I don’t know why, but this is one of my favourite stories that I’ve written recently. Very simple, absolutely throwaway and straightforward to research and put together – pretty much all I had to do was make a call from my office and then read up on the St Kilda archipelago in the Outer Hebrides. The unusual thing about it being, of course, that there’s no telephone network on St Kilda and the story is about the first public internet/telephone link to the islands.
All the interviewees were especially lovely, especially Susan from the National Trust for Scotland. I’ve never spoken to telecoms folk as relaxed as the Commsworld guys either – something to do with their enforced isolation while working on St Kilda I guess…
Also, it made me want to visit the Outer Hebrides. Maybe next summer.