View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Wednesday 22 September

The first day of autumn brought the wettest day for a long time. Heavy rain all day. No, Mr BBC Announcer, it was NOT a lovely day in the Western Isles. We'll be able to pull a long nose at those in England who were basking in Indian Summer temperatures of 25C today. You'll get our rain tomorrow, so there. Thrown more stuff in the skip today.

Talking of India, I was completely stunned by the news that the athletes' accommodation for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi was unfit for human habitation. You'd expect a major nation like India to pull out all the stops to make it work, particularly as they've had seven years to prepare. There is a chance the games are called off altogether. The games are scheduled to start on 3 October.

During the 23 years that I have been visiting (and latterly staying) in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, the number of German visitors has always surprised me. It would appear that the advent of Nazism and communism has something to do with it. Seems we all need some culture to identify with, and when German culture was poisoned by Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin, the ordinary folk turned to Gaelic culture. Interesting.

I'm not a great football afficionado, but feel disappointed that the two main teams in the north of Scotland lost their cup matches tonight. Ross County (from Dingwall) lost 1-2 to Dundee United, and Inverness Caledonian Thistle were clobbered 6-0 by Celtic Glasgow.