Picture post - 14 May

11.50 pm last night, looking north. Yes, that's daylight on the horizon.


4.33 am this morning


Familiar boat: the Cuma back on the slipway, 3 years after spending 11 weeks on there

Sundown notes

The sun is setting here in the Western Isles - yep, it's nearly 10 pm and it's still broad daylight. Come midnight, the sun will still be leaving a streak of light on the northern horizon. It's that time of the year again when I'll be watching the 10 o'clock news on the BBC with news from London, where it is pitch black. And I'm still seeing the pink of the sunset reflected in the lighthouse tower across the water.

I am quietly amazed tonight at the negative reactions to the announcement that we are going to have a Sunday ferry at long last. For the period that I've been here, I've been arguing in favour. And now that it will definitely happen, people start to cast around for who to blame. What are people like.

For the first time in a fortnight, I've gone round some of the blogs. Didn't get round to it when I was in Holland. Many thanks to Sugar for keeping the light on over at Call for Support.

Thursday 14 May

We have some big news in the island this afternoon: Lewis and Harris are going to get a ferry on Sunday! Question is now when this will be introduced.

Calmac have declared that under human rights legislation, it would be unlawful not to give the islands a Sunday ferry. Local consultation will start very soon, following which timetables for the Sunday ferry will be published. Not earlier.

The Lord's Day Observance Society, which is fiercely opposed to the Sunday ferry service, have promised to fight Calmac for placing the law of money over the law of God.

Neurological disorder

I would like to use my blog postings to raise awareness of two progressive neurological disorders called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, and CBD, or Cortico Basal Degeneration. I was pointed to a support group, the PSP Association, which does valuable work here in the UK to support both patients, carers and health professionals to deal with those conditions. There is no treatment or cure for either.

With thanks to John of Silversprite.com for raising awareness.

Sunk

The fishing boat Kalahari sank this afternoon, just as the Coastguard helicopter was in the process of putting a pump on board to stop the ingress of water. Stornoway Coastguard was contacted at 4.39pm this afternoon with the message that the other boat was sinking near the Sound of Harris, and deployed the helicopter. Just as the winchman had been lowered down onto the deck of the Kalahari, the boat went down and both winchman and fisherman ended up in the water. They were both safely taken out by the helicopter and returned to Stornoway for medical checks.

Source: MCGA

Vaccines, cancer and teenagers

Promised you a post on those subjects, so here goes.
Last week, an on-line acquaintance published a blogpost (to which I am not going to link) with links to some very extreme if not positively extremist views on the issue of vaccination and consent. I'm not going to specifically reply to the content behind the links, but instead will make some broader points.

An American boy of 16 was diagnosed with leukaemia (blood cancer), and was prescribed chemotherapy. That is never pleasant, and the young man was predictably quite sick as a result. When the time came for a second course, his parents refused to give consent for the treatment, saying they would take their child to a herbal therapist instead. The doctors involved in his care took his parents to court and obtained an injunction, forcing them to submit their child for treatment. They have been accused of medical terrorism by some.

A child of 16 is close to adulthood, in my view, and under British law, a child aged 12 or over will normally be consulted on treatment. I agree with the doctors that withholding treatment from a cancer sufferer will severely jeopardise that patient's life. Whether a court order is the way forward I very much doubt. As far as I am aware, forced treatment is possible in cases of mental illness, in cases where danger exists for patient and / or the public at large.

The second point concerns the vaccination against Human Papilloma Virus HPV, which is currently being introduced for young teenage girls. HPV is implicated in the development of cervical cancer, and is sexually transmitted. Quite a few parents baulk at the prospect of their 13-year old being vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease, fearing it would suggest to their daughter that she is at liberty to have sex without having to fear for the consequences. Although I don't have kids of my own, I feel that it is up to the parents (and schools) to give proper sex education to their children, including the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases and what to do to prevent contracting these. They should also advise their daughters how to view the HPV vaccinations.

Tuesday 13 May

Bright and sunny, as I watch the ferry coming in on its customary lunchtime call. Visibility is excellent, with the hills of the Applecross Forest (not a tree there, incidentally) loom up from 60 miles away across the water.

There is a possibility that the ferry might start sailing on a Sunday, which (at the moment) it does not do. Lewis has a strong tradition of Sabbath observance, and there is a groundswell of opinion against sailings on a Sunday. However, in recent years, voices have become louder to sail 7 days a week, if only to alleviate capacity problems on the ferry and for social reasons. On Thursday, executives from the ferry company are here to discuss this matter with involved bodies like the local council and the Lord's Day Observance Society.

