Wednesday 22 January

Well, after an absence of five weeks, you have to catch up with lots of stuff of course, and I've spent most of today doing just that. Christmas cards, mail, you name it. I was absolutely knackered last night, but feeling better today.

Keen wind blowing through this town this afternoon, but what's new? Nothing appears to have changed, which I wasn't expecting to be honest. Across the bay from me, they are faffing about with boats on the shore of Goat Island, nothing new there either. And they are still burning rhodies in the Castle Grounds, when will that ever get finished. Ah, it's good to be back.

Tuesday 21 January

After a five week sojourn in the Netherlands, I travelled back to Stornoway once more today.

Left my dad's place at 11.40, caught the bus at 11.55 to reach the station at Arnhem with exactly one minute to spare to catch the 12.16 train to Schiphol Airport. Reached there at 13.35, and had quite a bit of time before the plane left for Inverness at 15.35. The 535 miles to Inverness passed off without incident, I was glad I had a book. Reached Inverness at 15.55 local time (that's an hour behind mainland Europe), just as the sun was setting. Although they had to deploy a different aircraft (the original one had broken down in Benbecula or Stornoway), it only delayed us by 20 minutes, meaning I was on the ground at Stornoway at 19.10, and in the door here at 19.30. Although everything went well, I was exhausted, so made it an early night.

Tuesday 17 December

Although updates on this blog have been rather intermittent of late, I am now switching to my alternate blog Shell Gallery, for the duration of a family visit to Holland. I intend to resume updates here on Wednesday 22 January 2014.

Sunday 15 December

It's very wild here this morning and getting worse. Since 7 am, the wind has increased from 30 to 50 mph. Over at Eoropie, 25 miles north of here at the Butt of Lewis, the wind is pushing past the 100 mph mark. Angry white riders march across the harbour, and spindrift is flying, a sure sign that force 9 is nigh. A clearance is marching away east. All ferries from this island are cancelled today.

At lunchtime, the rain moved away east and was followed by sunshine and showers. The wind abated slightly and veered southwest, but remained at stormforce over at Eoropie.As the afternoon and evening wore on, the wind subsided to force 6, although heavy showers continued.

Saturday 14 December

It's turned into a wild day here, with rain being blown along on this galeforce southerly wind. The ferry is staying tied up alongside today, both here in Stornoway and down in Berneray. The triangular service from Skye to North Uist and Harris will make a go this evening, when this gale is expected to subside. The weatherstation at Eoropie Tearoom is showing gusts to 80 mph thus far.

Wind appears to be dropping and the barometer is on its way back up again. Oh well, pity the sun is just setting. Anyway, better get ready for round two tomorrow, which will be a lot worse. The depression that will bring us stormforce winds tomorrow is projected to deepen to 944 mbar.As a result tomorrow's ferries around Lewis and Harris are cancelled.

Friday 13 December

Windy day here, with occasional showers and a force 7 from the south southwest. Tomorrow, we'll have a force 9; on Sunday it could be force 10. This obviously will give rise to disruption on the ferry service. Calmac text updates on this, and it would appear that nothing is going to go (in my neck of the woods) on Saturday.

Thursday 12 December

Awoke this morning to find the force 7 gone. That is just a breathing space. On Saturday as well as Sunday, we are up for a force 9.

Wednesday 11 December

Quite a nice day today, with the mercury reaching 13C / 57F at lunchtime. The sun came out for a while. The wind remains a steady force 7, around 30 mph, from the south. The winds will increase by weekend, with stormforce conditions once again likely.

Tuesday 10 December

Greetings from Windy Nook, known in local parlance as Airidh na Gaoithe [Windy Sheiling]. It's doing a steady 35 mph from the south, and I didn't fancy the chap his job who had to go up the transmitter mast at Eitsal (outside Achmore) this morning. The mast stands a trifling 800 feet tall, starting 700 feet above sealevel and 350 feet above the village. I've been up the hill, but I get uncomfortable at ten feet above the ground, let alone that height... It's now 3pm and getting dark. Sunset at 3.40pm.





