View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Tuesday 13 March

One of those grey, non-descript days. Not too cold, bit of a breeze.

The big news locally is the row about luggage going on board our ferry, the MV Isle of Lewis. Until recently, you could leave it in the hands of bus company Citylink, who would take it off you at Stornoway and you'd be reunited with your bags in Inverness. They stopped doing it, so you have to lug your luggage on and off the ship yourself. If you have too many bags to take up in one go, you're stuffed: the company apparently does not allow you back to collect the remainder of your luggage.So I suggested this system of luggage trolleys that are used by a Dutch ferry company. They manage to disembark all their passengers within about 10-15 minutes.



It is fairly quiet on the hurricane front, but I am keeping an eye on a forming tropical cyclone near Darwin, Australia, and a strengthening one off Port Hedland, Western Australia. Neither are expected to pose serious problems, although heavy rainfall could still be an issue.