July 7th

July 7th has two black marks on it. The first occurred in 1995, when Bosnian Serb forces overran the UN safe haven of Srebrenica, Bosnia, which was established in Bosnian Serb territory during the Yugoslav war. General Ratko Mladic ordered men and boys to be rounded up, using UN forces to do the dirty work, and have them bussed out into the woods - where all were shot dead. The Dutch battallion of the UN force did nothing to stop the Bosnian Serbs, and the Dutch government have since been held responsible for their inertia. What could they have done? One soldier said he stood next to Mladic and could have pulled the trigger. However, the Bosnian Serb force was so overwhelming that any resistance would have been suicidal. Furthermore, the UN force was so poorly equipped that they would not have stood a chance. Seven thousand Bosnian Moslims were killed. Mladic is standing trial at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague. I personally know Dutch military personnel who were at Srebrenica during this episode. I cannot imagine their state of mind.

The second black mark against July 7th goes back ten years, to 2005. Four suicide bombers let off their devices on the London Underground and a London Transport bus, killing 52 innocent people.

We remember the innocent victims of senseless violence across the ages.

Friday 3 July

We took advantage of a beautiful summer's day for a bus trip to Ness, specifically the beach at Eoropie. Between buses, there was just over an hour and a half to admire the machair flowers and go down to the beach. After a cup of tea, it was time to return to the road for the 3.40 bus back to Stornoway.

Newvalley
Barvas Moor
Upper Barvas
Borve
South Dell

Thursday 2 July

5.30 am
Cruiseliner Minerva behind Arnish
A funny angle on the Minerva

Wednesday 1 July

July came in with a good high temperature, 19C, but this was followed by some pretty ferocious thunderstorms in the afternoon. There were 8000 lightning discharges in the Western Isles!

Tuesday 30 June

Red Arrows

The world-famous RAF aerobatics display team the Red Arrows paid a visit to Stornoway in the afternoon of Monday 29 June. The team took part in the 150-year anniversary celebrations of Stornoway Port Authority. For about 25 minutes they wowed a 6,000-strong crowd of on-lookers, packed into the ferry marshalling area, along the seafront from South Beach to Newton and (as in my case) on Goat Island. Others were able to look on from areas away from town.

Spectators