Unless you are geographically illiterate, you will know that Great Britain is a maritime nation situated on the eastern side of the North Atlantic Ocean. We are surrounded by seawater which can be as calm as a millpond or as rough as The Drake Passage.
For centuries, our ships have ventured out into the surrounding seas - transporting goods or people, catching fish or fighting wars. Many ships and many lives have been lost. That is why, in the middle of the nineteenth century, efforts were made to find ways of informing mariners about sea conditions, including storms.
Woman cyclist near the ferry port
Every day of the year, the London Met office broadcasts a shipping forecast via BBC Radio that covers all thirty one of those sea areas. People of my generation grew up with those forecasts - like a continuous poem that was and perhaps remains the comfortable and reassuring bedrock of our lives...."Humber, Thames. Southeast veering southwest 4 or 5, occasionally 6 later. Thundery showers. Moderate or good, occasionally poor."
A birdwatcher on the island
I think that I am right in saying that the forecast always begins off the southwest coast of Norway where there are three sea areas - Viking, South Utsire and North Utsire. Only recently did I learn that Utsire or Utsira is an island off the coast of Norway. It has a land area of some 2.5 square miles and a permanent population of some two hundred people. However, it receives a good number of visitors - partly because it is the best birding site in Norway but also because of commercial fishing and the oil industry which made Norway rich.
"Joker" - the only shop on Utsira
Given its size and remoteness it is rather surprising that a Google Streetview vehicle has covered the island's roads quite comprehensively and the pictures that accompany this blogpost have all been snipped from Google imagery to give us a clearer sense of what it's like on the island of Utsira. It's not just a strange name in our daily shipping forecast. It exists.
The only church on Utsira
Is it not an omen of some sort that the only grocer is named Joker?
ReplyDeleteAn omen of laughter?
DeleteI wouldn't mind living on a big island but not a small one like this. It would be interesting to visit though and I do like birds.
ReplyDeleteNow I have researched Utsira I would love to go there - preferably in summertime but I doubt that this will ever happen.
Delete18 Euros/Pounds/Krone a pint and singing "Ole Gunnar Solksjaer".
ReplyDeleteIn Norway it would be very easy to become teetotal.
DeleteViking, North Utsira, South Utsira, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight, Humber ... Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea, Shannon.
ReplyDeleteNames we heard as we fell asleep along with the gnomic words Imminent, Soon, and Later.
In the ocean of dreams we drifted out towards Dogger & German Bight.
The Bakelite radio (we said wireless) with the lit-up window was still playing.
*How To Interpret A Shipping Forecast.* Jolly Parrot Sailing.
*Classic BBC Radio Theme - Shipping Forecast (Sailing By). YouTube.
The music was as evocative as the Eric Coates theme for Desert Island Discs and Bells Across the Meadows by Albert Ketelbey.
And even *On Hearing the First Cuckoo by Frederic Delius, an English genius.
All YouTube.
On stormy nights my mother used to say, *God help the men at sea.*
The Aberdeenshire poet George Bruce told me that girls and boys in his junior school would wear black armbands all year, in memory of their fathers drowned in the fishing boats.
Mrs MacLeod, our wonderful neighbour, went up to Lewis for the funeral of her brother, drowned at sea.
She caught pneumonia and never returned.
A highly qualified nurse and devout Wee Free Christian, she died in February.
The MacLeods were the neighbours from heaven.
It's rewarding to know that my reference to the shipping forecast ignited your rather poetic train of thought.
DeleteLife on an island. I normally just listen to what is happening in Nebraska or Kansas to see what will be happening soon in my neck of the woods.
ReplyDeleteBut on a ship at sea it would be different - out there, exposed to the elements where so m any lives have been lost.
DeleteInteresting bit of history. when I was in the Arctic we had to listen to some very different radio stations. I remember a station that gave continuous forcastes. The best station was Radio Neiderland.
ReplyDeleteI guess that radio reception would have been variable up there - in days long before digital radios.
DeleteIt would be an interesting place to visit for a couple of days but isn't there a pub?
ReplyDeleteThere are a few places to stay but I didn't see a pub as I was cruising around in the Google car.
DeleteUtsira is an intriguing place, as all (smallish) islands are to me. Like you, I would love to visit (preferably in summer) but doubt it will ever happen.
ReplyDeleteOne shop, one church, maybe one post office (part of the shop?), one pub?, maybe a school for children up to 10 or 11 years old, and probably one small building that serves as town (or island) hall; hopefully one GP's surgery and maybe a dentist. With many people coming and going for various reasons, it is amazing that not more infrastructure to care for their (imagined or real) needs as arisen.
There are regular ferries to the mainland - free to foot passengers - but I guess that their schedules are greatly affected by the weather.
DeleteLots of great trails, you should go there for a nice walk.
ReplyDeleteUtsira looks a lot like Newfoundland, another island, pounded by the sea.
ReplyDeleteBird watching is so wonderful. We visited Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve while in Newfoundland a few years back. The first visit was cloaked in fog and still amazing but when we went back to see it, without the fog, OMG it was beyond anything I could have imagined.
https://www.gov.nl.ca/ecc/natural-areas/wer/r-csme/
Perhaps you and Shirley could visit Utsira for us and we could all visit the island by proxy. Just a thought.
An unusual but informative post, Neil!
ReplyDeleteNorth and South Utsire have only appeared in the forecast for the past 20 years or so. They change it from time to time. I used to be able to recite the areas in order, but not since the last few changes.
ReplyDeleteA few days in Utsira, in summer of course, would suit me very well. I love visiting small islands, although not sure about living on one full time. I think it takes a special mind-set to decide to do that.
ReplyDeleteI'm now going to Google Earth to have a tour round! I've visited the Faroe Islands - I think they are mentioned on the shipping forecasts too.
How interesting! Never knew any of this information, Mr. Pudding. Thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteIt looks a nice place to visit, in summer of course, but I couldn't live there. Too cold and I've grown rather fond of reliable electricity and internet etc.
ReplyDelete