My name's Kid Rock I'm a Capricorn.

Beware of the spoilers for life if you are reading this and you are a 9 year old bairn, or in my case 11. The year a lot of magic was lost for me, see previous blog a while ago about Hogwarts and Pokémon: 11 years old Blog Post

Today's post was written whilst listening to Kid Rock's 'Welcome 2 The Party'

Kid Rock courtesy of: http://www.chartattack.com

Merry Christmas one and all! As we near the 12 days afor, or at least we sit in December, we can truly start enjoying the festive, get excited about the 25th and look forward to the days when perfume adverts will no longer plague our tv screens.

Last night I swam through the stars

Last night I saw something I had been waiting for years to see.

There are images in your life that will always stay with you, for instance I will always remember my cousin as a toddler sitting in the back seat of the car, strapped into her car seat as we were parked outside the local shop. It sounds really simple but there was this beam of sunlight shining right onto her, illuminating the dust floating through the air as she stared out of the window. It was so bright that, although I remember this image clearly, the colours have faded. A picture of innocence and childhood so beautifully lit.

Last night I saw something that I hope will never fade from my memory, I doubt it could, it was honestly one of the most beautiful and spectacular experiences.

In Shetland we call it mareel, but elsewhere, perhaps there is a better name for it, it is bioluminescent plankton. I think in some places it is known as sea sparkle, while, not as a beautiful word as mareel it describes it perfectly. You see the mareel glow when the water is disturbed, by wave or by hand or any creature travelling through it. My Dad had told me the best conditions to see it in, in October, on calm night, just after the sun has set when there is still a faint light in the West.

So, last night after I finished tea I got my lifejacket and a towel and ran down to the banks to the sea.

My plan was to row up the voe where Dad said he used to see the mareel as a boy after casting lines. I got down to the beach and before pulling the row boat down went and stood by the water. The night was so still you could see the stars reflected on the sea. I looked closer and at first I thought I was seeing more stars, but they were in the water, I immediately assumed it was something reflecting the last of the light, then I realised I was seeing mareel for the first time. It may sound a bit ridiculous that I didn't immediately clock what it was, but I just never expected to see it so clearly straight away. I walked out into the sea and my footsteps disturbed the water causing the mareel to shine. It was beautiful, I swirled my hands in the water and the ripples lit up and glowed. I was planning to row out immediately but I was so excited by it, it was beautiful, I ran up to the house again and got my sister Floortje down to the sea to show her.

I suppose it is clear now where the title of today's blog has come from, but I couldn't contain myself, I had to strip off and swim into the sea.

It's one thing to stand looking down into the water as the mareel lights up, it's another to be right in it, swimming through it, my arms reaching forward and lighting up the water I'm in. It was like swimming through the stars.

I couldn't swim for too long, it was pretty cold and I find it pretty terrifying swimming in the sea in the dark. You have no idea if a seal is right there two meters away, that would terrify me. I love seals, but swimming up to one  on a dark night in the cold sea I just couldn't handle.

I really hope I can catch the sight of the mareel again. It was so beautiful, especially last night as it was teamed up with the stars gleaming down and the mareel glowing up from in the water. That was another thing, before I always thought it as something glowing on the surface, but it's throughout the sea, which I suppose I really experienced when swimming through it.

Anyway, I thought I would share my experience with the mareel with you, because it really was one of the most boannie things I have ever seen, and I find it weird, thinking back to all the times it has been right there, at the shore, but I never had travelled down during the right light, at the right time of year to see it.

I hope to see it again.




Shetland words:
Mareel - bioluminescent plankton
Voe - an inlet of the sea, like a fjord but on a much shallower scale with hills either side rather as mountains. I'm assuming here all fjords are surrounded by mountains. Which is awesome.
Boannie - beautiful, like Scottish bonnie, to be honest not sure about this spelling at all. Just taking liberties with this one.
Banks - Maybe it is used commonly throughout Britain, but it means the beach for us basically.


"Gyan doon to da banks tae see da Mareel."

Referendum Results

I was going to write this yesterday but I just couldn't bring myself around to it.

I am so disappointed with the referendum results, I really, really wanted an independent Scotland.

I stayed up all night to watch the results, apart from an accidental three hour nap on the couch. When I was woken up at the back of five in the morning it was looking bad, I couldn't watch it anymore. I heard my friend Vikki playing her fiddle in the kitchen and went through to join her, away from the tv, away from the results. Martha joined on her fiddle and Magnus on the guitar. It felt like the right thing to do, through the final hours of the count, to play tunes together. Whenever I felt homesick at University or in Amsterdam I used to just sit and play through Shetland tunes, they always brought me back to home.

It was incredibly therapeutic in those bleak hours of Friday morning; I felt like I was losing a promising future but at least we could sit together playing the music of our home and our culture. Through the despair, moments of hope kept surging to the surface. Not hope that the referendum would suddenly swing to a yes, it was too late for that. But that there are so many people who want change and I'm not just talking about the Yes voters. I believe there are plenty who voted no who still demand change from Westminster.

