View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Monday 2 May 2011

Monday 2 May

A brilliantly sunny day, but for a couple of hours, we had a bank of smoke rolling across the island. The smoke comes from wildfires on mainland Scotland, 50 miles to the east. April has been one of the warmest and driest on record, giving rise to tinderbox conditions. One fire, near Torridon, is threatening properties. As I type this, visibility is back to normal, but around lunchtime we could barely see the lighthouse and the fabrication yard - both only a mile away across the harbour.

I have said what I have to say about Osama bin Laden in my previous post. Good riddance, but no real cause for celebrations. Too many have died, and his lieutenants are queueing up to take his place and carry out acts of vengeance.

The BBC is reporting that certain operators of windfarms in Scotland have been paid to switch the machines off, as their output outstripped the capacity of the electricity grid. I am an opponent of large-scale windfarms, and this licence to print money degrades their argument to the level of ridicule. A waste of money - and on windless days, all of Scotland's windfarms only generate enough power to boil 1,000 kettles.

3 comments:

  1. There has been terrible fires over here too Guido on the Yorkshire Moors due to the weather.I believe 80 firemen have been tackling them for days now and said the peat will burn continuously afterwards.I am full of fear now from reading of the death of that EVIL man, as Iam sure many other people will be.I do hope the fires in Scotland can be contained.Have alovely evening.Take Care God Bless Kath xx

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  2. Goodness Guedo I hadn't heard about these awful wild fires. I will have to try to tune into BBC/ Scotland for an update...
    Glad though that you are at last having the sunshine. We are still basking under blue skies although there is a cold wind but we try to keep out of it and can enjoy sitting out on the wee deck.
    Love Sybil x

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  3. Agree with your comments on Bin Booger. Fires on the mainland.......a worry, no doubt, for the local population. Always a potential problem in dry periods: we oft had problems when we lived in the Brecon Beacons many years ago. Summer fires were almost endemic.

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