Western Scotland In T2K

[Littlearmies]

The thread "The moments before the beginning of The Twilight Age" (http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.php?t=1094) started me thinking about Western Scotland in T2K. The "Survivors Guide To The UK" was blessedly vague about the Highlands & Islands of Scotland so we have a pretty free hand.

At the moment these thoughts are fairly random but I can't help thinking that Western Scotland will come out of T2K relatively well - life won't be a picnic but it won't be as bad as many other places.

My rationale for this is that the current economy of Western Scotland is based on forestry, tourism, agriculture and fishing - the current population of much of Western Scotland is actually below it's historic highs (Mull for instance has a current population of just under 3,000 compared to 10,000 in the 1750's). Many of these communities are literally on the periphery of Europe and are used to a fairly harsh life by modern standards - they already have agriculture and fishing industries in place along with service industries to support them.

There would be a period of harsh adjustment within the economy of each island community as they adjusted to the loss of much contact with the mainland - farmers would need to boost production of vegetable crops (they are missing now from many areas, not because they won't grow, but because sheep were more profitable), fishing could come back now that EU quotas were a thing of the past (although converting the boats from diesel or finding fuel would be a big problem) and forestry could provide ample quantities of solid fuel for heating and cooking (as could peat cutting).

The really good news is that places like Bruichladdich could continue (local barley and malt production, ample storage facilities, non-computerised Victorian production processes) - you could imagine the trade routes developing from Islay to the mainland via small coasters...Of course such trade routes could also include trips to Ireland (which isn't far by sea from Western Scotland) and further afield - after all these would be high value cargoes that would be highly sought after....

And even Targan could find something to make him feel at home:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wil...sh-island.html

Malcolm