Faroes

Midsummer morning was dull, as I walked through the Estate with Django.

I went into work for the third time this week, partly because researcher J might want a chat, given that they are talking at our workshop next week, but things are going well so they didn't take up the invitation to meet. Instead, I took a fascinating 75 minute break from workshop tutorial preparation to talk to H, our PhD student who is Faroese. As well as bouncing my experiences and views of the Faroes off her, I also learned about Greenland, where she lived until she was 10. 

Amongst the things that I learned, was the fact that 97% of people in the Faroes belong to a small number of cross-occupational unions, and that there is a general pay scale across most employment. Hence when there is a general strike over pay, it's to raise the pay levels right across the islands. Thus, effectively, the place works as if it were a single organisation. She clearly took some pleasure in meeting someone who had spent so much time in her country and had such a favourable view of it!