Day 16: In which we find more family

 Today was supposed to be a day to reorganize ourselves for our departure on Monday, but we had a surprise visitor, directed to us by Elizabeth Angus.  He was inquiring about how we were connected in the Bairnson family.  His name is Raymond Irvine and Elizabeth Angus was sure we related somehow.

At first we thought it would only be a phone call but then he volunteered to come over and bring some research, of course, Denise was thrilled by this. We didn't think we would ever entertain visitors here in our little flat, but now we've had two: both Elizabeth and Raymond.

What was only supposed to be a 45 minute visit stretched into two hours.  Raymond is a font of information.  His organizational system impressed me (and that's a hard thing to do) and the sheer amount  of data amazed Denise.  

 There was a lot of to-and-froing of names and dates when finally the connection was found.  Raymond is another fifth cousin, like Betsy, Marina, and so many others here in Shetland. Denise and Raymond share fourth great-grandparents: Thomas Bairnson and Ann Aitken.  Denise just wishes she could have gone through all of Raymond's research but he only brought over two rather full binders.

As Raymond had guests from mainland Scotland, the genealogical meeting had to come to an end but information was exchanged to keep in contact.  

About the time we broke up the conversation, due to fog and dangerous conditions, the parade of sail was cancelled and the Tall Ships race postponed to tomorrow.  Thus, we have watched the Tall Ships leave the harbour, alerted by the foghorn every time one left.  

 

It hasn't dampened the party though on Victoria pier!

Next, the ladies headed out to mail a very large box of books and knitted items.  Thank heavens the UK has Saturday Post.

Now on a bit of a side trip.  There is a pretty famous cat in Lerwick by the name of Tommy.  He's sort of an unofficial mascot who is welcome anywhere in Lerwick.  He's even interrupted and been recognized at town hall meetings. Laura has been determined to find him, but as a cat's going to cat, he's been equally determined to be elusive.  Considering Laura brought him presents, (two bandanas, one featuring the Beautiful Joe Heritage Society) she was very disappointed in not finding him.

With some messages back and forth with Tommy's servants, it was arranged to drop the bandanas off at the Thule Bar: a favourite haunt of Tommy's and where his best friend, Maureen, works.  Maureen could not have been more pleased with the bandanas and promised to pass them on as soon as possible.  She even took a picture of herself, Laura, and Denise, but as it was on Maureen's phone, I cannot post it here.  When it eventually goes up on Tommy's Facebook page, I will edit this post to include it.

Finally, one last trip to Blyde Welcome for some coffee and sweets.  Much to our disappointment, the coffee shop is not open on the Monday we leave.  As a thank you for their great treatment of us, we left a card with a Canadian pin for the owner, Celia.  This afternoon, I had two cups of coffee, because we had a free drink, and watched one by one as the boats left Lerwick Harbour.  We're still watching now, and listening to the concert going on.

What was supposed to be a rather quiet day turned into one of surprises, that's for sure.