April will be a cruel month for the expectations of some Council candidates, as, to the general relief of those of us who think democracy is important – and, let’s face it, have a weakness for electioneering as a spectator sport – there is competition for seats in every Shetland ward. Some candidates will rise to the occasion, will triumph by their wit, intelligence, passion and commitment to serve. Others will not.

Nobody ever expects to become a cancer patient, in spite of statistics. The shock of knowing you’ve got a tumour isn’t helped by being told that your treatment means a stay in Aberdeen, away from your family and friends just when you need their support most. Luckily, for us Isles people, and folk from the northern coast of Scotland, there’s CLAN Cancer Support.

The long sleek hull emerged from the early morning fog, the blunt bow cutting through the water as the diesel engines propelled the U-boat steadily north towards Lerwick.

A few men moved about the deck watching the coast move steadily past while one figure, wearing a thick white sweater against the cold, looked out from the conning tower at the southern entrance to the harbour beginning to form in the distance.

Rosa Steppanova is aghast at the antics of amorous amphibians, and has some tips on how to turn your potted plants into miniature marvels.

Cars. I can’t resist them. Well, to be specific, old cars. There’s just something about the risk, the hope, the belief that this one will be the bargain it appears on Shetlink, eBay or in The Shetland Times classifieds. And then the first thing you have to do, inevitably, is replace the tyres or exhaust or clutch. Or engine. or, for that matter, entire car.

“If you don’t have steel toe caps, I’ve got spare boots,” says the genial Richard Wemyss, Shetland Arts’ Head of Operations for Mareel. This is not so I can give either his employer or Richard himself a substantial kicking, it seems, but to protect my feet from falling architects, accountants or other extraneous objects that may be loose in the construction site down at the North Ness. I have a pair of ultralight Magnum Tactical Boots, as favoured by the very best riot police, so I make sure I’m wearing them for my journey into the Heart of Artiness.

Dave Clark, former Council Chief Executive, remembers what it felt like to return to his boyhood home.

The aircraft looked so tiny, parked there on the tarmac, They had always seemed so large as a peerie lad. The Viscounts, then the Hawker Siddeley’s that replaced them. Were all my childhood memories about to be challenged – or, God forbid, destroyed?

Robert Rodriguez made his first movie, El Mariachi, for $4000, some of which he raised by letting drug companies use him as a guinea pig. Now, he’s a superstar director, responsible for the likes of Spy Kids, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Planet Terror.

We’re lucky to live in a place that’s seen as a bit different. From a film point of view, it means that visitors brought their cameras with them – and so there’s a good hoard of relatively early films of Shetland life.

A miracle, assisted by some sturdy rope, is responsible for one of the tallest trees at Lea Gardens to remain upright after 2011’s Christmas day hurricane. The tree in question is Eucalyptus parviflora ssp. debeuzevillei, usually referred to as Eucalyptus beelzebubii, because it is such a handsome devil. It hails from New South Wales and the seed my specimen was raised from must have come from a high altitude location, as it outshines all the other eucalyptus species I’ve tried over the years.