Fragile yet robust

"I think the pandemic has shown how fragile, and yet paradoxically robust, small island communities can be. Our public ferry and air transport became 'lifeline services' during lockdown, with only residents allowed to come and go, and only with good reason: we have an excellent but small medical team, and any Covid cases would potentially have to be flown off the island, using precious resources.

"As a key health worker I saw this for myself, and am eternally grateful to CalMac for maintaining their excellent service. So we are fragile in that we rely on essentials (food, fuel, medicines etc) being transported across the sea, and yet we are robust in that the community pulled together to enable new systems to work. The other huge benefit of belonging to a small island community in times like these is that everyone has space to be in the open air.

"I think a lot of city dwellers must envy us that. Quite a few Tiree houses that have been on the market for some time have sold in 2020, which I think is a reflection of that envy: those who can afford to are buying themselves some space (whether they'll appreciate the winter storms out here is yet to be seen!)"

As told by Julia Welstead, resident of Tiree and healthcare worker

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