I suppose yesterday I felt a mixture of disappointment at the results and an anger at Westminster. This vote was meant to be 'Scotland decides' but they couldn't stop telling us what to vote for, of course they wanted us to vote no, they wanted to keep us within their rule, but it felt like they believe Scotland doesn't have the capabilities to decide, that we needed Westminster to tell us in the end what we really should do.

Yesterday afternoon a friend and I decided to go see something at the cinema, because you know Mareel is awesome and has a great cinema, and also because I felt so antsy, like I should do something but I had no direction as to what to do.

We went to see the next film that was on and it so happened to be Pride.

It was the perfect film for yesterday, I say yesterday I should say that such an inspiring film is a must for anyday. Really, you should see it, it's about a group of gay activists who establish the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) in the 80s during the miners strike. Generally the film is about the dialogue between LGSM and a small mining village in South Wales and how both groups work together and help one another. It really is beautiful and it is based on a true story.

After seeing that film I felt a surge of faith in the power of individuals to make changes on a national scale.

We can't stop now, we can't stop demanding what we want. I don't know yet what is going to happen, where we are going next, but there is a momentum that has been built up to the referendum, a hope we have in the future and a drive to change things for the better. We have to keep going.

Westminster has got what it wants, it still has Scotland. So let's make them listen to us, and not just us, if we are still part of this union can we then not unite with those in England, Wales and Northern Island. Stand together and share the changes we want. I don't want the privatisation of the NHS, I don't want to keep Trident, I want better share of wealth, the UK is currently one of the most unequal developed countries, this has to change.

I still want independence, but if that is not possible now then let us work with the rest of the UK, let us make a difference with greater numbers and a louder voice.

Let's make Westminster wish they had never asked us to stay.

Thoughts on the Referendum

Up until recently I didn't really make my opinions public on the upcoming referendum, but in the past week or so, what with Facebook profile pictures, stati and cover photos it is clear I am fully supporting the Yes campaign. The reason for the increased burst in political outpour is because the more I read, watch and hear about the referendum the more I truly believe we are better off becoming independent on the 18th of September. We are so close, I can't sit quiet now, I can't.

I was originally a no, I didn't see what point there was in breaking up the union, I thought myself that the yes voters were nationalistic and narrow minded, now looking back I see clearly that those thoughts of mine were in fact the narrow minded ones. I wish to never give anyone cause to think that they have no right to a secret ballot. Of course people needn't ever feel they have to say what they are voting for. But for me, I want to say I'm voting yes and I feel for myself it is important to share this as one of the reasons I have been encouraged to the yes vote is through hearing about how others have come to stand on the side of independence.

One of the first steps to yes was when I was talking to my friend Joe, who pointed out we are under a Conservative Prime minster, when, in the last election, only one Conservative seat was voted in in the whole of Scotland. We are not being represented.

Overtime, since that encounter with Joe about a year ago I've been talking to others on and off about the Referendum, but it was in March, when in Amsterdam an English man asked me what I was voting in the upcoming Referendum, and I told him I didn't know what to vote yet, and I asked him what he would vote in my position. He replied:

"Easy, I would vote Yes, because the smaller the government the more power to the individual."

And that's when I made up my mind and never looked back.

Instead I should say I've kept looking forward as the more I've learned the more I've become an increasingly stronger believer in Yes. We need representation, we need to choose ourselves how we look after our own services.

Have a look at this:


Image from http://yesscotland.net/


I could discuss in length reasons for voting Yes, but today I am going to say to all those, who have fears, most likely ingrained through the media, about the uncertainties of voting yes, look at the press, you can not trust them, seriously.

In 2008 there was a huge revolution in Iceland, the people marched on Parliament, the Prime minister and entire Government were forced to step down. Then in 2010 a law is imposed for Iceland to pay back their debt to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, this sum of 3,500 million euros was going to have to be paid by the people over the following 15 years with 5.5% interest. In 2010 the people of Iceland again protested and demanded a referendum voting for the denial of payment, this came through at 93% and the new Government held an investigation for those responsible for the debt arresting bankers and high level executives rather than imposing the debt on the people.

The Icelandic Revolution shows the power people can and should have over fraudulent governments. However this was kept out of almost all press, why?  Because the people who control the press don't want you to know how much power the individual can have, that the public can have. I first heard about the Icelandic Revolution first hand from my Icelandic friend, I read about it first from private bloggers online who had had their stories shared on social network sites by friends.

The reason I have been writing just there about the Icelandic Revolution is just to make you aware how skewed the news is, they never fully reported the stories, they kept us in the dark about what was happening in a country in our own continent, we were so unaware because they didn't report what was happening, they didn't share important, ground breaking news. Don't let the news skew you now, they have so much influence over us, but major news papers and websites are backed by the millionaires who own them. Those who sit in lofty, comfortable positions, who don't want to lose money or power should Scotland become independent.

And they are just one more reason why I want to become independent.





For more information on who owns the British Press:
http://leftfootforward.org/2013/06/everyone-should-know-who-owns-the-press-for-the-sake-of-our-democracy/

For more information on the Icelandic Revolution:
http://cac.ophony.org/2012/04/16/the-icelandic-revolution-why-didnt-i-hear-about-it/
http://www.utne.com/Media/Blogging-the-Icelandic-Revolution.aspx#axzz3D1gTWFMb