The Herald Magazine
Sick days on a remote island: illness with a newborn
GETTING sick used to feel like an excuse to slow down. It was a free pass to park yourself on the couch, drag the duvet in, and settle down for what would be a long day of sniffling and feeling sorry for yourself. It came with permission to just...
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For us, ferry disruption easily becomes life disruption
MY friend knitted a blanket last year - a beautiful throw with reds and yellows, and hints of green scattered through a pixelated pattern. It sits proudly on her couch, often with a cat or a human snuggled underneath. I didn’t quite understand the...
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‘This is one change I never expected after having my first child’
ISTAND an inch taller than I did last year. I noticed it a few days ago. My husband and I, standing in front of one another, realised something was different. Where my eyes used to meet his, they now point directly towards his forehead. We checked our...
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Our tree topper might be unusual, but it means the world to us
WE don’t have a star or an angel at the top of our tree. Instead, it’s a multicoloured dreamcatcher, crocheted with tiny stitches and three dangling feet that rest atop the branches. When I first visited my son in the NICU, around ten hours after he...
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Planning by ferry: the reality of an island Christmas
Three in the morning is an odd time to realise that Christmas is coming. But with a newborn in the house, that’s when I find myself getting into the festive spirit. It turns out Christmas lyrics are at the forefront of my early morning repertoire when...
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As a new mum, my Scottish island shows up for us
THEY say it’s the little things that mean the most. And as I sit here, cup of tea in hand and wearing a dressing gown I’d forgotten I owned, cradling my newborn in the stillness of the morning, I get it. We find ourselves celebrating every victory...
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Motherhood hit harder than I expected – but something unexpected has saved me
EXHAUSTED, overwhelmed and deeply moved by an island community’s support, motherhood is a spectrum of emotions where expecting the unexpected becomes the norm, writes Elle Duffy. For the last few weeks, I’ve been writing about contentment. The feeling...
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From bonfire nights to baby cuddles
I’VE always loved birthdays. I love the occasion of celebrating a person simply for being born. My birthday is the day after Bonfire Night, and growing up I always marvelled at the fireworks, believing them to be lighting up the night’s sky purely to...
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Our baby boy is here after a night of drama
HE is here. And he is perfect. I never knew it was possible to be this happy. This feeling of pure, unconditional joy and adoration for something so small - but surprisingly heavy - is so far beyond what I thought those first moments of motherhood...
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Life is on hold before my baby’s birth
WE are living in a strange kind of pause. A world between worlds, waiting for the most exciting - and daunting adventure of our lives so far. And it is brutal. For the last fortnight, we’ve been living hundreds of miles away from home, separated by...
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Step off the well-worn route. You won’t regret it
ILIVE on an island that most maps don’t label. A recent village pub quiz taught me that the isle of Rum is the 16th largest inhabited island in Scotland by area, and yet many people I speak to haven’t visited - or haven’t even heard of it. On Rum, our...
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My day of chaos: Dashed plans and a lack of pants
IF this week has taught me anything, it’s that preparation is key. For the last few weeks, we’ve been slowly but surely getting ready. Packing our bags, building furniture, cleaning out the nooks and crannies of our home, and rearranging various things...
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Preparing for birth on a remote Scottish island
IT’S October. I never knew that the beginning of a new month could bring so many emotions at one time. My baby is due this month. That sentence alone feels surreal to write. And yet here I am, 36 weeks into what feels like the fastest few months of my...
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Our dramatic Friday afternoon rescue mission
IT was around 2pm on Friday that we got the text. A group of Manx Shearwater fledglings, who’d spent the last few weeks preparing for their first transatlantic flight, had become stuck underneath a pier at Rum’s ferry port. They’d been drawn there by...
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Cherishing seeing a GP on a choppy boat
WHEN you think of a doctor’s appointment, you might imagine sitting in a sterile waiting room with peeling posters and three-year-old magazines. But living on an island like Rum, that picture is slightly different. I’m sitting on the bottom deck of a...
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Belt up over sale of this ‘fairytale’ castle
MOST mornings on Rum start the same way. The light comes in across the bay, and someone will be walking the main road through the village, a road that takes you past Kinloch Castle. They may be heading to the school, to the shop, to the pier, to work,...
