Highland Life

Scotland, famous for its wool, its kilts, and many other fine things, covers about a third of the territory of Great Britain. In the Highlands, which cover most of Scotland, the population is very thin. In many places —if there is a road—you can drive for over 30 kilometres without seeing any human habitation, except perhaps a solitary "croft", a small farm. Yet here and there, there are small towns; most of them are beside the sea. They have their inhabitants and their economic activities, their children and their teenagers.

This article looks at life in the Highlands, focusing particularly on the town of Fort William. Indeed, a large part of this article was written with the help of staff and students at Fort William's Lochaber High School.

What is "a Highlander"?

If you ask someone to describe a Highlander to you, he will come up with the type of image you see everywhere: a man wearing a kilt, standing on a misty mountain near a haunted castle. The man plays the bagpipes, eats porridge and haggis. Now, the image is a long way from everyday reality. Few Highlanders wear the kilt, except on special occasions or for the ceremony.

What are Highlanders like then?

Quite ordinary in fact! We enjoy the same things that our English, American or European counterparts enjoy. As young people everywhere, we are into fashion, music, social media, dances, all kinds of sport. We worry about the same things — unemployment, our future, war, pollution; all these things and much more besides.

Highland High School

With 830 pupils aged between 12 and 18, Lochaber High School, at Fort William, is one of the largest secondary schools in the Highlands. It covers a huge area; many of the pupils come from small communities and travel up to 40 km to get to school each day. Pupils travel to school by car, by bus, or by special minibuses each day, and some come on foot or by bike. The majority live in Fort William itself, or one of the surrounding villages such as Caol, Corpach, or Inverlochy.

Many young people in this area feel that there are not enough opportunities here. Going to a city means new friends, a whole new lifestyle, and the prospect of a more exciting life. Even though Fort William is small and isolated, it is a beautiful place to live. It may not be exciting and incredibly trendy, but that doesn't matter. There is a real community atmosphere here, and many people know or are related to, many other people.