View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Thursday 26 March 2009

Karen Aim

This woman of 26 was walking home from a party in Taupo, New Zealand, in January 2008 when she was wantonly attacked by a boy of 14. He struck her over the head with a baseball bat, killing her. Fourteen months later, her attacker was sent to life imprisonment, with a minimal term of 12½ years. He is one of the youngest convicts ever to receive a life term. Karen came from Orkney, and her family was there to hear the verdict in New Zealand. Her father, speaking on BBC Scotland, said he was smiling broadly - because he had known her. Although he was very sad that instead of seeing her in her wedding dress, he now had to see her in her coffin. She was buried in Holm, Mainland Orkney, in late January '08. RIP.
More on this story here.

Thursday 26 March

Very unfriendly weather today, with winds gusting in excess of 60 mph at the moment. The ferry services up and down the west coast are severely disrupted. Calmac, the ferry company, tell us that on 26/03/09 Ullapool/Stornoway route is liable to disruption and is sailing on a sailing by sailing basis. Sun has just come out, but that doesn't negate the heavy showers. South of here, I can just make out the outline of a cable-laying ship, the Leonid Thevenin. It has been joined by another cable-layer, the Silure. I do not know whether they are laying cables, or just sheltering from the weather. I get the information from this website. If you live near a port, either in the UK or elsewhere, there may be an AIS site for your location.