Hurricane update - 9 September

At the apex of hurricane activity in the North Atlantic, and Western Europe is going to get a double whammy: the combined force of two hurricanes by the end of this week. Tropical storm Leslie, currently 100 miles east of Bermuda is headed north for Newfoundland. It will intensify to a hurricane before morphing into a deep area of low pressure. Joining Leslie will be hurricane Michael, a category II hurricane (winds 100 mph near the centre) which is headed northwest across the ocean. Michael will be absorbed into the larger circulation of Leslie, adding its force. I really do not like the resulting depression as it turned out on the 5-day forecast weather chart from the Met Office. By Friday, we can expect a decidedly windy day.

Saturday 8 September

An autumnal day with a few glimpses of sunshine and some outbreaks of drizzle. It wasn't cold, but it did not feel like the 17C that was recorded over at the airport, 4 miles east of here.

In 25 months from now, Scotland will go to the polls to vote for or against independence, 211 years after the union of England and Scotland formed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and (Northern) Ireland. The ruling Scottish National Party has pencilled the date in for October 2014, but I have been increasingly aghast at the apparent lack of preparation that the party seems to have for the eventuality of independence. Whenever a new issue arises, it appears that the SNP has not yet formulated an answer to it. The party has been in existence for some 80 years, and in government for the past 5, but I am quite surprised how unprepared they seem to be for independence. You'd expect that a policy would have been formulated by now.

One example. Northwest of Glasgow, at Faslane, sits a base for nuclear submarines, the British nuclear deterrant, called Trident. The SNP is opposed to NATO membership and independence would therefore dictate that the base be closed. However, Faslane provides employment for hundreds of people around the Clyde, in an area afflicted by unemployment. Losing those jobs for the sake of political principle could be seen as political suicide. Could there be a trade-off between the Westminster and Holyrood governments prior to the referendum, over increased revenue shares from North Sea oil? I don't expect so. A truncated United Kingdom might lose the appetite or not have the financial means to replace Trident in just over 10 years from now, so the base might have to be closed at any rate.

I am not in favour of independence for Scotland as I do not feel that the country has the financial and economic muscle for it. I also believe that a divorce from England, under the aegis of the SNP, would be detrimental to Scotland (as well as England) as it is likely to be conducted in an atmosphere of quiet acrimony, with mutual resentment going back to the 18th and 19th centuries being revived. South of the border, the £32bn annual subsidy to Scotland will also be used as an argument for an independence vote.

Irrespective of the outcome of the vote in October 2014, the United Kingdom will change for good.

Friday 7 September

A fairly bright day with good spells of sunshine. Went out to Gearrannan, 26 miles west of Stornoway, by bus at lunchtime. You need to change bus at Carloway, and the last mile and a half is covered by minibus. A bowl of soup and a sandwich was available at the Gearrannan Blackhouse Village. It is possible to walk around the village for free, but access to the museum house and exhibition requires the payment of a small fee. The wind was blowing steadily, making it feel colder than the 15C on the thermometer. The bus on the way back was developing a technical problem and it was sitting so high on its wheels that I had a spot of bother getting on bother. This was the schoolbus, and it went into most of the village along the way back to Stornoway.

Thursday 6 September

Our autumn continues apace, with a very wet and windy morning, gradually calming down to a few glimpses of sunshine in the afternoon. We continue to experience the same temperatures as of late, around the 60F mark.

As you may remember, I called round the Butt of Lewis lighthouse on Monday, at the start of the gale. The lighthouse stands at the top of a 120 ft high cliff, and there is nothing to stop anyone falling off the edge. Recently, it was reported locally, someone was walking along the narrow path between the lighthouse wall and the cliff edge when they met a flock of sheep coming the other way. The walker, an elderly person, fell - against the wall. Just as easily, the person could have gone over the edge. What should authorities do in such a situation, was the question. Well, it is not practicable to fence off all the cliff edges in the island. All you can do is put up a prominent warning notice with the addition that everybody approaches the area at their own risk. In 1955, someone did fall to their death off the cliffs a little way west of the lighthouse. Common sense does help.

