We didn’t miss out on anything

Many of us can remember living “off the grid” when we were young but it wasn’t by choice.

Our house was not insulated and was heated by a stove in the kitchen and peat fires throughout the rest of the house.

‘Life slows down’: the islander who swapped Shetland for living off-grid in a Norway forest

On winter mornings the inside of the bedroom windows would be frosted over. We would get water from the well, light from tilly lamps because we had no electricity, and had our weekly bath in a big tub in the kitchen.

We had a radio run on batteries. And yes, we had to use an outhouse and dumped the bucket on the midden to fertilise the land.  We didn’t have a phone.

The first time I saw TV was when I went to Edinburgh to college. It was hard work, especially for Mom but we had a happy childhood and I don’t think we missed out on anything.

Jean Hopkins
Bigton