Could You Live on an Island?

It happens every time we visit the Isle of Muck.

I can't help wondering whether I could live on a Scottish island.  Most people would consider our home in the west of Scotland pretty remote, but an island… that's one big step further.

We were on Muck again last week but rather than ponder how we'd adapt to island life we picked up a book all about the Laird, Lawrence MacEwan.

If this conjures an image of someone in luxurious thornproof tweed patrolling his island in a Range Rover let me set you straight immediately.

Lawrence is a hands-on, hard-working farmer who is habitually to be found in crocs or wells.  On a previous visit, the friends we were staying with invited Lawrence and his wife to dinner so we had a good chat.

It's all now in a rather good new book called A Drop in the Ocean: The Story of the Isle of Muck
written by Polly Pullar.  That's Lawrence (and Tara) on the cover and it's a series of perspectives of life on this island.

If all that sounds like too much reading then take a quick look at BuzzFeed's '26 Signs You Grew Up On A Scottish Island'.  It's focused on the Northern Isles of Shetland and Orkney rather than the Hebrides, but you'll get the idea.