I had a nice time over the past hour and a half going through the blogs on my Google Reader, and through some of the resources for local history that it also contains. The Statistical Account for Scotland was the most remarkable. The Accounts were taken in the 1790s and 1830s and give an overview of life in Scotland's parishes at the time. I'll do some transcribing here and there as far as the Western Isles are concerned; the text is not easily read due to the presence of the lowercase letter S looking like the lowercase letter f, minus the cross-stroke.

Wednesday 5 September

A nice day, with plenty of sunshine and the mercury at 16C / 60F. Tomorrow should be another day like yesterday, with plenty of wind and rain. It has already prompted the cancellation of the ferry service between Castlebay and Oban. On our route, the Isle of Arran has bravely carried out the service to Ullapool, although struggling somewhat with the timetable. Last night, she was more than two hours behind schedule; this evening, that lagtime was down to about half an hour. The Isle of Lewis should be back in business tomorrow. Here in Stornoway, the winds should be lighter than down south, as we're close to the centre of the causative depression.

I am aware that I have been  blogging a lot about ferries these past few days, but don't forget that we rely on that link for all our supplies. Whether it be by the passenger vessel Isle of Lewis or the freight boat Muirneag, everything comes by sea. Whenever the ferry does not sail for a day or more, the supermarket shelves run empty and you get the phenomenon of those souls stopping in their tracks upon entering the shop, aghast at the empty shelves. Without realising why that is.

Talking of supplies, the Office of Fair Trading will be looking into the price of fuel nationwide. It is of particular relevance here, since the price of our fuel is 20p a litre higher than on the mainland. Rumours and accusations abound that there is a monopoly on fuel supplies here, leading to higher prices. I mentioned our fuel price earlier this week: £1.50 a litre or $9 a US gallon.

Hurricane update - 5 September

Hurricane Leslie is headed north at a snail's pace of 2 knots, but poses a direct threat to Bermuda. On Saturday and Sunday, the island can expect the hurricane to pass with maximum sustained winds of up to 100 mph. The Bermuda Weather Service will be posting warnings as the storm approaches from the south; it has been suggested that Bermuda could see winds of 34 knots (force 8) or higher for 42 hours over the weekend, and a lengthy spell of 64 knots (force 12) or higher as Leslie passes.

Beyond Bermuda, Leslie will be making for the Canadian Maritime provinces, but this forecast lies beyond the normal 5-day scope and developments will have to be monitored over the next few days to ascertain whether the hurricane, most likely weakened by then, will actually affect eastern Canada.

Secondly, tropical storm Michael is poised to become a hurricane. This storm, located 1100 miles east of Bermuda, poses no direct threat to land. Although presently moving northeast, the system will veer northwest under the influence of Leslie to its west.


The National Hurricane Center in Miami will be posting updates every 6 hours on both systems.

Tuesday 4 September

The strong winds persisted into the afternoon, but after 4pm, they began to die down. We had some sunshine in the morning, as shown in this pic.

The Calmac ferry you see moored alongside the ferry pier is the MV Isle of Arran, which is poised to take over from the MV Isle of Lewis. Our usual ferry has had to undergo repairs, which are allocated for this afternoon and into Wednesday. The Isle of Arran, a stand-by vessel, is much slower, and as I type this post (10.30pm), it is running 1½ hours behind even its adjusted schedule. I'm expecting people off it, so it's going to be a late evening. But that's nothing new.

The demolition of the old Nicolson Institute is progressing apace, and now the canteen has been taken down. Its kitchen apparatus lies crushed on the site. It appears that they are recycling some of the materials, released by the demolition.

Finally, fuel prices seem to be creeping up again. I could not resist snapping this image of the price board on the petrol station a quarter of a mile down the road from me. For my American readers, these prices equate to (roughly) $9 a gallon (US). Further south, prices are as high as £1.55 a litre. If you go to Dingwall, 20 miles north of Inverness, petrol is £1.30 a litre, and it is shipped there in exactly the same tanker that delivers our fuel. Don't ask.