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How do you have a baby on a remote island?
IKNOW that when I can hear the hum of the ferry docking in the bay from my front door, I’m running late to meet it with my empty fuel cans; I know the sound of a single dog bark in the morning means it’s 6.55am and my neighbours are leaving for a day’s...
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A house perfect for winter - not so much summer
ONE of the unexpected quirks of moving to a remote island was living in a brand-new house. Our home here on Rum is the newest building I’ve ever lived in. It’s only five years old, and before us, just one other couple lived here. It’s simple - two...
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On Rum it’s harder to let go and take maternity leave
I’M now in my third trimester of pregnancy, a milestone that felt a million years away when I first found out I was pregnant on that chilly February afternoon. And yet here it is, appearing with a bang – or rather, a pop. Until now, when I’ve told...
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It’s the middle of summer, how bad can winds really get?
IT’S been raining, and the wet grass feels fresh and summery. But the wooden scent, that’s new. There’s a crack like thunder towards our house another tree is down. Storm Floris is here, and she is brutal. I’ll admit, when I saw the named storm and...
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Voluntourism is welcome on these Isles
LAST week, while the rain pelted and the midges tried their damnedest to survive against the slight breeze, a family of four walked into the hostel where I work. They’d spent the last week camping on a neighbouring isle, and were due to start pitching...
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Nesting is an act of long-term strategic planning
THEY say nesting is one of the universal stages of pregnancy. An uncontrollable, immediate urge to sort your life out in its entirety; whether it be the garden, kitchen cupboards, or the slightly squint curtain rod in the front room, it has to be fixed...
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Who needs Italy when we have Kilmory Beach
WHEN you picture spending a weekend on a beach on the west coast of Scotland, there are perhaps a few key things you might expect. Midges, for one; perhaps a brisk wind cutting through a waterproof jacket; a flask of steaming tea to warm up your body...
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We’ve come a long way - a cancelled ferry used to be a disaster
I’M sitting decked out in waterproofs, my freshly washed hair now covered in sea spray and rain, with wet socks from a recent hole in my favourite wellies. And I’m waiting with baited breath to see if our ferries will run today. Gusts are reaching...
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There’s no maternity ward on the island ...
I’M getting ready to pick my midwife up from the pier. It’s the last week of May as I write this, and I’m four and a half months pregnant. Morning sickness is still clinging on with surprising loyalty, and there’s the beginning of a wee bump beginning...
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I’ve got some big news to share with you ...
I’M pregnant. It still feels so strange to say it so plainly, to see it written here in black and white. Almost as though I’m telling you I’ve taken up a new crochet project or finally learned how to hook up a trailer to my car, when in reality, it’s...
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Our first wedding anniversary began with a power cut
WELL, let me rephrase. It began with us realising that our wifi was down, and it was entirely due to us having forgotten to top up our prepayment meter. But a hasty search through the cutlery drawer for a forgotten power card meant we were soon in the...
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Beware of the Rum midge - but stay for the cute animals
THEY warned me the Rum midges were killer. “You’ll have never experienced anything like them,” a local said to me when we moved here back in October. “Enjoy the winter while you can - they’ll be here soon enough.” Of course, all you can do is smile,...
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I’ll always have a deep connection to my roots
MY childhood garden didn’t have any grass. It was on a slope, with grey slabs that stretched from the worn fence at the pavement to the front door of our wee three bedroom house. There was a broken swingball set and a wendy house, and a whirlygig with...
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I’ve discovered I am not too good to clean a toilet
HUMILITY, I’ve found, has a lot of different flavours. And I feel as though I’ve managed to sample a taste of everything since moving to the Isle of Rum. It’s not the awe-inspiring, naturefilled, poetic kind of humility you read about, but instead,...
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Celebrating 15 years of a community
IT’S 3pm on a Friday, and the village hall is humming with a special kind of energy. I’m stationed at the front door, a stamp in one hand and a raffle book in the other, welcoming day trippers, locals and overnight guests alike into our community...
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OPENING NIGHT IN STIRLING AS HISTORIC MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS CASKET GOES ON SHOW!
