Tuesday 10 June

Morning all from the land of sunshine and showers. The southerly wind is driving the latter along, and they are pretty heavy when they do occur. A cruiseliner lies anchored off Lower Sandwick, a mile or so to the southeast. It's the Discovery, which has been in before, I believe.

An intrepid adventurer is currently holed up on top of Rockall, a 70 ft high rock in the Atlantic, 250 miles west of here. He is set to remain there for two months, weather and birds permitting. The birds bombard him and his shelter with poo and puke (sorry...); Atlantic conditions can be harsh. The aim of Nick Hancock's enterprise is to raise money for Help for Heroes.

More intrepid charity events include Niall Ian Macdonald's trans-Atlantic row, which is currently underway. He hopes to cover the 3,400 miles from New York to Stornoway in three months, arriving into Stornoway Harbour before the autumn gales set in. Niall Ian supports SAMH, the Scottish Association for Mental Health.

Later this month (28 June - 4 July), a group of 9 swimmers will tackle the 60 miles from Harris to St Kilda, once more in the Atlantic. They will be supporting The Leanne Fund, The Fishermen's Mission and Yorkhill Children's Charity. More information on their webpage.

Sunday 8 June

Afternoon from a bright, sunny and breezy Stornoway. We're up to 17C / 63F, but with a wind blowing at force 5 (20 mph) from the south. I'm now using a different camera, after my usual one broke down on Friday. The cover for the battery and memory card compartment had come away, and I was unable to reattach it. As a result, vast amounts of dust were sucked into the camera as the lens was extended and retracted, and that seems to have jiggered up the workings for the zoom. Sent it off for repairs.

Lovely walk through the Castle Grounds, over Strawberry Hill, this afternoon. It was fairly busy (not on the hill, by the way), sunny and warm. Even with the brisk wind, it still felt like summer. How about 19C / 66F? This year's highest temperature, so far :-)

   

Saturday 7 June

Bright, sunny and warm in Stornoway. OK, 15C / 59F isn't all that warm, but it certainly feels like it could get a little warmer as the afternoon goes. on.

Went for a walk round the harbour, and it was pleasantly busy and colourful.

Friday 6 June

Afternoon all, it's a brighter day, and much drier, than yesterday. Watching coverage of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in 1944 - hat off to all involved, including those who didn't come back.

Camera has decided to develop another fault. I do have the use of another, but it's not nearly as good. The faulty one is going off for repairs.

Very interesting evening at a talk regarding the connection between Flanders Fields [WW1] and the Isle of Lewis. I was mentioned by name by Dominiek Dendooven from the In Flanders Fields institute in Ypres, on account of my work on HMS Timbertown. Went to the talk in blazing sunshine at 7pm, only to emerge into the gloom of haar three hours later...

 

Thursday 5 June

Afternoon all from Stornoway, where the weather has pulled a fast one: it's raining today with visibility down to just over a mile. Perfect time to crack on with the Carloway section of the Roll of Honour.

Wednesday 4 June

Midday in Stornoway sees the sun peeping through a frosted glass-like ceiling of cloud, never a good omen. There is a chilly wind, making a mockery of the 14C on the thermometer. The starling chicks have fledged, and the parent birds are run ragged trying to keep them in grubs. The blackbird chicks have hatched as well, and their parent birds are also run ragged, keeping them in worms!

Tuesday 3 June

Brightening up here in Stornoway, although some showers seem to be possible. Am watching the heavy-lift ship preparing to lift a large platform on board, which is to be taken to the Irish Sea for use as a weather station for a windfarm.

My WW1 Roll of Honour transcript is progressing apace, and I have now reached the two-thirds mark. The parishes of Stornoway and Barvas have been done. Tomorrow I shall proceed with the parish of Uig, more specifically the townships of Carloway, Borrowston and Gearrannan. Images from the Roll are included on the site; portraits of individual servicemen and -women will be added later.

It's a brilliantly sunny evening here, but with a keen breeze. We managed 15C / 59F this afternoon, but the mercury is dropping away.

Monday 2 June

Overcast with occasional light rain today. There should be an improvement through tomorrow, but we'll have to wait and see. The heavy lifting ship is alongside at Arnish, lit up like a Christmas tree through the night. This morning, the cruiseliner Astor was anchored off the Arnish Lighthouse. We are due 40 cruiseliners this season, so that should make it quite interesting.

Sunday 1 June

An overcast morning with some light rain. At midday, a very large ship, the Innovation, cumbersomely headed into port to dock at Arnish. This vessel is due to collect items for a weatherstation in a windfarm in the Irish Sea. As it's Sunday, nothing will be done today.

Saturday 31 May

It has been announced that the men convicted of the murder of Liam Aitchison in 2011 have been granted leave to appeal. Evidence in the case appears to have been largely circumstantial. A date for the appeal hearing is yet to be set.

Although today started bright and sunny, cloud increased through the afternoon.

Friday 30 May

This week sees the formal start of the campaign for the referendum on independence for Scotland. We've been bombarded with campaign material, through any media outlet you might care to think of, for well over a year. It is only now that the rules regarding impartiality and campaign funding come into force. Although campaigning has, as I said, been going on for more than a year, those rules did not apply.

I'm against independence, as outlined by the Scottish National Party and its associated Yes (for independence) campaign. They haven't done their sums, nor prepared for the eventuality of Scottish statehood. The SNP have been around since 1932, been in government since 2007, and now that a referendum is in the offing, should have had no problems assembling a well underpinned case for independence and how they propose to run the country. They have failed to do so. By virtue (or otherwise) of that, independence is way too uncertain a course.