Monday 3 September

An increasingly wild day, with the wind picking up to galeforce in the afternoon. Went out in the car to have lunch at the excellent Sonas Cafe in Port of Ness, but upon alighting from the vehicle, the wind nearly took the door away. As we enjoyed the fish and chips, the rain moved away and the sun came out. We proceeded to the Butt of Lewis, just over 2 miles to the northwest where it was surprisingly calm. One thing; it's a southerly wind today, and the Butt faces north. In order to get a good view, we then drove round to the new cemetery on the Habost machair, a couple of miles to the south and were literally and metaphorically blown away by the view. In spite of the weather, a good afternoon. Tomorrow, the windy weather will continue, which will most likely play havoc with the ferry schedule. We shall see.



Port of Ness beach

Port Sto


At the Butt of Lewis

Sunday 2 September

Overcast and breezy but mainly dry. Went for a spin out to Great Bernera, one of my fave spots in this island. Called in at little Tobson, a tiny hamlet with two equally tiny beaches, and Bosta, which has this magnificent beach. The tide was way out, allowing me to almost walk out to the tidebell. Only a deep and fast running channel of water prevented me reaching the device itself. After a look round the Iron Age House and the cemetery, the next destination were the Callanish Stones. A handful of tourists were around there. Returned to Stornoway via the Pentland Road. Just a few images to give an idea:



Callanish Stones

Bosta Cemetery

Iron Age House

Tide Bell


Bosta

Tobson

Saturday 1 September

Plenty of wind and rain today, although the rain did abate a little by sunset. The temperatures have not changed since the last couple of days, about 15C.

Today, it was announced that the Germany company Grünenthal apologised over their product thalidomide - for not apologising earlier. The drug was given to pregnant women between the late 50s and early 60s, giving rise to hundreds of malformed children and thousands of failed pregnancies. The victims have described the apology as risible, saying the company completely ignored the fact that they had done something terribly wrong. Thalidomide has come back into use for the treatment of certain types of blood cancer.

When relaying information on the internet, please check sources. Someone stated that all the ferries out of Mallaig were cancelled, but upon checking the Calmac website, it turned out that they were disrupted. Talking of disrupted ferries, the MV Isle of Lewis will be off for repairs on Tuesday and Wednesday. The relief boat, MV Isle of Arran, is a slower craft. Also causing disruption are the springtides, which necessitate the retiming of the Leverburgh to Berneray ferry. It crosses the Sound of Harris, which can be short of water at low tide.

Friday 31 August

The last day of the month, and the 15th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana. In the early hours of 31 August 1997, she died of injuries sustained in a car crash in a Parish underpass. One of the most popular royals, her death led to a massive, nationwide (and beyond) outpouring of grief, something that was missed by the Royal Family - until it was almost too late. I have seen no reference to the anniversary in British websites; the reminder came from Dutch broadcaster NOS.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar [Western Isles Council] has seen the light and scrapped the community skips. Dotted all over the islands, the green skips are available for people to dump their waste into; whether it be defunct household appliances, metal, wood - it was always there. The scrapping of this service will backfire spectacularly, because the uplift from people's homes costs £20 for up to 5 items. Knowing the economic hardship, suffered by many islanders, we can duly expect an increase in fly-tipping. The excuse, for excuse it is, is that the skips are a hazard for children who may be injured when they play in the skips. That is something I find less than likely; the aperture for putting stuff into the skips stands 4 feet off the ground. The reason that refuse workers may get injured through handling the contents of the skips can only be met with scorn.

Today was a day of overcast skies and occasional rain. It wasn't really cold, 15C / 59F, but neither was it vastly warm. The next few days will see more rain and wind. On Monday, the remains of hurricane Kirk will pay us a flying visit - just a near-gale.

Thursday 30 August

A bright and sunny day, but getting a bit cooler than recently - we reached 15C / 59F. A complete turn-around from yesterday. In most places in the UK, the summer has been a complete wash-out. We have had one of our driest summers on record. Tonight will see a pronounced dip in temperatures, with a possible grass frost in some of the mainland glens.

