View Full Version : Settlers in caithness
pultneytooner
19-Aug-06, 22:14
Just wondered as there seem to be a few threads about people wishing to settle in caithness, what attracted you to the area, did you stick a pin in the map or was it more involved than that.
Also, how do those now settled in caithness feel about the move they have made, was it the right decision, have you any regrets?
Just wondered as there seem to be a few threads about people wishing to settle in caithness, what attracted you to the area, did you stick a pin in the map or was it more involved than that.
Also, how do those now settled in caithness feel about the move they have made, was it the right decision, have you any regrets?
I knew someone from another life who told me it was Gods wish that they came to Caithness.
The devil in me is praying for someone called Muhamed to come on and say, it was Allahs will that brought him to Caithness.
I hope no one can find racist connotations in this post but if you can I widna be surprised.
I can remember when the atomics came to Thurso in the 50s. They took over from the Germans in our battles between good and evil. Poor things.
It would be interesting if any atomicers had memories from those times.
pultneytooner
19-Aug-06, 22:31
I knew someone from another life who told me it was Gods wish that they came to Caithness.
The devil in me is praying for someone called Muhamed to come on and say, it was Allahs will that brought him to Caithness.
I hope no one can find racist connotations in this post but if you can I widna be surprised.
I can remember when the atomics came to Thurso in the 50s. They took over from the Germans in our battles between good and evil. Poor things.
It would be interesting if any atomicers had memories from those times.
Were the atomics, mistreated, looked on with suspicion, were they accepted?
Tugmistress
19-Aug-06, 22:41
I didn't quite stick a pin in a map but i guess if you take that as a metaphor you wouldn't be far wrong lol.
We had wanted to move to Scotland for about 8 years, and in the early summer of 2002 i trawled the internet one night looking at company websites seeing if there were any jobs available with my qualifications. In the september i got a phone call from one of the emails i had sent to these various companies all over the (what i call) the north of scotland ... i hadn't wanted to go to the boarders or south, so applied for jobs, wrote cheeky emails etc to places from Aberdeen round the coast to just north of Glasgow .... to see if i was interested in working on the new ferry service running from scrabster to stromness (after the caller had got over the shock he was talking to a female docker [lol]).
I replied that i would, so an application form was sent to me, I faxed it back as the closing date was the day after i received the form, and a couple of weeks later whilst stood ontop of a heap of timber in the middle of Hull docks i got a call asking if i could start the next day :eek:.
I worked for an agency so replied i could be here the next day but not fit for work as i would be driving through the night towing the caravan after a full day at work and that was agreeable, so at 4.05pm on 1st October 2002 i arrived in Thurso and have never regretted one minute !
(and that's the shortened version!)
Have been visiting the county for many years and love the beauty,tranquility(OK OK so the wind rattles the slates from time to time!)the generous nature of the folk we have met and the sky that seems to go on for ever.
Looking for an alternative place to live, Caithness certainly has it's attractions, quiet roads,stunning sceenery,wonderful light and still has a more than reasonable choice of shops along with a hospital,libraries,sports facilities and leisure activities.
No doubt to those who only know inner city life , it would be quite a shock to the system,"Where are the hyper-markets, the take aways?" I hear them cry.
Whilst not wishing to seem mercenary the price of property is also a lure as it is less than half what one would expect to pay in The Home Counties and anywhere on the south coast of The UK.
Like all things making this kind of move needs careful thought and planning .
On that note I'm off to stock up on artic quality barrier cream,thermals,wellies having already purchased the 24tog duvet and the 4 X 4 !
Were the atomics, mistreated, looked on with suspicion, were they accepted?
I will be interested to hear how it was for them.
I was only a kid then and I can only speak for childhood perceptions but I suspect I got them from Grown ups. I think there was a definate local/atomics split in those days but mostly in the mind. We got on fine really even though the locals were lost if they didna ken who your faither wiz.
I would move to caithness for the fresh air which is better than down in fife,and the scenery, But the reason i cant sell up and move is their isnt many jobs going :cool:
Just wondered as there seem to be a few threads about people wishing to settle in caithness, what attracted you to the area, did you stick a pin in the map or was it more involved than that.
Also, how do those now settled in caithness feel about the move they have made, was it the right decision, have you any regrets?
Good question pultneytooner :D
Me ,well i was offered to go up for a holiday with friends who had brought a derelict in lybster and once there i was hooked. we moved up to a 20 yr old bungalow , nothing to do so go a bit bored. then we met the locals and had a great time. but 9 months down the line we decided to go back to Linc's for reasons some of you know. I wish now we had stuck it out. I want to come back but hubby isn't so sure so im working on it HE HE jan x and if that doesnt work Ricco and i will elope !!!
My hubby is from Wick and he and I had been talking about moving up for years. Hubby was fed up of travelling along the A9 from Invergordon to Inverness.
We moved almost a year ago and I love it. Bit of a culture shock at first...no decent supermarkets and no online grocery shopping but got over that. Pace of life is slower and our neighbours are the best you could wish for. The children have settled in well...hence the reason there are a rake of bairns in the house just now. ;)
pultneytooner
20-Aug-06, 19:24
My hubby is from Wick and he and I had been talking about moving up for years. Hubby was fed up of travelling along the A9 from Invergordon to Inverness.
