Living on a Scottish island

[Keeplookingforwards]

Tell me about living Island life!!!!!

How is Island living?
Would you recommend it ?
Up sides and down?

The best and worst ?
COL is it massively higher than say rural highland mainland
Is everyone friendly to “outsiders”

Would like as much chat/info as can muster lol

Not really an AIBU but here I am 😊

It absolutely depends on which island.

I remember watching with great interest, a series of BBC programs about the communities and life on a number of Scottish Islands - this must have been 20-25 years ago. The BBC set up a website/forum for people living on the islands to help foster some sense of an on line community for people on the islands that felt isolated. Like so many dreamers I guess, I've had thoughts of wanting to live more remotely - I'm a very self contained person with many artistic hobbies - I really don't need to see or be among people or friends - I've always got something I'd rather be doing (on my own)... but I remember one particularly brutal post on one of the forums from an islander saying (from what I remember) that they were fed up of these arty types turning up on the islands - looking for driftwood and inspiration - what they wanted were people who could fix a boats engine, fix farm machinery or a roof for example, they wanted practical people - electricians, builders, mechanics, etc: that well and truly put me in my place. I'm a practical person - I can do DIY but I'm no car mechanic, electrician or builder - the last thing an island community needed, it seemed to me, was another liability, another helpless dependent - they needed people who can contribute something to island life - someone making jewellery from driftwood, shells and pebbles is not what they were looking for: that was my overriding takeaway from that TV series.

I can't remember the name of the TV series but I know the website/community forum the BBC set up for archived a year or so after the series aired. It may still be available but it was an archive: the site is no longer active - you couldn't post on it for instance. I'd love the BBC to do another series.

@larkstar that’s such a shame you felt like that .

Ive just tried looking for the pp suggestion but I can’t find that on bbc iplayer

@BakedTattie which have the thumbs up and which don’t?

Trades and care experience you’d never be out of work and welcomed with open arms on many islands

The one thing not been touched on, is the pure loneliness living on an island or extremely rural area brings

I moved to rural NI in my mid 40s. and whilst I cant say the people are not welcoming , establishing a close knit friendship is really really hard

Where I am, people of my age have lived within a few miles of their family home all their lives. They played out, went to school, collage and often university with the same people. Everyone goes to the same weddings/funerals and confirmations/baptisms

I work in hospitality and as such we work hard and party harder. But even going out with work colleagues can leave me feeling very alone, as the chatter will delve right back, to this one who married that one, who used to go with that one , who is the daughter of her whos maiden name was....and you get left out

20 years and now Im getting to the stage of "yes i remember wee ( insert name ) christening, who would have thought they are now engaged" type conversation

The loneliness is hard, You obviously have work friends and get along with neighbours and chat with shop staff, but when the chips are down, who do you turn too, Whos not related to who

That I would say has been the hardest part of relocating to a very tight knit closed community.

Saying that, I wouldnt live anywhere else now and Im dreading getting to the age we have to move back closer to services ( maybe have another 15 years here if health holds out )

Just before I moved here ( from London ) I made friends with a lass who moved to the Isle of Wight and I remember her rages about Island mentality and I used to snigger along. But whilst Im not on an Island ( as such, obviously we all are in the UK) I do now have small town mentality If the local shop doesnt have it, I obviously dont need it :)

This is the archive of the blog.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/islandblogging/#:~:text=BBC%20Island%20Blogging%20was%20all,islands%2C%20written%20by%20islanders%20themselves.&text=The%20focus%20of%20Island%20Blogging,Island%20Bloggers%20from%20Scotland's%20islands.

I spent a month last year touring West and East Scotland on my campervan - it's a huge place, so much to explore - in all honesty I saw a tiny fraction of the country. It really hit me this time, talking to locals, just how different life in the Scottish mainland and islands differ to one another and how different life is compared to living in most of England is (big generalisation I know) but the dependence on ferry services is easy to under appreciate. The road network is quite sparse in many places and I found no journey ever takes what your sat.nav predicts - it's always far far longer due to the tourist traffic - I felt like a cliché, contributing to the problem. One 5min car ferry crossing (at Corran) had been out of action for a year waiting for one part, leaving locals with a 42 mile trip instead of being able to hop across to the next peninsula. It's fairly common for ferries to be cancelled due to the weather - many are nowhere near as big at the cross channel ferries that go to France for instance. I stayed at the Culloden camp site on the East coast where someone from Skye was staying - they'd come to avoid the tourists! I heard that the number of campervans/motorhomes and caravans taking up space on the ferries can cause problems with the deliveries of both fuel, food and other commodities to the islands.

Don't expect good Internet at all

Filling a freezer as a back up plan is risky if you lose power. Unless it's really cold and snowy and you can just move everything into the snow to keep it frozen (protected from scavengers).

It was Castaway if I remember correctly.

We’ve never had a problem as we have a generator of the power goes off. We live on a very small island and I can only remember a handful of times we’ve lost power for max 2 days in the last 15 years.

😂 two very good reasons then .

Neither though so best stay mainland you think? Lol

@larkstar i couldn’t get it on I played it’s not available . Checked everywhere else , no sign either. .

Id say im use to most things listed . It really would be the idea of a ferry . Now that in itself isn’t an issue but lack of one or space may well be .

@Ivyiris is starling no use ?

There is some really good advice unthread, particularly re community involvement.

Religion is important in Lewis but so is industry - people work hard, often more than one job, and you may be 15 miles away from a cafe to meet for a coffee, never mind have time for ‘social’ coffee. If you want to meet people best to volunteer with the parent council, youth football or music club, even sorting out the school library.

