This was exciting, seeing the exact line of latitude. Of course it wasn't that exciting because I arrived in Shetland above the line, so I'm actually crossing it going south, but it's a good thing to stop and photograph all the same.
This is an ancient tribute to Darth Vader, surely?
Couldn't believe this - I have now driven my car on an airport runway! The main runway at Sumburgh Airport actually crosses the main road going to Jarlshof and you could, in theory, do a 90 degree turn and drive up and down the runway (as opposed to across it). However there's a sign rather strictly saying you can't do any of that stuff.
Here's a sign you don't see in Essex every day.
This is as un-English a place name I've ever seen in Britain. I knew Shetland still has a strong Scandinavian influence before I came here, although things like this remind you quite how much.
I had heard that Norwegian newspapers were freely available on the streets of Kirkwall and Lerwick. Can't speak for Kirkwall but in Lerwick this morning I noticed only two newspapers on sale - Farmers Guardian and Motor Cycle News.
Now this was unexpected, a bilingual place name sign in English and Old Norse! Surely unique in Britain? Having been to the more famous Thingvellir in Iceland a few months ago, I could be going to a third one if I end up in Dingwall near Inverness later this week.
It would have been unique had I remembered that Lerwick has one too.
The Old Norse influence is massive. The town of Lerwick's motto is in Old Norse too - Med Logum Skal Land Bygga. Weirdly, this is also the motto of the Icelandic Police Force.
On the language subject, this is an interesting collection of languages. No Norwegian, and the English flag seems to have turned into a Shetland Nordic cross.
This is the welcome sign that greets you as you come off the ferry. There can't be many other welcome signs in the UK which rank Norwegian and Faroese as more important than German and French. As far as I recall, you can't get a direct ferry from the Faroes to Shetland any more. However their radio station is very clear on 531 kHz and the local Shetland station, SIBC, includes news from Torshavn in their local news bulletin!
Now this isn't bilingual, this is just gibberish.
Driving around near Lerwick looking for a cup of tea and after being directed down three miles of single track roads I find the tiny village of Hoswick which has an enormous visitor centre for some reason.
Opposite was a small factory which was opened by the Queen in 1967, not something you would expect to see in such a small place! I didn't take any pictures of that though because there were some old people outside it staring me out. Back to the visitor centre and inside, something else that was unexpected - a very large collection of vintage radios going back 100 years. Most were donated by a single Shetlander.
I got very excited when I saw the Vega. This was my first short wave radio which I bought in 1982 when I was at school, very young! Great for picking up the English service of Radio Moscow, which was all over the shortwaves.
Finally a trip to Shetland wouldn't be complete without seeing some of these. There's quite a lot of places you can see them.
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