We moved almost a year ago and I love it. Bit of a culture shock at first...no decent supermarkets and no online grocery shopping but got over that. Pace of life is slower and our neighbours are the best you could wish for. The children have settled in well...hence the reason there are a rake of bairns in the house just now. ;)
Rake of bairns, now there's a caithness statement.
pultneytooner
20-Aug-06, 19:27
The reason I ask is that I personaly take my life here for granted and asking others opinion makes me think about what I have and how I should feel lucky to be born and live here.
We might be an hour and a half from supposed civilisation but its a great place to live. I miss my own family but my husbands family are all close by so that helps.
The wind and rain were a shock to the system but the summer has been fantastic.
Love village life...its so nice when the locals recognise you and say hello!
our main reason for moving here was my eldery father in law. But also to get awy from the rat race down south so as i family we dicided yes we were moving up. I can say it is the best move we have ever done we are all working except our 10 yr old son. Both our daughters are settled here one is married to a local lad and the other is about to move in with her man a local too and our wee boy well he is a prober wicker when he speaks lol. Two thing our son said was he would come if he did'nd have totalk funny meaning like a wicker and he did'nd have to wear a skirt meaning a kilt which he did when our daughter got married. I would like to add my hubby is from orkney and lived in inverness till he was 16 and joined the service where we met, i am a kent girl born and bred but feel more at home here than any where i ever lived.:)
I moved to Caithness in 1997. always talked about moving to scotland but never really exepcted to. Saw a job advertised on a Tuesday morning within the organisation i worked for so a transfer on promotion. Closing date was the Friday - no email for us then so a quick application later faxed away and bingo i got an interview in Inverness a week and a half later. Never having been to Wick we all travelled up and we drove up to Wick the day before th interview - i thought we were never going to get there but once we did - WOW. the space!!!!
Two days later i got word i had the job and bingo six weeks later hubby had handed in his notice and we had found a house to rent and schools for the kids. I remember we were in Wick looking at houses on May 6th and it was snowing!!!!! then we moved up the last weekend in May and the sun was blazing. The gorse on the way up the A9 practically shone - you needed sunglasses to look at it.
I loved the seven years i lived there but it was the right time for me to move south and now i love living in Inverness but i still miss the space and the peace and the people. When i visit it still feels a bit like coming home.
I came on holiday last year and loved the scenery and the peace and tranquility. I found everybody very friendly. I've fallen in love with the place and would love to live there.
lassieinfife
22-Aug-06, 08:19
I would move to caithness for the fresh air which is better than down in fife,and the scenery, But the reason i cant sell up and move is their isnt many jobs going :cool:
AHhhhhhhhh bosco the lang toon aint so bad ... it could be glenrothes u lived in.... nothing but houses and roundabouts lol
percy toboggan
22-Aug-06, 17:08
An excellent thread pultneytooner.
Interesting to read peoples different perspective and to get some local dialect - 'rake o' bairns !
Caithness is on my shortlist but there is a while to wait yet. Sutherland might edge it out but it's close enough.
Incidentally - is there any friendly rivalry or banter between Caithness & Sutherland? There often are parochial differences which have mellowed over time yet still retain a sense of rivalry.
I'd also wager the indigenous people along the north coast , towards Tongue for instance have a slightly different accent to say, Thurso.
Any noticeable accent difference between old timer from Wick & Thurso?
Just wondered.
pultneytooner
22-Aug-06, 21:10
An excellent thread pultneytooner.
Interesting to read peoples different perspective and to get some local dialect - 'rake o' bairns !
Caithness is on my shortlist but there is a while to wait yet. Sutherland might edge it out but it's close enough.
Incidentally - is there any friendly rivalry or banter between Caithness & Sutherland? There often are parochial differences which have mellowed over time yet still retain a sense of rivalry.
I'd also wager the indigenous people along the north coast , towards Tongue for instance have a slightly different accent to say, Thurso.
Any noticeable accent difference between old timer from Wick & Thurso?
Just wondered.
Here (http://www.caithness.org/community/arts/caithnesspoets/willielyall/wordies.htm) is some poetry from W Lyall, giving caithness words and their meanings.:D
Have noticed a whole range when in Caithness..there's the Week 1 and the Thursa one, the almost welsh lilt from those that live away to Bettyhill (OK I kens 'at ats in Sutherland!) I was totally thrown by an Orcadian accent last time up but then it would incline to the Nordic!
Looking at the topography of the county then is would be natural that different accents evolved and when you throw history into the equation it becomes even more intriguing.
How much influence did The Gaels have when they were cleared?They came to Caithness albeit not in large numbers but surely they must have added words to the language.
I come from a county that has 3 distinctive accents and that despite the fact that it has been a unit for over a thousand years, natural barriers such as high moors meant that folks there lived in realative isolation until the last century.
I was entranced on 1 visit to Caithness to be told the history of the county in the oral tradition and the speaker became more nordic as he progressed backwards.
I have always been interested in language and lend a keen ear to those that speak a different dialect so maybe the differences that occur in up north are no more than those in my home county.
I just hope thet political correctness will never obliterate local speech.it is to be treasured and it is part of any peoples history.
I know that some folks get a little irked by outlanders who post on this site, but for me Caithness is like a home from home and the generosity of spirit I have met there makes me proud to visit.
We might be an hour and a half from supposed civilisation but its a great place to live. I miss my own family but my husbands family are all close by so that helps.
The wind and rain were a shock to the system but the summer has been fantastic.
Love village life...its so nice when the locals recognise you and say hello!
An hour and a half????
Speeding ticket for you!
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