One other thing is whether acceptance is important to you? Some people live in the Western Isles for decades and are still viewed as ‘incomers’. That can hurt if you consider the island your permanent home and you are part of the community.

@Blueplantpots no it wasn't Castaway - I think that came a long time after the Island Blogging program - it wasn't the Ben Fogle thing.

As for internet (mentioned by a PP) - I use a Starlink dish (it's a flat rectangular plate!) on the top of my campervan - I have high speed internet everywhere I go - it doesn't rely on being able to get a mobile signal.

I worked on a Scottish island for a few months. I was doing a key worker job that no one there could do. The local people were glad that I came to do it. However, they don’t like outsiders. Even other Scottish people were considered to be outsiders. Because everyone has to co-exist on the island they had ways of saying things without saying things. Ultimately they hated anyone who didn’t share their conservative, homophobic religious world view and anyone who didn’t make a commitment to learning Gaelic. Washing was not hung out on a Sunday, however, the pubs in the main town were secretly open but with the curtains drawn.
When I went to Shetland to do the same job it was different. They hadn’t got the religious thing going on to the same level. There was a lot of money there from the oil industry, but a underclass of locals who weren’t involved in that industry… there were a lot of social problems.

Yes this. I also live on an island somewhere else and there are definitely the muggles and the purebloods. But it's all jokey until you read some FB posts and realise you recognise the names behind them. I am wondering if we live on the same island 😆

OP if you have teens or kids who will become teens, just don't do it to them. There is fuck all to do, suicides and drug use are high. Lots of teenage parties in risky deserted areas - drugs and swimming aren't a good combination. Academic aspirations are low and little choice of schools. Some islands will require boarding on the mainland for high school. Two of my kids had to give up their sports because there aren't the facilities here.

The weather is shit for so much of the year, people say they will be fine - love winter, hygge, hot chocolate and all that, but we aren't talking crisp winter's days, the proximity to the sea means constant damp and mist. Walking on a beautiful beach isn't fun with the wind blowing horizontal rain, salt and sand into your face and visibility no more than a couple of metres. If you are lucky there will be a fortnight of turquoise seas where you could at a stretch imagine you are in the Caribbean.

The ferries, winter again is a problem. Getting off the island is a constant expense. Everything is an extra expense, no Lidl or Aldi. Getting stuff delivered is a pain in the arse, expensive or sometimes just impossible.

Healthcare is a worry, being ill and having to track backwards and forwards to the mainland after surgery etc is just miserable. My DS is disabled and his treatment has not been great.

People are OK to your face, but it's stifling. I'm in an art based/trade based profession and the community of arty people is so close knit, I find it all stifling and have no real friends here.

We moved for DH's oh so important job. Am I bitter, yes a touch.

Always been fascinated by the Scottish islands. Saw the mull of kintyre two summers ago from here (Northern Ireland) in the north Anthrim coast. Its 12 miles away and very clear (that's it in the distance). Would like to see from the opposite side one day. My brother flew across that stretch of water on his micro light and went right up the west coast of Scotland and got a great view of all the islands.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B99ET8HmuB4&pp=ygUKdG9yciBoZWFkIA%3D%3D

People get pissed off because people from the south east of England have huge property buying power and so drive up the prices way beyond what a local can afford. This means that young islanders will never be able to afford to buy a house on their home island and long term rentals are rare because people make more money holiday letting. Young locals have to leave or become homeless.

Islanders also get a bit sick of people moving in and then trying to refashion the place as suburbia.

One particular lunatic where I live was in a rage because a couple of boats anchored in our bay to shelter out some truly awful storms. Apparently their generators and lights disturbed her peace and she doesn't live on an island to be disturbed.
YOU LITERALLY MOVED TO LIVE BY THE SEA AND VESSELS HAVE TKEN REFUGE HERE FOR MILLENIA🙄
They also blocked ( illegally) a right of way across their property. Stuff like that, It just antagonises people.

Cost of living is high, ferries are shite. One super market, the Co which might as well wear a mask as it robs you so blatantly. Often no food in shops if the boats are off ( which they are all the bloody time summer and winter. Cheers Calmac). No priority booking for islanders on ferries so it's virtually impossible to book in summer if it's a tourist island.
Roads get full of camper vans and people driving at 20 miles an hour looking at the scenery when you are trying to get to work.

Winters aren't any worse than anywhere else and there is loads going on to get involved with though.

It's not for everybody but I wouldn't move back to the mainland for anything. Folk are friendly and there has great community.....as long as you aren't a dick.

Arran has plenty going on.

It's not plodding along with nothing going on FFS.

You are kind of illustrating the point of why incomers can be unpopular.

I live North Antrim coast and there are Scottish Islands closer to me then Belfast lol

I love where I live, and I absolutely adore the Highlands, but a Scottish Island ? Only in my romantic dreams :)

https://www.thenational.scot/comment/24299754.people-love-islands-killing-housing-crisis/ Not sure if this has been shared. Mind you, we're talking about an island that has less than 700 people and is 30 square miles, which is about as underpopulated as you can get. You could put aside a small plot of land and use it to build a single block of flats and basically solve the island's entire housing problem at a stroke.

Reading your update I don’t think we are in the same place but I recognise everything in your post apart from the weather. God forbid you get cancer where I am because you have to go to the mainland for treatment. My ds is desperate to leave but it’s really difficult to do because of the ferries. I have acquaintances here but no real friends, I also had an art business.
Yes to the same miserable bigoted names on Facebook, they are so ignorant and truly thick!
I hope you escape.