The search is continuing, both above and under water, for the body of the man who went missing on Sunday in Loch Gairloch, 45 miles to the southeast on the Scottish mainland. I have doubts whether he will actually be found, but for the sake of the families involved, I do hope that will be the case.

It remains busy on the tropical cyclones front, but the worst of the effects of Isaac appears to be over. The storm is weakening over the southern USA, which continues to receive huge amounts of rainfall. Of longer term concern is hurricane Kirk, which will merge with a frontal system by next Tuesday to haunt the British Isles. It is yet too far off to determine what newly formed tropical storm Leslie will do. This system is currently expected to veer north to the east of Bermuda.

Wednesday 29 August

An overcast day with copious amounts of rainfall. The weatherstation at Flesherin reported 18 mm, but I suspect that a raingauge at Balallan will have reported rather more than that. I accompanied one of my Facebook contacts to South Lochs. Upon entering the district at Balallan, the rain came down heavily - but it abated as we proceeded further east. Near the coast, there was no rain. On the way back, the rain was torrential at Balallan, with burns in spate flooding the road, and making for very difficult driving conditions. Further north, the rain lessened somewhat. I pity the cruisepassengers who were given tours of the island today. But then, you don't come here for the weather. In other words, autumn is here, and here to stay.

Isaac has rumbled ashore in Louisiana and has dumped more than 22 inches (550 mm) of rain within 24 hours. The storm will weaken gradually as it moves even more gradually north up the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, finally fading near the Great Lakes. Another tropical storm, Kirk, is in the central Atlantic Ocean, and is no threat to land.

Tuesday 28 August

A very windy day with good old fashioned downpours, and feeling quite a bit cooler than of late. Nonetheless, the rain is welcome after a protracted spell of below-average rainfall. Locally, the news continues to be dominated by the canoe tragedy in Gairloch which is known to have claimed three young lives, of children aged 2, 5 and 5. A man aged 32 is missing presumed dead. Although a shoreline search of the Ruadh Reidh peninsula continues, it is my private opinion that his body will have been carried out to sea, into the Minch and into the Atlantic beyond. It is very unlikely to ever be found.

Hurricane Isaac is closing in on New Orleans, seven years to the day after Katrina caused devastation and massive loss of life. Typhoon Bolaven has moved ashore in North Korea and is no longer a tropical cyclone as it traverses Manchuria. Typhoon Tembin is moving north towards the Korean peninsula and is weakening rapidly.

82 years ago today

The family had finished packing up all their earthly belongings. The ship was in the bay, and all were making ready to go aboard, leaving their home of many centuries behind. The dogs couldn't come on the ship and would not be left behind. The head of the household took the family bible and opened it on the table, on the chapter of Exodus. Beside the Holy Book, he laid a handful of grain. They all went outside and walked to the boat which took them to the navy boat in the bay.

All the villagers of Hiort were evacuated on 29 August 1930. Their houses, cleits and culture were left behind. Over the years, a record was created of the culture, the houses were reroofed and the cleits investigated. But St Kilda died that day.

A tale of two typhoons

Courtesy NASA
Typhoon Bolaven, a category IV typhoon, is barrelling north into the Yellow Sea, whilst maintaining a gossamer thread link to its half-sized brother Tembin south of Taiwan. Tembin is a category I system.

Bolaven is weakening as it heads for landfall in North Korea, which will receive large amounts of rainfall.
Tembin is going to be dragged north by its larger neighbour. 

Monday 27 August

A day of very mixed fortunes. After an abysmal start to the day, with heavy rain, it brightened up - only for the wind to ratchet up a notch to force 7, with gusts to 45 mph. As I type this, the sun is going down and the wind is still blowing. We'll keep the wind well into tomorrow.