I was very pleased indeed to find that the WW1 Roll of Honour for the Isle of Lewis is now available for download on-line on: https://archive.org/details/loyallewisrollof1920lewi

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela died on Thursday evening, 5 December, at the age of 95. Mandela, who was incarcerated for 27 years between 1963 and 1990, was a towering figure in the world, and the figurehead of the movement that finally brought about the end of apartheid in South Africa. He stood out for not being vindictive against the individual white people, or even them as a group, for jailing him, but for fighting the system. Nonetheless, Mandela was a fallible and in the end mortal human being. I am typing this a week after the event, and am not exactly pleased with the vast media coverage, and all the international politicians seeking to jump on his bandwagon - whilst not belonging there. Anyway, rest in peace Nelson, you did well and you did good.

Clutha

This is the name of a pub in Glasgow, on which a helicopter crashed last Friday evening. About 120 people were inside, enjoying the band Esperanza, when a police helicopter crashed on its roof. In the end, the three people on board the chopper and six in the pub lost their lives. The aircraft did NOT catch fire, which would have led to a much greater loss of life. The friends and relatives of those lost, and those injured as well as the good folk of Glasgow remain in my thoughts this week.

Monday 9 December

An overcast and breezy morning. It has remained very mild through the night, with the mercury not shifting from 12C / 54F. It will remain mild and windy this week, it would appear.

I was thinking today was going to be another boring, grey, drab December day. But fortunately, the sun was sympathetic to my plight and put in a brief appearance. This is the land of cloudscapes.

Sunday 8 December

Overcast, grey, wet and windy. An hour and a half till sunset. Has it gotten light today? I'm surprised the streetlights haven't stayed on all day... Tomorrow's another day.

Completed the WW2 listings from the Southern Isles.

Barra & Vatersay: 55 (51 served in the Merchant Navy).
Benbecula: 6
Berneray: 4
Eriskay: 5
Grimsay: 3
Harris: 62
North Uist: 30
South Uist: 41
Total: 211 (there is a degree of cross-over between the islands)

1939: 4
1940: 44
1941: 36
1942: 25
1943: 19
1944: 20
1945: 11
and 4 died in 1946 and 1947
There are 48 casualties on whom I have very little information.

Of the 211 casualties:
121 were in the Merchant Navy
55 were in the Army, of whom 28 in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
13 in the RAF
19 in the Royal Navy or Royal Naval Reserves
4 were women

Saturday 7 December

It's gotten quite windy again, force 6-7, and we're in double figures this evening. December is certainly turning into a seesaw - which is common for this part of the world. The Atlantic won't readily relinquish control over these islands. Have been busy this week with the WW2 casualties of the Southern Isles, closing today with the listing from Barra. Of their 55 casualties, 51 served in the Merchant Navy.

Friday 6 December

Nice layer of snow outside with the mercury around the freezing point. The sun is trying to peek through gaps in the cloud. However, another change is on its way in from the Atlantic, and it will become milder tomorrow: 10C. As the day wore on, the snow slowly melted. And as it's now within 3 weeks of Christmas, I decorated the Xmas tree.

Thursday 5 December

Was woken at 4 in the morning by a lively thunderstorm, accompanied by heavy rain, driven along by stormforce winds. Eoropie, near the Butt of Lewis, recorded a gust of 116 mph (185 km/h). This was followed by a marked drop in temperature, and bright skies with occasional snow showers. A layer of wet snow on the ground, and a layer of slushy ice on water-filled buckets. The bins fell over, so just been out to gather up all the stuff blown around the back.

Barometer has shot up 20 mbar in 8 hours, showing the pressure gradient giving rise to last night's storm. I notice that a storm surge is forecast for the east coast of England, and storm warnings flying for the northern islands of Holland. Be careful. Snow shower in Stornoway at midday. Temperature just above freezing, so the snow settles in shaded spots. Ice floating on water-filled buckets. Very cold in the strong wind. By evening, a more substantial fall of snow caused problems on the roads.

Wednesday 4 December

So we're going to get 90 mph winds tomorrow, combined with a high springtide (5.3m / 18 ft) at the height of the storm. Small wonder we've been issued with a flood alert. Westerly wind, force 6 (24-30 mph), and occasional showers. This morning, at 6.30 am, there was a very heavy hailshower, and there are still pockets of ice in secluded spots. Eoropie Tearoom, near the Butt of Lewis, is already recording sustained winds of 45 mph, gusting to 70 mph. Berneray is reporting a powercut this afternoon.

