View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Monday 23 April 2012

Monday 23 April

Quite a nice, bright day with good spells of sunshine, but a cold nor'easter blowing. Our nor'easters are commonplace in spring, and they usually bring fair and dryish weather. I'm not speaking for the south of the UK, which is set to received inches and inches of rain - much-needed, incidentally.

The day started with the surprise arrival of ferry boat MV Finlaggan, which normally plies the route between Kintyre and Islay, in the south of the Hebridean archipelago. Finlaggan is reported to be testing berthing at various ports on the Scottish west coast.

It is reported that last Saturday's traincrash in Amsterdam could have been caused by one of the train drivers passing a signal at danger, known in the UK as a SPAD. Her Sprinter train was less seriously damaged than the Intercity double decker she smashed into. However, a formal investigation is still underway. Still in Holland, the Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has tendered his resignation after no agreement could be found in his coalition for austerity measures. General elections are likely in late June.

I have often highlighted our high fuel prices, 152p per litre. However, I was surprised to see that fuel prices in London have now reached the same sort of level, 145p per litre (as seen on London Marathon coverage yesterday). For my American readers, that equates to $9.24 per US gallon.