Take off

I shot these 3 minutes off video footage as my plane took off from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, yesterday. Hope you enjoy.

Tuesday 12 May

Finally arrived into Stornoway at 7pm last night, and shared a taxi with two pleasant ladies who wouldn't hear of me paying my share of the fare. Thank you both, hope the local hotel was to your satisfaction. I'd been on the road for 14 hours, so pretty shattered - an early night was called for.

Awoke this morning to bright blue skies and brilliant sunshine. Visibility very good, I can just about make out the Applecross Forest, which lies 60 miles away to the southeast. When flying north last night, I could make out some snow on the higher mountain tops near the Rannoch Moor; the tops near the coast (like Slioch, east of Gairloch) were snow free.

I'm going to spend today recovering from yesterday's journey. I enjoyed it very much, but a 5.30 start needs catching up on. When I have sorted out the pictures and videos I took yesterday, I'll put them on a next entry.

En route

Left home at 6.15 am this morning, and joined the train to the airport at 6.45. This took me there on time (for a change), and that has (so far) been the theme. On leaving Amsterdam at 10, we flew right down the westcoast as far south as Walcheren, then veered west towards Gatwick. Once there, it was a speedy transit to the Glasgow plane, and that showed me it's a beautiful sunny day right across the UK. As I said on Twitter, it was fun flying up the M1 motorway at 550 mph with impunity. The Lake District was laid out in all its glory, and updrafts from the mountains juggled the plane a wee bit. In Glasgow as I type this, and awaiting my onward connection to Stornoway, which is due at 6pm, in four and a half hours' time.

Remind me

To write about vaccinations, cancer treatment and teenagers when I'm back in Stornoway next week.

Hurricane update 4 May

Typhoon Kujira has left the Philippines, leaving behind the usual trail of floods and destruction. It is currently roaring its way through the Pacific, far south of Japan. The storm is carrying winds of a trifling 115 knots (that's in excess of 130 mph), with gusts of 140 knots (160 mph) near the centre. The Japanese outposts of Iwo To (formerly Iwo Jima) and Chichi Jima will see a slightly weaker incarnation of the storm on Wednesday.

The Philippines weather agency should look over its shoulder. Rather than wave good-bye to Dante (the Philippines' name of Kujira), they want to monitor tropical storm Chan-hom. This system is gathering strength in the South China Sea, east of Vietnam, and could batter the Philippino island of Luzon later in the week, possibly as a typhoon. A typhoon is the same as a hurricane by the way. As I indicated above, it is lethal floods that present the greatest problem with tropical systems in the Philippines, and I am looking forward to see a bulletin from PAGASA by morning.

Normal blogging is currently on the Shell Gallery, as I'm in Holland.

Serious incident in Holland

Please switch to the Shell Gallery.

Paper Moon

The yacht I referred to in a previous entry has been located in the island of Bonaire, and its owner is flying home to his family.

Emergency message

Copied from stormcarib.com - please relay

For all you sailors out there, we have an emergency message for the Sailing Yacht "Paper Moon".
The man that bought Paper Moon is not answering emails, cell phone or satellite phone. His family has a major emergency and he is desperate to find him. The lone owner/crew is Juan C., and is believed to be somewhere between Culebra and Colombia.

PAPER MOON is a Morgan Out Island 36 foot sloop,
Name on stern is Paper Moon, N. Miami Beach.
White with blue canvas.
On stern solar panels,
wind generator,
dinghy on davits a West Marine with 18 hp Toshiba.

Please send emails to boaters throughout the Caribbean.

Email DearMissMermaid [at] aol [dot] com, if you have any sightings or info, I have additional info for the owner/crew of Paper Moon.

Flat on your face

Lori is telling us the story how she landed flat on her face yesterday. No real damage done, I should hastily add.

In the winter of '78/'79, I was trying to go to school on my bicycle in deep snow, with a half-inch layer of ice on top. Decided not to proceed further when I saw that big hill I had to go down to reach the school. However, when I reached the driveway at home, it all went wrong on me. Bike went first, then I went on my knees, then my hands, then my face hit the deck. Fortunately, it happened very slowly.

In 2001, I was visiting the Italian city of Naples, when I wanted to catch a tram to return to my lodgings. I ran for it, but tripped over the cobbled pavement and went for a flyer. Fortunately, my shoulderbag was hanging in front of me so I landed on that. Without said bag, I would have ended up with some damage, I'd imagine .

Monday 27 April

I'm going to start with a couple of one liners.