For the first time in Stirling - at The Smith Museum located close to Stirling Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots spent part of her childhood and held court as queen, a rare and intricately crafted silver casket, believed to have belonged to Mary has...
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Don’t underestimate the power of pockets on the Isle
WHAT’S in your pocket? It could be your phone, your car keys, maybe some gum or a bit of loose change. I’ve found that, since moving here, the contents of my pockets have been far from normal. In fact, even outwith the contents, the sheer number of...
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Island takeaway taboo does have its benefits
WHAT I wouldn’t do right now for a kebab. Not even just the kebab, mind you. The shredded cabbage salad, the pink sauce, the slightly damp polystyrene container that feels both hot and cold at the same time – the whole lot. It’s funny, the things that...
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Island Life: A lifeboat callout and broken shower
THE day began with a disgruntled customer. Our outdoor showers, normally revered for their steaming hot jets, had turned an icy cold - alright if that’s what you were expecting, but a nasty surprise for the unprepared. But by late lunchtime, I was...
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The buzz of family time has set us up for the summer
IT’S five o’clock, and my husband, his brother and stepfather have just traipsed into the Bunkhouse. Their boots have been thrown off their weary feet almost immediately, and their bags have been dropped where they stand. They’ve spent the day down at...
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There’s no such thing as next-day delivery here
IT’S 7 o’clock in the evening, and we’re chapping our neighbours’ door. We’re expecting a massive delivery tomorrow - a literal tonne of wood pellets - and we haven’t a scooby how to get them from the ferry. If we were still in the city - or indeed,...
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Rum is an island rich in fairytale and history
THE hills on Rum are said to be home to trolls. I like to imagine them to be small, almost rocklike, covered in moss with beady eyes and long, folded ears. But perhaps they’re larger, more grotesque and a murkish green, dragging their feet and hunching...
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How do you prepare for summer on a Scottish island?
THERE’S a wee burn next to our cottage that I can see from our kitchen window. It almost acts as a border between my house and Rum’s National Nature Reserve; its water trickling down the vast hills that I can see from my garden. I can hear it, too....
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The eider ducks are shouting across the bay
FOR the last few weeks, there’s been a sense of excitement among a lot of islanders. They told me to keep an ear out for an almost theatrical “awhoo!” that echoes across the water - and today, I heard it. Cutting through the stillness of a gorgeous...
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Nurse’s visit reminded me the island way of doing things is sometimes the best way
‘SORRY about the cat, she’s curious.” I’m sitting on the couch in my living room, a cup of tea in hand, and my health records strewn on the coffee table. My cat, Midna, is tentatively sniffing around the feet of our latest guest - the area’s advanced...
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I’m off to Glasgow for super-sensory overload
THERE’S something thrilling about hitting your first piece of smooth tarmac roads after months of dirt track roads. It started with the off-ramp; the slow ascent from the darkness of the ferry bay that I had so meticulously reversed onto a mere 90...
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I get dressed up to put the bins out
THEY warned me that island time was not something to scoff at. And in the 25 minutes it takes me to put out the bins, I understand it now. It’s not an exaggeration. There’s no quick wheelie bin trip to the end of the driveway, no noisy collection in...
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Forget crass commercialism, Rum is the most romantic place
THERE are two stags wandering the beach in Kinloch. One is larger, and its antlers stretch back and point to the sky; he walks proudly ahead, checking behind him every few seconds to his friend. He follows, his antlers slightly shorter and his...
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I am dazzled by the stars on Rum
ON the dirt track road on the way to Kilmory, it feels as though I’m at the centre of the universe. The darkness is like nothing I have ever seen before. In the 20 minutes it has taken us to drive to this spot, my eyes have slowly adjusted, and with...
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I broke my dry January on an island with no pub
IT’S one of the first things that people ask me; is there a pub on the Isle of Rum? And then, the incredulous “what do you do without one?”. And there was a time where I might’ve wondered the same. Going out for a drink was a vessel to hang out with...
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From great gardens to David Bowie, 12 exhibitions to see in 2025
January is a month for making plans. What are you going to do in the year ahead? Where will you go? What will you see? When the world - or Scotland at any rate - can be dreich and dreary, it is the time to imagine the exhibitions you will visit in the...
