head around spreadsheets and get on with it.

3 comments:

Gudrun Johnston said...

Well that picture hardly puts us off!!
Brilliant news about the book...congratulations!

Sorley said...

I am sure there are some good folk tales about people who ask for too much - you are just being rewarded for not tempting fate!
How noteworthy does one need to be to get in? I suppose it all depends on whether it will be of interest to others.

James McLauchlan Johnston said...

Can we get a Johnston chapter?