Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Sunday 20 October
A lovely autumnal afternoon, with soft light, lighting up the soft colours and the leaves on the sycamore are turning yellow. Bad weather? What's that?
Friday 18 October
An overcast day today, with any bright chinks in the cloud fast disappearing. Darkness is falling now (6.15pm), and when the clocks go back on October 27th, it'll be dark at 5. I spent more time talking to people in Tesco today than actually shopping - you know who you are.
Wednesday 16 October
Morning all from a sunny Stornoway. It's a nice, calm morning here, and the sun rose at 8 o'clock in a blaze of colour. I am now leaving our old freight ferry Muirneag to her new life in Turkish waters. She arrived at Istanbul yesterday and presently lies anchored off that city. Yesterday, Muirneag passed the area which was once known as Gallipoli, at the entrance to the Dardanelles Strait.
Monday 14 October
It's a bright and sunny morning, with only a few clouds on the southern horizon. No major changes anticipated over the next day or two. Our old freight ferry Muirneag is now on the home strait, 60 miles south of Athens in the Aegean and 450 miles southwest of Istanbul. She has received orders to proceed to Samsun, 380 miles to the east of Istanbul on the coast of the Black Sea. However, I will only monitor Muirneag's progress as far as Istanbul.
In the evening, Muirneag is on the last 24 hours of her journey to Istanbul, presently 100 miles east of Athens and 110 miles west of Izmir, Turkey; the distance to Istanbul is 450 miles. Tomorrow morning, she will pass the site of the Gallipoli landings of 1915, in which tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides lost their lives. I shall post a tribute to the dozen servicemen from the Isle of Lewis who were killed there in 1915; it is fitting as Muirneag has come all the way from Lewis since October 3rd.
At 10 pm, I received word that the aurora borealis was visible in the Outer Hebrides, so I went out to Mossend to take pics. It was quite some display, with curtains of green light swinging above the horizon. I took the below pictures with a 60 second exposure.
In the evening, Muirneag is on the last 24 hours of her journey to Istanbul, presently 100 miles east of Athens and 110 miles west of Izmir, Turkey; the distance to Istanbul is 450 miles. Tomorrow morning, she will pass the site of the Gallipoli landings of 1915, in which tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides lost their lives. I shall post a tribute to the dozen servicemen from the Isle of Lewis who were killed there in 1915; it is fitting as Muirneag has come all the way from Lewis since October 3rd.
At 10 pm, I received word that the aurora borealis was visible in the Outer Hebrides, so I went out to Mossend to take pics. It was quite some display, with curtains of green light swinging above the horizon. I took the below pictures with a 60 second exposure.
Sunday 13 October
Not cloudless but certainly a glorious autumn afternoon. Our former freight ferry Muirneag is now 250 miles east of Sicily and ditto west of Peloponnese, Greece. Tropical cyclone Phailin has made landfall in India, leaving massive disruption and damage in its wake, but a far lesser loss of life than feared.
I've got some of my bookmarks back (thanks Pearltrees), but they are in an unholy muddle. I have NOT got the pics back that I took between 1 August and 13 September. OK, they are on Flickr, but that means manual downloading - of 226 pics. Have been trying Recuva, but that leaves me with files that won't show the pics hidden therein.
In the evening, Muirneag's chugging along some 250 miles southwest of Athens, and 75 miles southwest of the Peloponnese in Greece. The ship will veer northeast in the course of the night and head up the Aegean towards Istanbul, where she is expected to arrive in the evening of Tuesday 15th October.
I've got some of my bookmarks back (thanks Pearltrees), but they are in an unholy muddle. I have NOT got the pics back that I took between 1 August and 13 September. OK, they are on Flickr, but that means manual downloading - of 226 pics. Have been trying Recuva, but that leaves me with files that won't show the pics hidden therein.
In the evening, Muirneag's chugging along some 250 miles southwest of Athens, and 75 miles southwest of the Peloponnese in Greece. The ship will veer northeast in the course of the night and head up the Aegean towards Istanbul, where she is expected to arrive in the evening of Tuesday 15th October.
Saturday 12 October
Muirneag has reappeared on AIS, now near the island of Pentallaria, between Sicily and Tunisia. By tomorrow, she'll pass Malta before crossing the Ionian Sea into Greek waters.
A perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky. A moderate easterly breeze does not keep the mercury down; we're at 10C / 50F at the moment.
Trying to restore my system to the way it was until my harddisk crashed 11 days ago. Well, that's of course not possible. I've lost my bookmarks; my firewall software is suddenly incompatible with the version of Windows I was running previously, and I can't find my product key for MS Office. No, I'm not going to pay for it AGAIN. And here I am, installing Flashplayer, the very piece of garbage that gave me so much grief beforehand. Sometimes, computers just ain't worth it. Oh, one other nice job I have to do: manually download 116 pics from Flickr, which are the ones that I took after the backup and before my camera switched to a new folder. The old one of course I deleted from the memory card. Do I sound fed up? Whatever made you think that...