Yesterday, a canoe overturned in the sea a few miles west of Gairloch, on the mainland. In it were two families, out for the day from Invergordon, north of Inverness. One of the adults went missing and three young children, aged 2, 5 and 5, have drowned. Another child and another adult managed to gain the shore to raise the alarm. The incident was the first headline on national news; initially only two youngsters had died, but it was announced at 7pm tonight that a third one had succumbed to the ordeal. The Coastguard have spent the day scouring Loch Gairloch for the missing man, but the search was changed to a recovery operation which was stood down when the weather deteriorated during the afternoon. Gairloch is about 45 miles southwest of Stornoway and has much the same weather patterns. Loch Gairloch is connected to the open waters of the Minch, and is known to have strong tidal currents, particularly on account of the island in the bay.


I took the above image on 26 July 1994. It shows the area where this tragedy played out yesterday.

The northeastern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, from Louisiana eastward, are bracing themselves from a strike by tropical storm Isaac, which is forecast to intensify to hurricane force soon. The National Hurricane Center in Miami is predicting a storm surge of 6 to 12 feet along the Louisiana coastline, at precisely the location and date where Hurricane Katrina impacted in 2005. Isaac is expected to be "only" category I; Katrina was a cat III, downgraded from V, when it hit New Orleans. 

Sunday 26 August

A bright and sunny day, until evening. Cloud has started to stream in from the southwest, ahead of the first autumnal gale of the season tomorrow. We haven't really had strong winds for a long time, but our unusually long quiet spell is coming to a close, as summer comes to a close.

Summer is definitely not coming to a close in the tropics. Whilst everybody is panicking in Florida over tropical storm Isaac, the folk on the Japanese island of Okinawa have sat through their worst typhoon in 50 years. Bolaven came blasting through at midday GMT, with winds of more than 110 mph near the centre of the storm. The island's airport reported 60 mph. Meanwhile, Isaac is headed west northwest past Key West and looks set to intensify in the Gulf of Mexico. The NHC carries 3-hourly updates on this system.

Hurricane update - 25 August

Tropical storm ISAAC is currently traversing eastern Cuba, with maximum sustained windspeeds of 50 knots (60 mph). The storm will continue to track westnorthwest over the next 24 hours or so, before veering sharply north into the Florida Keys and southern Florida, reaching those parts as a category I hurricane. The system will intensify further, and make final landfall somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and southeastern Louisiana by Tuesday or Wednesday at 85 knots, 100 mph. The National Hurricane Center is issuing 3-hourly advisories, which will increase in frequency as the storm starts to directly impact US territory.

Typhoon TEMBIN is located southwest of Taiwan and is currently looping around to the northeast whilst strengthening. The latest warning quotes its strength at 75 knots or 85 mph. Tembin will skirt the eastern seaboard of Taiwan, which it has already blasted on Thursday and Friday.

Some 750 miles to the north, typhoon BOLAVEN is making directly for Okinawa, which it will impact at 120 knots or 140 mph. Beyond that, the storm will weaken as it heads up the Yellow Sea to impact North Korea. The storm will cause huge problems in Korea, northeastern China and southeastern Russia with vast amounts of rainfall.

Saturday 25 August

I just logged onto a rather buggy Twitter this evening when the news caught my eye that Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, has died at the age of 82. I do not remember the moon landings in July 1969 (I was just short of my 5th birthday), but have always recognised it as one of the biggest achievements of mankind. To quote Neil Armstrong: he took a small step for man, but a big step for mankind. To quote one Twitter user: he has now taken the hardest step of all.

Friday 24 August

Another day of sunshine and showers, and a tad cooler.


The building shown above dates back to 1849. It was established by the wife of former landowner Sir James Matheson as the Lady Matheson Seminary, which has fallen into disuse. Following a spat between the local council and a preservation trust, it now looks likely that this ancient edifice will fall into ruins.

I sent off another four cards for postcrossing, which has now seen me sending and receiving 120 cards over the past 18 months. Three cards were never registered by their recipients - maybe the cards did not reach their destinations.

Anders Breivik has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for the murder of 77 people in and around Oslo in July 2011. He was declared sane, which the man appeared to regard as a triumph. However, having to spend your life in solitary confinement would not exactly be a triumph. It certainly won't bring back the dead, but is a degree of justice for those left behind.

