Duncan Cameron Mackenzie was born in 1949. this is an honest and humorous memoir about his life up to the age of 16 living on Burray (3 x 5km round)- one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. The author enjoyed: the town hall cinema, making an electric blanket, encountering jelly fish at Scapa Flow, cutting peats, making wooden boats and much more. A highlight of the year was the traditional New year's Day Ba' Game ('more like a small scale civil war') which could have from 200 to 600 players and last up to nine hours.