'Then there was the bad weather. It had been getting steadily worse over the years, but now it got really bad. The sea levels had risen by this time, so we had the problems of people who were being flooded out by the sea, and people washed out by the flash floods from all the rain. I was young then, 7 years old, so I didn’t really get how bad things were. The army had to be deployed to keep order, and there was a lot of bad feeling against the people who had to leave their homes. I was one of them. Flood refugees we were called. Me, my mum and my sister lived in a tent for ages. It was fun at first, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Not for five years. We lived all over, before we got lucky and ended up here in Grantown. It was still a little village then, not the big, important town it is now, the capital city.

Life was very hard for us, for everyone. There was never enough food, and the power companies couldn’t cope, not after the sea got into the nuclear reactor at Sellafield. The Government did what it could, but the number of refugees made it impossible to look after everyone. After staying for ages in our tent – on what used to be the golf course – we got lucky again. Our mum made friends with the man who became my dad, and we moved into a proper house. Only had two bedrooms, but I didn’t mind sharing a room with my sister. It was still better than a tent! My sister and I got to go to school, too, Grantown on Spey Primary School. How long ago? More years than I care to remember. Let’s say more than 50 years. A long, long time ago anyway.

When you’re young, you don’t really know that you’re hard done by. I never had new clothes, just had to make do with what we could get. Didn’t get proper shoes till I was 10, and even then the heels were all worn down. But these were hard times. Before all the floods the world used to be a very different place from what it became. And from what it is now. Anyway, after I finished primary school I had to go to work, and I got a job as a deckhand on a little fishing boat. It was hard work, but I found I loved being at sea, and the work we did was important, bringing home food that was so desperately needed. And when I was 19 I got a new job, with the navy, on a coastal patrol boat. We were always on duty. So many people wanted to come here, see, because of what we had. Food, clean water, stability. But we had to keep them away. That was our job. And we were good at it. Not proud, no, I couldn't say that. How could you be proud of turning people away from safety, shelter, when the rest of the world had gone to hell? And I definitely wasn't proud of some of the other things we did.

But we had to do what we did. And it worked. Now we're now one of the most prosperous countries on Earth. And you've got your parts to play. You're ready to take your place in your assigned role, your place in society. To play your part in the next chapter of this great nation's history, North Highland. Make an old man proud, make us all proud.'

The old man turned and made his way slowly off the stage, The audience of 16 year olds were silent for an instant, then rose as one to applaud the oldest resident of the oldest country in the world. He didn't respond to the applause. He had delivered the graduation speech at the school for the past seven years. Each year there had been fewer students. He knew that the numbers would keep declining, until there were none. He hoped that he too would be dead by then.