Thursday 23 August

Another day of mixed fortunes in the Outer Hebrides. The cruiseliner MSC Lirica came to call, discharging Spanish tourists for a whistlestop tour of the island. It left at 6pm for Gourock, about 30 miles west of Glasgow. We had sunshine and showers amidst temps of 16C. The longer term forecast posts the first autumnal gale for next Tuesday, August 28th. Meanwhile in the tropics, Isaac is having trouble pulling itself together, and Joyce is being pulled apart. I would not be surprised to find Joyce gone by morning. In the Pacific, Tembin and Bolaven are two category III typhoons. The former is about to pass over southern Taiwan, whilst the latter is powering up on approach to Okinawa. That island will see Bolaven at 120 knots, about 140 mph, in a few days' time.

A few years ago, I would blog up to a dozen posts a day, particularly on the old Northern Trip blog. Nowadays, I post all those items on Facebook and Twitter, and don't give them another thought. However, I am temporarily reverting back to old ways, by discussing a news item on the BBC - I gave my opinion on Facebook, but will expand further here.

An abuse charity is planning to burn copies of the erotic trilogy "Fifty Shades", which apparently features explicit descriptions of sexual behaviour, possibly non-consensual. When I hear of books being burns, I immediately recoil in horror. In 1930s Germany, books that were displeasing the Nazi regime were burned across the land. Fifty Shades is controversial, and I will not read it. I condemn (sexual) abuse in all its forms, and am a verbal supporter of those, like Wearside Women in Need, who will provide aid and succour to those unfortunate women who are victims of abuse. I know one or two personally. However, the charity in question defeats the object of its own exercise because by purchasing the books, they support the author and their publisher. It will also publicise the books further, prompting people to go out and read them. In a civilised society, we do NOT burn books. If there is an issue with a publication, there should be a healthy discussion. Education is a much better and more constructive option.

Newmarket crash

Police have today released the name of the casualty who was killed in a two-car crash at Newmarket, a mile or two outside Stornoway, on Monday afternoon. She was Karin Prior, an occupational therapist aged 50. Her work colleague is critically ill in hospital in Inverness. The driver of the other vehicle sustained non-life threatening injuries. Although Karin was due to be transferred to Inverness as well, she passed away before this was possible. Local news website Hebrides News has printed a heart-rending tribute by Karin's daughter, Bethany.

My thoughts go out to Karin's family and friends as they come to terms with their loss.

Tuesday 21 August

Although the day started out thoroughly wet, with plenty of heavy showers, the afternoon was much brighter and even brought a few sunny spells. A concentrated batch of showers closed the day at around 9.30pm, just after darkness had fallen. We're only a month away from the equinox, and the evenings are markedly closing in. Long forgotten are the long evenings of mid summer, when it doesn't get dark until 11pm. 9pm is more like it now.

In the Atlantic Ocean, the 9th tropical depression of the season has formed, and it looks as if it means business for later in the week. Two typhoons are rumbling in the Pacific Ocean, posing a threat to Taiwan and the coast of eastern China.

Just before 8pm tonight, the main road between Stornoway and Barvas (on the west coast) was reopened following yesterday's fatal accident. Police are still contacting next-of-kin, meaning the identity of the casualties are being withheld. We know that a woman died, another was injured and is stable in hospital, and a man is critically ill in hospital in Inverness.

Hurricane update - 22 August

Three systems that need to be monitored very closely.

Typhoon TEMBIN is carrying winds of 105 mph as it heads for central Taiwan. The storm will bring these winds, alongside very heavy rainfall to the island state late tomorrow local time. Three counties are under warning; this number is likely to increase. Taiwan Weather will carry further updates on these. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Honolulu is issuing 6-hourly warnings. In the longer term, Tembin will probably head southwest along the east coast of China, bringing copious amounts of rain to areas that have seen several typhoons already this year.

