My Dear Friends, Is there a movement afoot, led by some modern incarnation of Capability Brown, to turn Orkney into a well-manicured new age conception of the forest primeval, a manor park rather than one of the most naturally beautiful landscapes on the planet? Sigurd, don't let them take my rugged rocky silhouettes softened and given a barely tangible subtlety by the heather and other shrubbage (not a word, I know, but I like it). The odd tree or grove, tough survivors as were our Norse ancestors, are admirable and beautiful, but the thought of disfiguring the openness of the land with hedgerows and other major plantings makes me a touch queasy. I smell a conspiracy, and I think Disney must be behind it, turning Orkney into an American style theme park. Or perhaps a German Uber-Konglomerate, to turn ancient Orca into Deutschneyland! Let the trees fall where they may. Your overseas cousin, George Coghill

>>> I smell a conspiracy, and I think Disney must be behind it, turning Orkney into an American style theme park. Or perhaps a German Uber-Konglomerate, to turn ancient Orca into Deutschneyland! ... right, George! ... with an illuminated sunken fleet amongst illuminated tangle woods! :-) Wolfgang http://northernisles.schottlandportal.de/