Day 12: travel from Fair Isle to London

An early breakfast as we await the Tingwall ping on the first flight of the day. Ian on fire duty today, Fiona and Robert on same planes as us south to Dundee.

The plane brings the doctor - Deepa - who we had met in Bigton. It was nice to see her again, but no time to chatter as the plane has places to go and people to move about! We say our fond farewells and fold ourselves into the plane seats - smooth flight. We head to Lerwick where we have a second breakfast at the Dowry. A short bit of wandering later and we’re on our way to Sumburgh airport to catch the Loganair flight to London via Dundee.

More goodbyes as we wave Fiona and Robert off the plane at Dundee. A spot of delay taking off again, but we make it to Heathrow for 6.15pm. Caroline is getting the bus to Oxford but the rest of us pile onto the Elizabeth line, leaving one by one. As I live in East London I am the last one left, but a young lad carrying a large box of crockery gets on at Bond Street, sits next to me and starts chatting - we natter away till Whitechapel, where we both get off and wish each other a happy evening. I text Ian that I must have brought the island vibe with me - it is unusual for folk to strike up conversations on the tube these days!

Another wonderful sojourn, full of conviviality, creativity, music, dance, crafting, stunning scenery and many small details that add such richness and interest to life - from a perfect bit of sea glass found on the beach to a forensic weather report from 1588. THANK YOU to everyone who joined us.

…I forgot to give the Fair Isle bairns their presents of colouring pencils and notebooks! I let head teacher Gillian know where to find them and she sent this photo. Thank you Gillian for this, and everything - we love working with you!

MORE THANK YOUS
Huge thank yous to our friends who give us a home in the isle: Pat and Neil, Fiona and Robert, and Ian.
To Gillian, Hollie, Ruth and Pat for facilitating with the bairns, giving us so much time with them, and letting us take over the hall. To Fiona, Anne and Eileen for being involved from the beginning, for your energy, enthusiasm and help.
To the above, plus Dave, Neil, Stewart, Triona, John for your contributions to the research/remembering.
To Anne, Pat, Eileen, Grace (bonus Grace!), Stewart and Neil for uplifting us all with the Unst Boat Song.
To everyone who came to the hall to join in during the week, and to our appreciative audience of islanders and visitors.

To the funders for this project, we could not do it without their support: Awards for All Scotland, Classic Fair Isle, The Foyle Foundation, The Hope Scott Trust, The Hugh Fraser Foundation, The Golsoncott Foundation, Scops Arts Trust, Shetland Community Benefit Fund and The William Syson Foundation.

Blogging by Claire Shovelton
Photo of Fair Isle School by Gillian Maxwell