On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 16:16:30 +0000 (UTC), "Anne Burgess"
wrote:

Not sure what a 'fairley' is - the unusual? unexpected?
A fairley or ferly is a wonder, a strange phenomenon.

I posted a reply to Dave but tried to cancel it when I saw your reply.
Mystery solved, thanks (I hate word mysteries!).

--
Dave

The message
from Dave Ludlow contains these words:

On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 16:16:30 +0000 (UTC), "Anne Burgess"
wrote:

Not sure what a 'fairley' is - the unusual? unexpected?
A fairley or ferly is a wonder, a strange phenomenon.

I posted a reply to Dave but tried to cancel it when I saw your reply.
Mystery solved, thanks (I hate word mysteries!).

--
Dave

I knew I should have checked my bookshelf!

From John J Graham's 'The Shetland Dictionary' -
fairlie (n) a rare occurrence; a wonder.
"I'm seen fairlies afore i me time, but dis baets aa."

I'm not sure that I agree with those that suggest that the snow reported
in August might have been hail. Hail (virtually non-existent here
during summer) is extremely common in Shetland during the winter half of
the year. So I'm pretty sure that the 'Whalsay Correspondent' would
have been as aware of the physical difference between hail and snow as
we are in this age. You know about hail (in its various forms) in these
northern latitudes - try facing it in gale force winds and it's not easy
to forget!

Thanks to all for the feedback on this!

Dave
Fair Isle

In article ,
Dave Wheeler writes:
I'm not sure that I agree with those that suggest that the snow
reported in August might have been hail. Hail (virtually non-existent
here during summer) is extremely common in Shetland during the winter
half of the year. So I'm pretty sure that the 'Whalsay Correspondent'
would have been as aware of the physical difference between hail and
snow as we are in this age. You know about hail (in its various forms)
in these northern latitudes - try facing it in gale force winds and
it's not easy to forget!

But the writer made a point of commenting on the warmth, which seems to
me to rule out sleet or hail. I don't suppose that there's any chance of
finding out what the temperature was? Even in Shetland, snow in
mid-August at anywhere close to sea-level seems very improbable to me.
--
John Hall

"Take the tone of the company you are in."
The Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773)

In article ,
John Hall writes:

But the writer made a point of commenting on the warmth, which seems to
me to rule out sleet or hail.

Oops. That was meant to read "sleet or snow".
--
John Hall
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people
from coughing."
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-83)