Shetland Islands

choi

Stephen Castle, A Quirky Quest to Claim the State of Forvik, and Beyond. New York Times, Apr 20, 2017 (under the heading "Shetland Islands Journal").
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/ ... a-secessionist.html

Quote:

"Stuart Hill pointed to a small lump of land inhabited by an otter, a few seals and a variety of seabirds. * * * To Mr Hill[, who came from England in 2001], it is the sovereign state of Forvik, whose independence he proclaimed in 2008

"On this beautiful windswept archipelago, closer to Norway than to mainland Scotland, Wir Shetland, a group that promotes 'self-government,' counts about 400 members

"In 2014, Shetland voted against independence for Scotland by 63.7 percent to 36.2 percent in a referendum that rejected separation.

"Shaped by their Viking, rather than Celtic, roots, the Shetlands have a unique culture. Small Shetland ponies are a frequent sight in much of its panoramic landscape, and the red and blue houses of parts of its capital, Lerwick, look more Nordic than British.

"The islands were pawned to King James III of Scotland in 1469 by Christian I of Denmark and Norway in exchange for a wedding dowry for his daughter.  To this day, however, historians struggle to identify a point at which they became, legally, Scottish. Hence, Mr Hill's case that the Shetlands belong neither to Scotland nor to Britain.

"a harbor [in Shetland islands] where seals regularly bob to the surface.

"Given the oil beneath the seabed and the seafood in nearby waters [of North Sea] * * * The Shetland Islands Council has a reserve fund, financed by the oil industry, currently worth a hefty $375 million — more than $16,000 for every inhabitant


Note:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of this report, which is interesting, from viewpoints of Shetland inhabitants.
(b) Shetland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland
("They [Shetland islands] form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. * * * the population totalled 23,210 in 2012. * * * Lerwick, the capital and largest settlement, has a population of 6,958 and about half of the archipelago's total population of 23,167 people live within 16 kilometres (10 mi) of the town"/ section 1 Etymology)
(c) Quotation 1 is farfetched. I select it only because "Forvik" in the tile needs to be explained.
(d) Wir Shetland

wir
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wir

(e) "the red and blue houses of parts of its capital, Lerwick"
(i) Lerwick
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lerwick

has two photos that do not have "red and blue houses."
(ii) Google (red and blue houses Lerwick) and one sees SOME houses there are either red or blue, but there is no way to tell the ratio.

(f) "Now 74, Mr Hill arrived here in 2001 after being shipwrecked off Shetland on an ill-fated trip around Britain in a 15-foot boat — a voyage that he says prompted nine lifeboat call-outs and one helicopter rescue mission, winning him the nickname Captain Calamity."
(i) call out (vt): ""to summon into action <call out troops>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/call-out
(ii) call-out (n): "ALSO callout; an occasion when someone is asked to come to a person's home or to a particular place in order to do a job, help someone, etc  <Many plumbers charge double for an emergency call-out over the weekend. call-out fees/charges/service>"
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/call-out