Want to come in. Badly.

Missing over Atlantic, and other matters

An Air France jetliner has gone missing over the Atlantic between Brazil and Europe. The plane did not appear on Cape Verde radar as expected, and it has not landed as scheduled at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport. The Brazilian airforce has sent planes to an area of sea near the island of Fernando de Noronha, off the country's northeastern coast.

Egg thieves have raided an osprey nest in Strathspey, southeast of Inverness, a few weeks ago. Police have expressed their shock, and have urged the public to be vigilant of suspicious activity around nest sites.

Britain's Got Talent's number 2 Susan Boyle has been taken to a London clinic, suffering from emotional exhaustion. It appeared to me that she was mighty relieved not to have won the contest.

Monday 1 June

A sunny start to the day, but with dense fog banks drifting in off the sea and the moors. Visibility is very limited, down to 50 or 100 yards at times. At the moment, the fog is only over the Arnish moor, across the harbour. The cruiseliner Astor, a regular summer visitor, is anchored off Sandwick and when the fog closes in, she sounds her foghorn regularly. Residents of Laxdale, a mile or two north of Stornoway, are wondering what all the hooting is about. They are high up, and out of range of the fog. The airport, which lies at sealevel, is enveloped in fog and the 8 am plane from Inverness landed at 11.30. The 11 am plane from Glasgow is now due at 1.30pm.

The parliamentary representatives for the Western Isles are demanded by the Lord's Day Observance Society LDOS to declare within 24 hours whether they are for or against a Sunday service on the ferry, and opening of the Lewis Sports Centre on Sunday. It appears to me like a distinct case of Last Chance Saloon. I'll restate my respect for anyone's sincerely held religious conviction. However, I do not think that it is of this era to prohibit the free passage of people and goods on one day in the week.