On Monday morning next week, I have a dentist’s appointment.

In Glasgow.

It’s a source of minor irritation (and a reflection of Weegieland’s poor health) that I could easily find an NHS dentist when I moved there, but have never managed to do so up here. Being away from internet access the last few days has meant I’ve missed out on the cheap train tickets too, and I suppose I am paying a lot more to get to my appointment than I would pay in fees if I went private here in Inverness.

Am I cutting off my nose to spite my face by refusing to go private? The principled political animal in me says no, and it will be nice to be able to see friends and visit St Silas on the Sunday night. But it is a long way to go just to get poked in the mouth and no doubt it is a dilemma I will return to in the future. Maybe you have views on this which I can chew over (couldn’t resist the pun!).

In other news, I’ve uploaded the first batch of photos from the Shetland trip. They’re mostly of Sumburgh Head, where Nicole and I visited as soon as we’d landed at the airport which is, like Sumburgh Head itself, right at the southern tip of Shetland’s mainland.

It’s a major bird-spotting location, and as we wandered through the slightly eerie abandoned lighthouse and went puffin-spotting, we did so alongside some hardcore birders who had massive cameras and very birdwatcher woolly hats on.

I know they’re probably birder chic, but the hats were quite unnecessary – the weather was stunning, a theme which would dominate the rest of the trip.

I’ll post more photos and an accompanying blurb later on in the week. For now, I need to get to bed – back to work tomorrow, and a long day trip to Edinburgh.