Island Life - A View from Shapinsay by writer and poet Sheila Garson
My thanks to Shapinsay writer, Sheila Garson for this piece. Sheila writes poetry in English and Orcadian. She has contributed to the extremely popular anthology Gousters, Glims and Veerie-Orums available from the Orcadian Bookshop. Sheila writes: Island life I’ve lived on an island all my life and likely see it differently from folk who have come here to live. The sea and the boat are central to most things. Life revolves round the boat timetable and the challenges of the weather. The way and pace of life has evolved over generations, but the sea has always been our road. The boat is of course what many would call the ferry. To an Orcadian saying ferry doesn’t come naturally. To us boat is an all-encompassing word that covers a myriad of sea going vessels. For islanders the day is planned round boat times, it dictates when the post arrives, parcels are delivered, the papers or the bread are in the shop and when the roads are busiest. Islanders arrange their appointments in