Ron McMillan's Blog
Jaded Traveller? Not A Chance
It was only the other day that an impending personal milestone occurred to me. 2009 marks the end of my third decade on the move.
Granted, my definition of ‘itinerant’ conveniently encompasses periods with a solid home base (nine different countries on three continents), but even then I never really stopped moving.
Everywhere that has ever been ‘home’ for more than a few weeks exercises a sentimental grasphold upon me, and even those not re-visited in more than a quarter century retain a special status. Yet none has a stronger grip right now than Shetland, the subject of BETWEEN WEATHERS, written after a five-week dalliance throughout the islands in the latter part of 2005.
I write this from a cabin on the MV Hrossey, the same ferry that transported me north from Aberdeen in 2005; I am returning from my sixth Shetland visit in under four years. The bonny isles have securely burrowed their way under this traveller’s skin.
And for the first time I leave the islands knowing that I will return soon, for this trip has seen the ground work done on a proposed feature-length film, an unexpected proposal that met with overwhelmingly positive responses from all quarters - the community at large, the arts world and local government circles included.
“Wir raither prood o’ wis can-do spirit,” said Neil, one of the Shetlanders I met up with. How true this is. Shetlanders are blessedly free of at least one curse that afflicts so many in Britain; ask a mainlander for something that is his job to provide, and he reaches instinctively for a reason to reply in the negative.
Ask a Shetlander for something inherently difficult or downright inconvenient, and within minutes he will have you engaged in dialogue with a personal friend who can cheerily turn your optimistic wish into a reality. The default negative response we anticipate elsewhere seemingly has no truck with Shetlanders.
As I move towards my fourth itinerant decade, joys like these make travelling an ongoing delight. I wouldn’t have things any other way.