3 am - Shetland
Don’t think about it.* That is all I can do. So, I am awake in the middle of the night watching Shetland.
I think there is only one more season with Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Perez. So I keep re-watching the last episode of the previous season. I can’t bear to see it end.
DOUGIE — Douglas Henshall plays Detective Inspector (DI) Jimmy Perez in the BBC One production of Shetland. He is hot. (Image courtesy BBC Scotland/Carla Bumstead)
Location, Location
Lots of people love this show, but my love is different. It’s not about “Dougie.” Yes, yes, he is wicked hot (as viewed by a woman of my age). But I love this show because something about it feels like “home.” The setting feels familiar, (not all the murders).
Genre-wise, Shetland is a British crime drama. I love that stuff for some unknowable reason. I’ve watched lots of really good ones over the years. But I don’t love Shetland for it’s genre. It feels so good to me because of where it takes place.
The show takes place in Shetland (duh) — a chain of islands lying off the Northeast coast of Scotland. The Shetland islands are part of the barrier between the Atlantic Ocean on the west and the North Sea on the east. They are approximately halfway between the Scottish mainland and Norway. Shetland is part of Scotland. Can you even imagine a better place to be?
ISLANDS — The Shetland islands, technically considered an archipelago (a chain of islands), lies on the border between the Atlantic on the West and the North Sea on the East. Photo by Carla Antico.
A Mystery
Don’t ask me to explain this feeling of being called to those shores. I can’t. All I know is I feel like I know this place — the Eastern coast of Scotland and Britain. If someone dropped some traveling money in my lap right now, enough to get me across the ocean, I would head straight to that coast and lean north.
I’ve never really looked up much about this area. I’ve done no research into my family line to see if I have ancestors who came from there at one point in time. All I know is, I know this place.
A past life? Genetics? I have no idea.
I’m not Scottish. Genetically speaking, I am half Italian, one-quarter French Canadian and one-quarter somewhere in England or Wales. Even if there is a teeny, tiny bit of Scottish in that last one-quarter, it would be far too small to account for feeling to drawn to that area. I’m mostly Italian but feel no pull from there.
Image courtesy Carla Bumstead/History Channel
Vikings?
For those who might point out Scotland and the Shetland Islands were a favorite hang-out-and-plunder spot for the Vikings, I have bad news. I have no Viking blood in me. A relative that has extensively researched the relevant parts of my family line says “no, sorry, no sign of Ragnar Lothbrook, or Lagertha.” So it can’t be Norse genes calling to me from across the North Sea. Damn.
So what is it then?
Maybe it’s just the accents. They are awful nice. Maybe, after watching so much BritBox TV, those Scottish vowels have buried themselves in my brain. Maybe I just think I hear Scottish voices calling me because I like them so much.
But what about the other side of Scotland? The part that looks out toward Ireland and even the U.S. I don’t feel like I need to go there. I want the East side of Great Britain. Or the West side of Shetland.
ON THE SHORE - I don’t know what is waiting for me on the Eastern shore of Great Britain. But I aim to try and figure it out someday. Photo by Carla Antico.
Really weird
Wanna hear a really crazy idea/thought?
I think I might have been a fisherman on those coasts. But I have no idea where that insane idea came from. I just feel like I know about being on the open sea. And my having been a sailor doesn’t seem right. I’ve probably just watched too much Deadliest Catch.
Maybe I was a pirate. I can trace part of my genetic code to a guy named Dan Seavey. He was the “most notorious Great Lakes pirate.” Like the Vikings, “Roaring Dan” led a life of plundering and was the only man known to be formally charged with piracy on the Great Lakes.
In conclusion, I have no idea why I feel called to the shores featured in Shetland. I just know I need to go there someday. I am watching flights to Glasgow. From there I will head to Aberdeen and explore the coast. Then a ferry to Shetland. I’m pretty sure I could spend a long time there.
I swear, I am the strangest person I know.
The thing I can’t think about is the death of my puppy, Nacho, 15 days ago. He was the third dog of ours to die within less than four months. I don’t sleep well. I binge watch TV to keep my mind off the sadness.