Tropical storm ISAAC is headed for the Lesser Antilles and will intensify to hurricane strength on Friday. The storm will clip the island of Hispaniola, pass over Cuba and reintensify in the Florida Straits to make landfall in southern Florida at 80 knots (95 mph) in the early hours of next Monday. At five days' notice, this forecast carries a large margin of error. The National Hurricane Center in Miami is issuing 3-hourly advisories.

Tropical disturbance 96L will probably be declared depression 10L later today as it travels west past the 35th degree longitude in the central Atlantic Ocean. Like Isaac, 10L will be a Cape Verde cyclone.

Monday 20 August

A mostly overcast day with some rain into the afternoon, and a bit cooler than of late. We just about managed 16C / 60F. The heat in the south of the UK and on the adjacent continent has also abated and we're headed for some slightly autumnal weather, with wind and rain moving in off the Atlantic over the next few days. A few thousand miles to the south, tropical storm Gordon has caused some very windy conditions in the Azores. The system is currently dissipating between the islands and mainland Portugal.

I have more or less completed the transfer of my links to pearltrees.com. The site offers the possibility to search for similar collections of links, and an option to form teams of like-minded users. For the moment, my focus is on tropical cyclones as well as on matters Scottish, more specifically Hebridean.

Sunday 19 August

A fairly bright day with good sunny spells. We managed 21C / 70F during the afternoon. Unfortunately, the sun went behind the clouds as I went outside to have some lunch. There was a bit of wind and it got rather cool. I was surprised to see the ferry coming in at 1pm, obviously on its return from a morning sailing to Ullapool. Yesterday's rally will have necessitated this extra sailing, which was in the timetable. On Wednesday and Friday, we still have the customary three sailings a day (departing Stornoway at 6 am, 1pm and 7.45pm, to return at 12.15pm, 7pm and 1.45am). This will continue into September. The tourism season is in full flow. Yesterday saw some very high temperatures in continental Europe. My father in eastern Holland was subject to 34C / 93F, which is the equal to the local record of the past 35 years.

I have continued sorting out links on pearltrees.com, but am having a job bringing order to the chaos. As each pearltree has a limit of 16 pearls (links), you have to order and reorder. Also, when uploading links from delicious.com and diigo.com as well as my browser favourites, the site puts them up in no particular order.

Saturday 18 August

This morning dawned bright and sunny with blue skies. Not three hours later, we had torrential downpours hammering on the roof. It gave us half an inch of much needed rain, but nowhere near enough to make up the deficit. Although it did brighten up a little, we never saw much of the sun. The mercury managed a creditable 18C / 64F.

Spent most of today sorting out several hundred links which I have stored across several accounts on the internet. Using pearltrees.com, I managed to sort them into quite a few categories. I still have the browser bookmarks and the links from diigo.com to sort out, but that's tomorrow's job.

Locally, we had the car rally. This started at 9.40am, at the height of the downpours I started this post with. Yesterday, a stream of vehicles poured off the lunchtime ferry, which were due to participate in today's race. They probably all left again on the 2.30pm sailing for Ullapool, or alternatively will do so tomorrow.

Friday 17 August

An overcast and rather cooler day than of late. Took the opportunity nonetheless to go on a bustrip to Ness, in the north of Lewis, to sample the lunches of a restaurant in Port of Ness which recently reopened. It takes the bus about an hour to cover the 27 miles to Port, dropping people outside their doors along the way. Bus stops are unknown in this island, and even in the town, people just flag down the bus as it approaches.

The 1pm bus was pretty busy, with people from Barvas to Port having come down in the morning for their shopping to return home in the afternoon. We reached Port at 2pm and ambled down the quarter mile of village to the restaurant, which served a decent fish & chips. Upon returning to the junction where the bus passes the village, we found the vehicle parked up outside the driver's house, where he was having  a cuppa. Just waited for him to reappear, and boarded the bus. It went to the primary school in Lionel, did the rounds of Eoropie, Knockaird, Adabrock, Eorodale and Habost to drop all the kiddies; then returned to the school to pick up the 12- and 13-year olds for their jaunt down the main road towards Stornoway. Returned to town at 4.40pm.



