Unfortunately, Orkney has to accept tourism, having put its trust in subsidised farming for distant markets and found that the payers are tiring of calling the tune and are thinking of firing the piper for his pains. Unfortunately, because tourism is ultimately self-defeating; a place that is over-visited ceases, sooner or later, to be worth visiting.
To avoid the destruction of Orkney by its brief admirers, a friend of mine has suggested that the sea crossing should be shortened; it should terminate short of Orkney, at the deserted island of Stroma in the Pentland Firth. On that secluded spot should be built an Orkney Theme Park complete with plastic replicas of the Standing Stones, Skara Brae, the Old Person of Hoy and, most entrepreneurially, an inflatable St Magnus Cathedral. The whole show could be under a damn' great perspex dome to protect the tourists from the real Orkney weather. The real travellers and the residents could then enjoy the real Orkney, or what is left of it, in peace.
Now Sanday is something else; it is a beautiful island so hard and expensive to get to and so untempting when the weather is poor (which it often is) that only highly motivated, discriminating and appreciative visitors tend to come here. Some do and they love it. We welcome such people and hope to persuade a few more to come. There is room for the discerning few; the weather and the remoteness - Sanday's chastity belt so to speak - will leave our island mostly unspoilt for them and us. Come and see us ....... in your tens!