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Picture of the week
‘Ice flowers’, crystals transformed from sodium sulfate in cold weather, are formed on the surface of the salt lake in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province of China (Photo by Yan Xin/VCG via Getty Images)
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Ewan McGregor’s top performances from Fargo, Trainspotting to Halston
When it comes to acting Is charm enough? That seems to be the question so often applied to Ewan McGregor’s career. I’ve always thought it’s a pretty good starting point. One of the pleasures of watching McGregor in TV or in films is the unselfconscious...
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10 acts you might want to take a chance on at this year’s festival
January in Glasgow. Slush, sleet, rain, ice, any daylight a bonus. It’s not Miami, is it? However, one of the upsides about living in (or near) Scotland’s largest city at this time of year - for the last three decades (and counting) now - is Celtic...
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Ten great books to read this January, from Jackie Kay to James Yorkston
BOOK OF THE MONTH COORIE DOON Jackie Kay and Jill Calder Walker Books, £12.99, January 2 Children’s picture books don’t often feature in these pages. More’s the pity. But this, the first such book by poet, novelist and former Makar Jackie Kay, seems...
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How to get a picture of the Gruffalo by world-famous illustrator Axel Scheffler
AFEW weeks ago, the world-famous illustrator Axel Scheffler spoke exclusively to The Herald as part of our Christmas campaign with the Scottish Book Trust. The man whose collaborations with Julia Donaldson have brought us Stick Man, Tabby McTat, Zog...
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Scots ghost stories from Muriel Spark, Arthur Conan Doyle and Walter Scott
Are ghosts at Christmas always English? It can seem so, sometimes. As the nights draw in we are drawn time and again to the haunted, empty Fens so familiar from the stories of MR James, or the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future that haunt...
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Annie Lennox turns 70 this month, celebrate her story in 10 moments
Annie Lennox was working as a waitress in a health food store when she first met Dave Stewart. They became a couple, joined a band, The Tourists, that had some success and then broke up. Annie and Dave broke up too, but still went on to become pop...
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GALLERIES
A retrospective of Alan Wylie’s career as a press photographer in Scotland as well as a few of his documentary photographs of the social aspect of Glasgow
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Picture of the week
Buildings are seen amid thick fog at night in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region of China. China’s national observatory on Wednesday renewed a red alert for thick fog in Yinchuan City (Photo by Yuan Hongyan/VCG via Getty Images)
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Picture of the week
In the months of November through to March, Siberian seagulls migrate to various parts of India from the harsh winters of Siberia. Here the birds arrive in Delhi Yamuna Ghat, near Yamuna Bazar Kashmiri Gate in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Salman...
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The nurses who never came home, the stories of our war memorials
This is the weekend for remembering. A time for the country to stop and recall those who sacrificed their lives in the fields of France, in the deserts of Africa and on the hills of the Falklands. We are good at taking a few moments at cenotaphs and...
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Fascinating, funny and ferocious at times - a look back at 70s LA
BOOK OF THE MONTH DIDION & BABITZ Lili Anouk, Atlantic, £20, November 14 The most entertaining biography since Roger Lewis’s Taylor and Burton memoir Erotic Vagrancy? Quite possibly. I certainly don’t think I have enjoyed any book this year as much...
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Picture of the week
English Heritage lights up the ruins of the iconic Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire for Illuminated Abbey. The inspiration for Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula,’ hosts a ten-night event featuring dramatic illuminations, guided trails with ghostly characters, and...
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Picture of the week
A view of Låtefossen Waterfall in Odda, one of Norway’s most famous waterfalls. It is known for its twin cascades and proximity to the main road, making it a popular stop for tourists travelling through the region (Photo by Manuel Romano/NurPhoto via...
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These are 10 of the most historic graveyards to visit this autumn
IF I’m honest I’m not as keen on cemeteries as I used to be. I guess the closer I get to living in one is putting a dampener on the idea of visiting them so much. But there was a time when nothing suited me more than a wander around one of our cities...
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Picture of the week
A light installation is reflected at the Enchanted Forest event in Faskally Wood in Pitlochry. This year’s show, Symphony of Nature, promises to be a kaleidoscopic outdoor experience, a journey through a symphony of lights, music, and the natural...
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