Cross Skigersta Road


Port of Ness from Lionel


Knockaird and the Loch Stiapabhat bird reserve


A lonely house at Eorodale, overlooking Port of Ness


Port of Ness harbour


Knockaird from Port of Ness


Borve Melbost

Thursday 16 August

A slightly cloudier day, although the sun came back following the passage of a shearline at lunchtime. The wind also abated after midday. We once more managed 20C / 68F this afternoon. Yesterday's wildfire is held to be suspicious, as people were seen in the Strawberry Hill area at the time the blaze started.

I have continued to transfer some of my bit.ly links to diigo.com. I find that most of the shortened links related to local news stories, with one or two others of interest. I have passed information on a diigo.com group for the Outer Hebrides to the archivists of the local council, who will advise further on how to expand the group - this currently only has six members, and its founder is no longer in post.

I'll close this post with some of yesterday's pics.

Wednesday 15 August

Although it was marginally less warm today, the 20C felt absolutely sublime in the blazing sunshine and strong easterly wind. The southwest of Scotland was being lashed by rain and near-gale force winds; our breeze measured 25 mph. Went for a 3 mile walk to Sandwick and Plasterfield, east and northeast of Stornoway. Plasterfield is quite high up, and the vantage point showed me - a big column of smoke rising from beyond the Castle Grounds. Once more, we have a wildfire, and it was a big thing. In the half hour it took me to walk back to town, the column grew in density (getting more brown) and firecrews from all over the island congregated on the Castle Grounds to put the blaze out. Police are anxious to speak to anyone who may have seen suspicious activity in the Deer Park area. I have not yet uploaded to Flickr any pics of the walk, except for a selection on Facebook. Will post the pics on here in a separate post tomorrow.

Tuesday 14 August

Sunny and warm today, with the mercury rising to 21C / 70F for several hours in the afternoon. It was t-shirt weather, with the windows open and the mild sea breezes carrying the pungent smell of rotting seaweed inside. By 9 pm tonight, the midges had finally come out with a vengeance, and I'm sitting here with very itchy fingers, as the little  blighters went for me as I watered the plants. Drought? Well, we've had less than an inch of rain in all of August, and we're nearly at the halfway mark in that month.

I've been trying to organise my useful links, by looking at my bit.ly account, and copying anything useful over to diigo.com. Found the Outer Hebrides diigo group languishing in the doldrums of inactivity (it only has six members). Its founder has moved to pastures new, but I'm going to see if there are others who are willing to contribute to it.

Monday 13 August

Overcast and wet at times, but not much cooler than yesterday. We still managed 18C today, which is quite respectable at any time. We saw brief glimpses of the sun, but not as much as on Friday or Saturday.

The school holidays are drawing to a close this week, and although I don't have kids, the controversy over school buses is certainly not passing me by. It appears that if a child lives less than two or three miles from its school, they are not entitled to free bus travel. For secondary school age kids (12 or over), the limit is 3 miles. Now, apart from shelling out a couple of quid for the bus, the alternative is walking. Pavements are unheard of out of town, and during the winter, darkness falls as early as 3.30pm. Parents are up in arms over this, by all accounts.

I am continuing my look-ups for WW1 casualties from this island, and today came across a family whose seven sons all served. Three did not live to see 1919. They came from the village of North Tolsta, 15 miles northeast of Stornoway.

Sunday 12 August

Another warm day, with slightly hazier sunshine than yesterday. We managed 21C / 70F at midday, after which the high-level clouds moved in to take the edge off the temperatures.

I watched the closing ceremony of the London Olympics, which was quite spectacular; I'm afraid pop-music is not my scene, so that was lost on me. What was not lost on me was the sense of occasion, that a memorable 16 days have drawn to a close, particularly when the Olympic Flame was extinguished on the stroke of midnight. The 70 days when the Torch travelled the length and width of the UK, passing within a quarter mile of my door on one occasion - it certainly was an Olympics to remember. Next stop: Rio de Janeiro, 2016.