Also went to see an exhibition about peat in An Lanntair, where I took a few pics.
A perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky. A moderate easterly breeze does not keep the mercury down; we're at 10C / 50F at the moment.
Trying to restore my system to the way it was until my harddisk crashed 11 days ago. Well, that's of course not possible. I've lost my bookmarks; my firewall software is suddenly incompatible with the version of Windows I was running previously, and I can't find my product key for MS Office. No, I'm not going to pay for it AGAIN. And here I am, installing Flashplayer, the very piece of garbage that gave me so much grief beforehand. Sometimes, computers just ain't worth it. Oh, one other nice job I have to do: manually download 116 pics from Flickr, which are the ones that I took after the backup and before my camera switched to a new folder. The old one of course I deleted from the memory card. Do I sound fed up? Whatever made you think that...
Also went to see an exhibition about peat in An Lanntair, where I took a few pics.
Friday 11 October
Our ferry is back in Stornoway; the Hebrides is currently at Ullapool and will start to make its final crossing as relief vessel as of this afternoon. Our former freight ferry Muirneag last was picked up on AIS just before midnight last night, some 40 miles east northeast of Algiers. AIS coverage is sparse along the coast of Algeria, so there is no more recent sightings at present. On the 8th day of her journey to a new life, Muirneag is continuing to head east northeast in the Mediterranean, some 15 to 25 miles off the Algerian coast. At 11 this morning, she was located 250 miles west of Tunis and 220 miles east of Algiers. She will probably enter Tunisian waters around midnight tonight, after which she should start to show up on AIS monitoring stations in Sicily. Once past Crete, coverage is again poor across the Aegean, so I hope that I can follow Muirneag's progress on the last stages of her journey to Istanbul.
Nice bright and sunny day out here, and we've mostly lost the wind. Received my replacement hard drive, and am going through the motions of installing programs and updates, and later files. A number of things are (and will remain) missing. I did have some degree of back-up, but will have to up my game in that respect. This is a complete pain in the backside.
Nice bright and sunny day out here, and we've mostly lost the wind. Received my replacement hard drive, and am going through the motions of installing programs and updates, and later files. A number of things are (and will remain) missing. I did have some degree of back-up, but will have to up my game in that respect. This is a complete pain in the backside.
Thursday 10 October
Tropical cyclone Phailin is threatening eastern India, with winds of 95 knots. That's 110 mph in old money. Small wonder that the TC page on the Indian Weather Service page takes an age to load. The Philippines are bracing themselves for typhoon Nari, expected to hit Luzon with 85 knots (100 mph) in a few days' time. Meanwhile, the Atlantic hurricane season barely merits the name. Thus far.
This is the most ridiculous situation ever. A horse is kept in a rented home and last week the council said the doors had to be so wide and so high for the horse to stay in it. Excuse me? The only two places to keep a horse are in a field or in a stable. There are plenty of people desperate for a decent home, and they are not equine.
I am not able to provide a position update on our former freight ferry Muirneag, as she is currently out of range of AIS monitoring stations. My estimate is that she will be some 300 miles east of Gibraltar, off the coast of Algeria. I hope to receive a position update once Muirneag comes within range of Sardinia, Sicily or Lampedusa, on Friday or Saturday at the latest.
This is the most ridiculous situation ever. A horse is kept in a rented home and last week the council said the doors had to be so wide and so high for the horse to stay in it. Excuse me? The only two places to keep a horse are in a field or in a stable. There are plenty of people desperate for a decent home, and they are not equine.
I am not able to provide a position update on our former freight ferry Muirneag, as she is currently out of range of AIS monitoring stations. My estimate is that she will be some 300 miles east of Gibraltar, off the coast of Algeria. I hope to receive a position update once Muirneag comes within range of Sardinia, Sicily or Lampedusa, on Friday or Saturday at the latest.
Wednesday 9 October
Winds are blowing at force 7 from the north, with gusts as high as 55 mph. Temperature has taken a tumble, with the mercury now only in single figures at 9C / 48F. Spotted some hail in the showers earlier this morning. However, we are rewarded with some fantastic cloudscapes and lightshows so it's not all bad. Where's me woolly hat. Where's me mitts. Where's the antifreeze (do I need antifreeze, I don't run a car?!). Oh my word, it's Arctic out there...
Continuing to follow Muirneag's journey to her new home. She spent the night taking on fuel at Ceuta, across the Strait from Gibraltar, and left at 7.45 am on a course slightly north of east, currently 60 miles east of Gibraltar. Ceuta is, like its counterpart Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco. In the evening, Muirneag was 50 miles south of Almeria in Spain or 90 miles north northwest of the Moroccan-Algerian border. She is now entering a large blackspot on the AIS coverage, and I'll probably lose track of her until she approaches Sardinia and Sicily by Friday or Saturday.
