Lewisian Gneiss is the oldest exposed rock in the British Isles.

2000 million years ago, massive forces twisted and melted this rocks into the crystalline shapes that became these islands.

It was another 1200 million years before multi cellular life forms crawled across the rocks.

Another 5oo million years passed, and along came the dinosaurs.

Mammals took another 430 million years.

And as for us, we humans- well we just got here yesterday. Well, around 6,000 years ago we found our way to these parts, and made a life on these rocks.

I took a walk today that kind of brought this home to me. We humans live lives as if we are important. As if we are significant. As if the world was made for us and owes us something.

But we walk in others footsteps… which like ours, are quickly fading…

Most of us have a folk memory of the scattering of people from these places during the clearances. All around the Highlands are the remains of old dwellings- the Blackhouses– built from the rock and earth, and slowly returning to the same.

People left these houses around the turn of the 19th Century. Those who stayed- those who did not sail away to Canada or Australia- moved with the modern times into ‘modern’ houses. With fireplaces, and windows and solid floors.

But there is a new and unfolding diaspora from these islands.

As much as Highland culture and communities are being celebrated- they are still fragile. Traditional industries of crofting and fishing are all but gone. Young people still leave if they want to get ahead.

Old people, who still hold the old times in their stories and their songs. They too will soon be gone…

Old gramaphone