View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Saturday 13 December 2008

Wood sculptures

Author Elizabeth M Parsons (one of my internet contacts) is writing about wood sculptures on her blog. In reply, I'm posting pictures of wood sculptures in the Castle Grounds, the local country park around Lews Castle on the outskirts of Stornoway.





Saturday 13 December

A better day, even if it's overcast and grey. No wind to speak of, which makes a difference to yesterday's force 8 gale. It kept the ferry in Ullapool through the day, and many other ferry services along the west and north of Scotland were disrupted or cancelled.

I just nearly fell off my chair at the latest verbal diarrhoea from Robert Mugabe. He referred to the current cholera outbreak in his country as "a calculated, racist, terrorist attack on Zimbabwe", using biological weapons. The perceived reason was the overthrow of aforementioned Mugabe. It just gets worse and worse by the day. If ever there was a case for forcible regime-change, it's that country.

A regime that was overthrown 63 years ago, that of Adolf Hitler, still leaves it legacy in Germany. Not in the way I usually speak about these matters. The town of Rügen, on the Baltic coast, sports a holiday resort 1930s/1940s style, constructed for the Nazi elite of the day. Since 1990, it has lain empty as a concrete shell near the sandy beaches. Now the German authorities are contemplating turning the buildings into a holiday resort noughties style. Don't see it taking off somehow.