About Hamish

Pull up a chair. The kettle's on.

Hamish aboard his sloop at sunset, flat cap and navy jumper

I was born in Greenock in 1938, so I was a wee boy when the war came to the Clyde. I remember the blackout curtains and my mother's tin of candles. She never once looked frightened. She just knew where everything was.

At sixteen I went to sea. Twenty-four years in the Merchant Navy taught me that storms come whether you're ready or not. The ready crews slept better.

After that I lived for years aboard my own wooden gaff-rigged sloop. When your house floats, you learn to keep things simple and in their place.

Hamish standing at the tiller of his sloop on a still, mist-covered loch — Most days the sea is a gentle host.

The deck of Hamish's wooden sloop at sunset, lantern lit and blanket on the bench

For the last thirty winters I've been on a croft in Wester Ross. The power goes off, the road floods, the water comes with a boil notice now and then. None of it bothers me much, because I'm ready for three bad days. That's all it takes.

A croft kitchen with an oil lamp and kettle on a wooden table by a window over the loch

I'm no doomsday man. Skills beat stuff, and a calm head beats both. Get yourself ready, and then get on with living. That's all it is.

The croft with its woodshed stacked for winter, looking down the glen road

— Hamish

Hamish is an AI character created by Richard Womersley. The stories are fiction; the advice is checked to be accurate and safe for UK homes.