View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Friday 24 October 2008

Close of day



The rain clatters, the wind buffets. Another gale on its way in, as I prepare to shut down for the night. No ferry until at least lunchtime tomorrow.

A repeat call from Vish to get in touch if you still have problems migrating your journal.

Please leave your new journal URL's on Krissy's Journal Directory.

It is now 7 days until AOL Journals disappear.

Good night

Follow-up

The man who was seriously injured in a car crash in Point on Tuesday, has sadly died of his injuries in hospital in Stornoway.

The Russian freighter Mekhanik Semakov is still anchored in Broad Bay, accompanied by the Coastguard tug Anglian Prince and a sister ship. Apparently, the ship was compelled to accept the tow on orders from the Government in London. Not doing so would have imperilled the coastline and people of the Isle of Skye. The ship had lost engine power and was drifting towards shore.

New blogs

Krissy has set up a blog directory, which will provide a cross-reference between our journals on AOL and here on Blogger. Please call round and leave a comment, with the requested information, including

First name
AOL Screenname
Present URL on Blogger
Email address

Friday 24 October

Yesterday at 5pm, just as I was outside stormwatching, the wind went up to 45 mph, gusting to hurricane force, 76 mph. I could barely keep my footing around the Coastguard Station. Have a look at the pictures here.

This morning is still not very good, frequent heavy hailshowers, mercury down to 7C / 45F from the 13C / 55F yesterday. Wind is at force 5, but will increase through today. The Shipping Forecast warns of winds up to force 10, but we'll likely see up to force 9. Like yesterday.

Economically, the UK is heading for recession, with growth percentages in the minus to the tune of -0.5%. If the following quarter is also in the negative, recession is here. Hope this episode leads to a more sane set-up in the credit sector.

I was watching some of the hustings in the US presidential election, with John McCain accusing his opponent of 'socialist' policies, of wishing to redistribute wealth. One punter at a rally in Ohio was very upset, having worked hard to earn his money to have to give it away to those that were not working hard.

In my opinion, one of the problems of the United States is its failure to properly deal with the less fortunate in its society. Reading on-line journals (formerly on AOL, now on this forum) has taught me that. I am flatly appalled at the amounts of money people have to pay to get medical treatment or even investigations. Being in the UK, you don't have to pay much if anything at all. What really got my goad from the above rally was the insinuation that all those relying on social security (for what it's worth) are lazy good-for-nothing lay-abouts, whilst there are many, many people who cannot work through no fault of their own. That's not unique to the US, same happens in Europe.

Apart from that appalling attitude from John McCain, his choice of running-mate is a colossal mistake, in my opinion. I hear a lot of very sensible remarks to the tune of: "If he pops his clogs, do we get Ms Palin in the White House? God help us!"