Skye at Christmas

I'm sure I have mentioned before in this blog that the age demographic of Skye's resident population is somewhat different to that of the UK as a whole. We are all getting older anyway, and Skye is a popular place to retire to, so attracts plenty of ageing incomers (much like ourselves...)! Young families are few and far between, and as the children grow up, they often want to leave the island to seek a more exciting life elsewhere.

All this means that the autumnal family events such as Bonfire Night and Halloween tend not to happen here at all. Pensioners generally do not go trick-or-treating (or 'giuising', as it is known in Scotland), though there were a few 'spooky' masks for sale in the local shop.

You could be forgiven for not realising that Christmas is almost upon us too. Probably the most obvious sign is the stacks of beer, wine and spirits which now partially block most of the aisles in the Co-op, and some of the check-out staff are wearing Santa hats. Then there is the annual wonky Christmas tree outside Dunvegan Community Hall. But you don't see twinkly lit-up houses here, and we won't be expecting any carol singers to trudge through the black night to knock at our door.

I did manage to sing some carols the other evening though. The enthusiastic Skye Light Orchestra performs an annual Christmas Concert, and this year the orchestra was augmented by the recently formed 'Skye Chorus' choir. Sue sings with the choir, so I happily went along to one performance where audience participation in the carol singing was encouraged. I was also particularly impressed by the vigorous rendition given of the Hallelujah Chorus.

Clearly, we're not all huddled round our log-burners every evening!