Thursday 19th July
It’s all downhill from here…
I’m now back in Scotland, having left the others in a coach heading towards the northern tip of the British Isles. They weren’t too keen on having to be on 5 different ferries today (4 small trips and the mammoth one overnight) but they’ll cope. I’m not sure we had enough travel-sickness tablets to cover them all, but there you go.
I’m now even dreaming ‘Thula Sizwe’, very disconcerting. I’ve watched the show any which way I can (from the audience, backstage, in the wings, foyer, outside…). It’s still a great show, although slightly trying when it’s in my dreams too… Am looking forward to the final night in Leamington Spa, as it will be doubly good as all my friends will be there to see it too!
The trip to the Shetlands was an overwhelming success. Thanks to the organisational genius that is ‘From Shetland with Love’, the co-ordinators Mona and Iain and their merry band of Shetlandian helpers, they managed to pull of a major production with full houses every night. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming to us, and exceedingly generous.
As part of the trip, the YZW were special guests at a civic reception at the town hall. As it was Nelson Mandela’s 89th Birthday yesterday, there was even a cake and a TV camera crew, ready to beam the ceremony back home to SABC or, failing that, over to Scotland. The YZW triumphed as usual with the drums, stick-fighting and battle cries. This time they got to meet the Vikings in the form of a local troupe who responded with their traditional songs (and accordion playing!). Our Zulu ‘Chief’ presented the Viking Jaral with a shield, with as much pomp and ceremony as we could muster. In return he received a Viking shield to take back to the Zulu Nation. It was a very entertaining ceremony and history was in the making as the warriors from as far South as you can get met the warriors from as far North (almost) as you can get.
It seems that not much happens on Shetland, these concerts are the highlight of the summer. Mind you, I read the local paper and the majority of the articles were about road traffic accidents, dangerous driving etc. It’s a dangerous place on the roads. Or not much else happens that’s newsworthy. There are an inordinate number of dead animals on the road as you travel about. Apparently even the sheep cause problems during one season when they munch on magic mushrooms and stray into the paths of oncoming vehicles. The sheep in Voxter (where we stayed) this morning were lying around on the ‘beach’ at the edge of the loch. (I thought they were supposed to eat grass, not ‘sun-bathe’).
On the way to the airport Iain gave me a brief guided tour of the sights. We passed the biggest freshwater loch on the island, which has an island in the middle of it where a Viking princess was buried and so it’s an important place. So the concept of burying princesses on islands in the middle of lakes is not a new one then…
The group will join me tomorrow in Glasgow for a choir performance before we head down to Durham, where my university days’ nostalgia will kick in for sure. I’ve not been back in over 5 years and we’re staying in the college next door to mine. Happy days.
