I'm typing this just after sunset, with the crescent moon peeping between the showerclouds. It is quite cold outside, and last night, ice on the A857 Stornoway to Barvas road caused a bus to skid off the road. Eleven people, who were being taken to Ness on the last service of the day, had to be taken to hospital in Stornoway to be checked over. Two were slightly injured, one required overnight observation. Once more, the daytime high has reached the dizzying value of 7C / 45F.
I'm disappointed to have to observe that my temporary withdrawal from Facebook has not had the intended effect. There are people around to whom internet social networking is anathema. One of them I regard as a close friend. Yes, I still use the present tense. There are people around who feel that you cannot come to know someone unless you speak to them in the flesh, hear their voice, see their body language etcetera. Of course that's true, up to a point. Over the 9 years that I have been involved in social networking on-line, since the good ole days of AOL, I have met three people in the flesh whom I first became acquainted with on the WWW. Two ladies, one gentleman. My impressions on-line were borne out 90% when meeting the person face to face. So, I can't be said to be a poor judge of character. I have very serious disagreements with some people on the issue, and after a particularly unpleasant episode on Monday, I thought that a week's break from Facebook might serve to alleviate the strain. Unfortunately, that turns out not to be the case. I shall resume my Facebook activities tomorrow, although I'll be far less active than before.