• The day started out grey, overcast and wet, but the sun just came out.
• Anyone else having fun putting in their new Sky viewing card? Ain't working this end.
• Swine flu is on the top of everybody's agenda - let's hope it can be contained.
• If you're on Twitter, bear in mind that the number of tweets can overwhelm you if you follow hundreds if not thousands of people. And please refrain from repeating yourself 4 times over with the same message on that forum.
  

Not directed at any of my usual readers, just throwing a barb at something that is irritating me: just the fact that someone is at the forefront of an Internet development doesn't mean that the rest of us who are quietly tagging along in the mainstream, barely aware of this brave new world, are all numpties.

Tomorrow, I am not going to be around on-line as I'm travelling to Holland. Friday is the first anniversary of my mother's death - as of Wednesday, you can find me on The Shell Gallery. Because my Twitter activity tends to be heavily focused on matters local, here in the Isle of Lewis, I shall most likely not be there after today. I will see if I can get Facebook to work for me again; I'm finding it hopelessly cluttered, with all sorts of apps chirping for attention - sorry folks.
Normal service will resume in 2 weeks from now, on May 12th, when I am back in the islands and back to posting on Atlantic Lines and as @adb44 on Twitter.

Local History file

The three previous entries are a mission statement on my work on areas of local history for the island of Lewis. The First World War had a large influence on the island, one that cannot be overstated. The loss of nearly 1,300 men, constituting one out of every twelve alive at the time dealt a savage blow to this small community of barely 30,000 in 1914 (nowadays it is about 20,000). The impact of the Iolaire Disaster cannot be overstated either. In placing my and others' findings on the Internet I hope to make this material available to anyone across the world with an interest in them. I also aim to keep alive the memory of the 1,300 who died in the First War and the 400 lost in the Second. Their sacrifice helped shape the world we know today, and ensured your and my liberty.

Local History file - Faces from the Lewis War Memorial

The victims of the Iolaire Disaster constitute a sizeable proportion of all those from the island who died in the First World War. It was a small step to extend the work for the Iolaire to the whole of the First World War. I started off by photographing the panels on the Lewis War Memorial, which stands just north of Stornoway. They show the names of all who fell in WW1 and WW2. However, those listings are incomplete.

Loyal Lewis Roll of Honour 1914-1918 adds quite a few more names, as well as 400 portrait photographs, which I scanned in. This publication does not supply a large amount of information on the men concerned, but that is easily amended by cross referencing with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. It is most fortunate that accurate address references are given for many of the casualties, greatly increasing the accuracy of any matches. Many islanders had emigrated to Canada and Australia, and the National Archives of both those nations yielded a lot of background information. Another source are local war memorials, of which there are about 16 outside Stornoway.

Hebridean Connections, a website that is being expanded to include information from all corners of the Western Isles, currently provides information for the districts of Uig, Kinloch, Pairc and Great Bernera, allowing for another layer of cross-referencing and additional information. Finally, the islands graveyards once more added further information, yielding approximately 350 gravestones. At time of writing, there are 1286 names on the list for the First World War.

Faces from the Lewis War Memorial
Scottish War Memorial Project
Scottish War Graves Project

Local History file - The Iolaire Disaster

The former private yacht Amalthea, rechristened HMY Iolaire [Eagle], was sent to Kyle of Lochalsh on 31 December 1918 to assist in the returning home of servicemen from Lewis and Harris. This was done because the normal ferry, SS Sheila, could not accommodate the hundreds that were amassed on the quayside at Kyle. Iolaire left port at 7.30 pm, and was approaching Stornoway some 6 hours later in poor weather conditions when she struck rocks on the Beasts of Holm, 2 miles south of the town. More than 200 drowned, the bodies of whom washed up on shores up to 5 miles away. Some 60 were never recovered. The exact cause and circumstances of this sinking are still not entirely clear, and Admiralty files on the incident are closed.

The Stornoway Historical Society were very helpful in supplying me with the names of those involved in the tragedy. In turn, I placed the list of names on the Internet, adding as much information as I could find in local and Internet sources. I also established a simple website, outlining the circumstances of the disaster and a link to the aforementioned list. This has since been augmented by portrait photographs of the men concerned, as scanned from Loyal Lewis Roll of Honour 1914-1918. Because the Iolaire went down a few hours after midnight on 1 January 1919, the First World War is held to have ended in 1919 in the island, rather than 1918 as is the case elsewhere in the UK. I have visited the island’s graveyards to photograph gravestones to the victims of the Iolaire Disaster, and those pictures have been included on the extended listings site.

http://www.adb422006.com/iolaire.html
http://iolaire1919.blogspot.com/
http://www.adb422006.com/Iolairelist.htm