Pirates of the Caribbean: sorry folks, those movies just turn into an unbelievable and unsufferable parody of itself. Film 1 was bearable, the other two just sank themselves.
Tuesday 8 October
Morning all from a dank and drizzly Stornoway, hey, what's this blinding orb in the southern sky? Following the journey of the Muirneag, which is now 60 miles west southwest of Cadiz in Spain and 100 miles west of Gibraltar. Muirneag is not exactly bombing it down the seas, so I expect her to cross into the Mediterranean tonight.
My sympathies go out to the family and friends of Steven Buchanan of Lionacleit, Benbecula, who died on Saturday when his lorry overturned as he was loading nets onto it. In a small community like Uist, every (unexpected) death is felt keenly by all there, and that echoes across the Sound of Harris.
My sympathies go out to the family and friends of Steven Buchanan of Lionacleit, Benbecula, who died on Saturday when his lorry overturned as he was loading nets onto it. In a small community like Uist, every (unexpected) death is felt keenly by all there, and that echoes across the Sound of Harris.
Monday 7 October
Wet and windy today, not a day for going out. Keeping an eye on Muirneag, which is now some 50 miles west of Lisbon in Portugal, likely to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar this evening or tonight.
Well, my new hard drive is on its way. I'm trying to pull files off the old hard disk, but it remains an unmitigated disaster. Taking 140 hours (see you next week), I don't think so. Oh well, as they say where I'm from: dry your tears and start again. No, I'm not blubbing my eyes out. But I'm heartily pissed off with it all. Yes, I've been very kindly given the use of someone's PC, thanks. But it's not the same, is it. — feeling pissed off.
This evening, Muirneag is now 60 miles southwest of Setubal in Portugal and 250 miles northwest of Gibraltar. She will pass into the Mediterranean tomorrow, and hope to be able to spot her on some Gibraltar webcam.
Well, my new hard drive is on its way. I'm trying to pull files off the old hard disk, but it remains an unmitigated disaster. Taking 140 hours (see you next week), I don't think so. Oh well, as they say where I'm from: dry your tears and start again. No, I'm not blubbing my eyes out. But I'm heartily pissed off with it all. Yes, I've been very kindly given the use of someone's PC, thanks. But it's not the same, is it. — feeling pissed off.
This evening, Muirneag is now 60 miles southwest of Setubal in Portugal and 250 miles northwest of Gibraltar. She will pass into the Mediterranean tomorrow, and hope to be able to spot her on some Gibraltar webcam.
Sunday 6 October
The Hebrides came into Stornoway at midday to take up the run from the Isle of Lewis, which is currently in Greenock for repairs. A creel had become entangled with the prop of the IoL, causing damage to hull and prop.
The former freight ferry Muirneag is making its way south across the Bay of Biscay, and was located off Cape Finisterre, northwestern Spain, by late evening.
The former freight ferry Muirneag is making its way south across the Bay of Biscay, and was located off Cape Finisterre, northwestern Spain, by late evening.
Saturday, 5 October 2013
Saturday 5 October
An overcast and at times wet day, with the wind picking up to force 6 in the evening. Our ferry, the Isle of Lewis decided to break her propshaft last night, so she couldn't go out. Although she still has one engine to run on, this still means she can't carry passengers. At midday, the ferry departed for Greenock (near Glasgow) for repairs, and there was no ferry service to Ullapool today at all. Meantime, the Hebrides, which does the run between Uig and Tarbert (Harris) will be deployed to our waters tomorrow, and the Finlaggan (which normally does the Islay run) will go to the Uig - Tarbert/Lochmaddy triangle today. After last winter's shenanigans, the Finlaggan is really popular there. I'm being sarcastic; there were more cancellations than sailings, and I could just about hear the collective moan from the Uists this afternoon when that name was mentioned. The Isle of Lewis will be out of action for a number of days, even now she has only just passed Oban on her way to Glasgow - am expecting her there by midday tomorrow.
Meanwhile, our former freight ferry, Muirneag, is now far from her old home and further from land than she has been for a long time. Although currently out of range of AIS monitoring stations, her last position was 200 miles westsouthwest of Brest, France, in the Bay of Biscay. I'm expecting her past Cape Finisterre (northwestern Spain) by tomorrow evening, and through the Straits of Gibraltar on Tuesday. I'll continue to follow her journey until she arrives safely into Istanbul, which is anticipated on October 16th.
Meanwhile, our former freight ferry, Muirneag, is now far from her old home and further from land than she has been for a long time. Although currently out of range of AIS monitoring stations, her last position was 200 miles westsouthwest of Brest, France, in the Bay of Biscay. I'm expecting her past Cape Finisterre (northwestern Spain) by tomorrow evening, and through the Straits of Gibraltar on Tuesday. I'll continue to follow her journey until she arrives safely into Istanbul, which is anticipated on October 16th.
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