At 10pm, I ventured out for a couple of minutes, wind blowing at force 7, feeling like force 8 in exposed locations on Stornoway seafront. The rain was belting down.

Tuesday 3 December

Although today started very wet, the sun went down just over an hour ago under blue skies. It is noticeably colder today (6F / 43F) than yesterday (which went up to 11C / 52F in the evening), but with little wind. That is but a pre-amble to Thursday's stormforce conditions. Spent the last few days sorting somebody else's computer problems, which in the end boiled down to a faulty Ethernet cable.

Monday 2 December

It's been one of those typical December days, grey, dark, windy and mild. Had to have the lights on from before 3pm. Worked on the WW2 tributes for Benbecula and South Uist; will carry on with the WW1 tributes for South Uist tomorrow - they entail a lot more work than the virtual C&P exercise for WW2. The latter is mostly a case of putting the information in a better presentation. You may have noticed that my websites are all Blogger based; works very well for this sort of purpose. That explains why I have 70 blogs on my account!

The power of the WWW

I am currently researching the WW2 casualties from North Uist, but one query left me puzzled.

The North Uist war memorial refers to F/Sgt Donald C Maclean, RAF, late of Lochmaddy, who was lost in WW2. However, when I pass his details through CWGC, it would appear that he was the son of John MacLean, and of Margaret MacLean, of Castlebay, Isle of Barra. The Barra & Vatersay war memorial at Nasg, however, does not mention him.

Flight Sergeant DONALD CHARLES MACLEAN
Last known address in North Uist: Lochmaddy
Son of John MacLean, and of Margaret MacLean, of Castlebay, Isle of Barra.
Service unit: 279 Sqdn, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Service number: 1571094
Date of death: 7 November 1945 at the age of 21
Memorial: Runnymede Memorial
Local memorial: North Uist

Who will describe my delight when my posting on a Barra genealogy page yielded this reply from his niece Fiona:

He was my uncle although I never met my Uncle Donnie. The family lived in Lochmaddy, my grandfather John Maclean was from North Uist and he was the postmaster in Lochmaddy. My grandmother Margaret Maclean nee Macfadyen was from Barra. The family home was in Borve, my grandmother came back to Barra after my grandfather died which was about a year after Donnie went missing. I have the telegram (I think) the information my mother, Anne Maclean, gave me was the Lancaster bomber that Donnie was in went missing over the North Sea ( they flew from Teesside ) no wreckage or bodies were ever found, my grandfather died of a broken heart Mum used to say. My nanna is buried on Barra - John and Donnie are mentioned on her headstone.

In clear contravention

It is a duty of our elected representatives to make decisions on our behalf, sometimes going against public feeling. Our elected representatives have more information than we, as individuals, may have. A council, like Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, has established policies to deal with (e.g.) planning applications for windfarms. To just throw those policies to the winds leaves the council, to my mind, with serious questions to answer. But will anyone ever ask those questions?

I am referring to the decision by the CnES planning committee to allow 14 turbines, each standing 126 metres (just over 400 feet) tall, to be built inland from North Tolsta, between Tolsta Glen and Diridean.
The scheme:

• is too close to habitation
• breaks the Western Isles Development plan
• carries significant impacts on landscape, amenity and homes
• endangers golden eagles at its northernmost point

In spite of that, a letter campaign by 53 residents (with only 1 against) was sufficient to sway the decision against all of this. The community was held to be unanimously in favour of the scheme. Councillors also stated that objections from people faraway should not be given much weight.
To my mind, having observed the saga of windfarms on Lewis over the past decade, it wasn't the popular vote that swayed the planning committee. It was the fact that the scheme and its 42 MW output would provide the electricity needed to make the proposed interconnector to the mainland economically viable. SSE, who have spent this year dragging their feet over the issue, is due to make a decision before the end of December.

As ever, full council is expected to rubberstamp the planning committee's decision later in the week. Oh, the community benefit will amount to a mouth-watering if not eye-watering £294k per annum.