Over in the States, the House of Representatives has passed a Bill, aimed to alter the way people in the US can access healthcare. Until now, about 20% of US citizens did not have access to healthcare insurance for various reasons. President Obama has fought hard to get this legislation passed, and it has proven to be a seriously divisive issue in America.
I was absolutely stunned to note the ferocity of the opposition to this law, and (to my untutored mind) appears to centre on the average American's distrust of the state and unwillingness to pay tax. There is also an attitude, going back to the 19th century, that everybody has to stand up for themselves (as nobody else would do so), and people who will not or cannot are just lazy lay-abouts. The S-word has also come up (socialism), and the fact that some fear the prospect that the USA will become like a European nanny state.
I am heavily biased, as living in one of those European nanny states, where you can access healthcare without it costing you an arm and a leg. The only contributions (at point of uptake) that you can be expected to make in primary care are for medicines and dentistry. Otherwise, you make national insurance contributions, as employer as well as employees, which pays in large measure for healthcare in the UK.
Over in Holland, there is a system where people pay a compulsory premium to the healthcare system (not in tax, but directly). In addition, depending on income, you may be compelled to take out private healthcare insurance. In the UK, private healthcare insurance is optional and often seen to be the prerogative of the rich.
Generally speaking, it is a government's duty to look after the wellfare of its citizens, and to make sure that mechanisms are in place which will enable said citizens to access healthcare. Those that are financially unable to do so, should be offered a way to get the healthcare they need. To deny a full 20% of the population access to healthcare insurance is neglectful (and I'm deliberately omitting choice adjectives before neglectful) and a dereliction of duty.
It is time for America to move out of the pioneer era, out of the wagons, the period of the Injuns and the US Cavalry. Out of the McCarthy era, with its shameful persecutions of people who were deemed to be holding left-wing sympathies. It is time for everybody to take responsibility for those who are less fortunate, through no fault of their own. Join the 21st century.
Monday, 22 March 2010
Monday 22 March
A brightish day with strong winds and the odd light shower. Nice rainbows, but because the sun is now higher in the sky, the rainbows remain low in the sky. When the sun is higher than 46° (halfway up) in the sky, a rainbow cannot be seen as it will be "below the horizon".
I am not a happy bunny today, because my laptop has decided to revert to its old, bad ways of giving me an aberrant colour display. It is not quite as bad as before, but it is very tiring to be subjected to abnormal colours.
Like so:
A frightening incident has taken more than 2 months to come to public attention. A motorist was trapped in her car as it was stuck under the bumper of a lorry on the A1 near Wetherby, Yorkshire. It took a full minute for the lorry driver to finally notice something was wrong. Someone took video footage of the incident (see the BBC link). The company has said that since the footage emerged, a week ago, they have taken the driver involved off the road. The police are considering what action to take.
I am not a happy bunny today, because my laptop has decided to revert to its old, bad ways of giving me an aberrant colour display. It is not quite as bad as before, but it is very tiring to be subjected to abnormal colours.
Like so:
A frightening incident has taken more than 2 months to come to public attention. A motorist was trapped in her car as it was stuck under the bumper of a lorry on the A1 near Wetherby, Yorkshire. It took a full minute for the lorry driver to finally notice something was wrong. Someone took video footage of the incident (see the BBC link). The company has said that since the footage emerged, a week ago, they have taken the driver involved off the road. The police are considering what action to take.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Sunday 21 March
It's Sunday, so it's very quiet. The weather started out wet this morning, but after a couple of showers, the afternoon remained dry and not too cold. The mercury reached 10C, but is receding as darkness falls. Went out for a walk round my area of Stornoway. It is mainly industrial, with a powerstation and several defunct Harris Tweed mills. Not beautiful, but I've seen worse.
Defunct mill
Cat in window
Memorial to naval base at Battery Point
Battery Point powerstation
Iceland saw a volcanic eruption in the early hours of the morning. It caused great disruption to national and international flights, but could potentially trigger a larger eruption of a nearby volcano.
Australia's Queensland coast is recovering after cyclone Ului struck in the early hours of Sunday morning local time. Winds peaked at 106 mph, but the storm quickly lost its puff as it moved over land. Rainfall totals have exceeded 16 inches, adding to the existing flooding problems in the state. The remnant of Ului is moving west across Queensland towards Northern Territories.
Defunct mill
Cat in window
Memorial to naval base at Battery Point
Battery Point powerstation
Iceland saw a volcanic eruption in the early hours of the morning. It caused great disruption to national and international flights, but could potentially trigger a larger eruption of a nearby volcano.
Australia's Queensland coast is recovering after cyclone Ului struck in the early hours of Sunday morning local time. Winds peaked at 106 mph, but the storm quickly lost its puff as it moved over land. Rainfall totals have exceeded 16 inches, adding to the existing flooding problems in the state. The remnant of Ului is moving west across Queensland towards Northern Territories.
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Pilots, Turks and Hurricanes
Back in 2007, pioneer aviator Steve Fossett went missing in the Nevada desert. He had left an airfield and never came back. You may remember the extensive search efforts, even involving Internet users (like myself) who were asked to scan images on Google Earth for anything resembling a crashed aircraft.
You had to subscribe to Amazon's Mechanical Turk programme, which I duly did, and off I went perusing dozens and dozens of pictures of desert as seen from space. Several plane wrecks were located using this technique, but not Steve Fossett's. His plane, and remains, were located more than a year later, in November 2008.
After I got enough of staring at all shades of colour between brown, green and grey, I ventured into other areas of the Mechanical Turk. You can do all sorts of mind-numbingly dumb chores for which you get paid a couple of dollar cents a go. The more challenging tasks can earn you a few dozen cents, and the big jobs several whole dollars. In the end, I had accumulated nearly $12 in Amazon gift vouchers.
I then came across dearmissmermaid, an Internet blogger from the island of Tortola in the Caribbean. She had written a book, called Hurricanes and Hangovers, which I could purchase from Amazon. However, I could only use the gift vouchers on Amazon US. So, off I went to buy the book all the way from the States. It would cost me more than $28, but the Mechanical Turk knocked off those $12, so it's down to about £10.
When the book arrived earlier this week, it was annotated that it had been produced for me on 6 March 2010 in Lexington KY. I've let DMM know that I'm thoroughly enjoying her book - I'm not going to link, as I've done more promotion in one post than I've done for many a month.
You had to subscribe to Amazon's Mechanical Turk programme, which I duly did, and off I went perusing dozens and dozens of pictures of desert as seen from space. Several plane wrecks were located using this technique, but not Steve Fossett's. His plane, and remains, were located more than a year later, in November 2008.
After I got enough of staring at all shades of colour between brown, green and grey, I ventured into other areas of the Mechanical Turk. You can do all sorts of mind-numbingly dumb chores for which you get paid a couple of dollar cents a go. The more challenging tasks can earn you a few dozen cents, and the big jobs several whole dollars. In the end, I had accumulated nearly $12 in Amazon gift vouchers.
I then came across dearmissmermaid, an Internet blogger from the island of Tortola in the Caribbean. She had written a book, called Hurricanes and Hangovers, which I could purchase from Amazon. However, I could only use the gift vouchers on Amazon US. So, off I went to buy the book all the way from the States. It would cost me more than $28, but the Mechanical Turk knocked off those $12, so it's down to about £10.
When the book arrived earlier this week, it was annotated that it had been produced for me on 6 March 2010 in Lexington KY. I've let DMM know that I'm thoroughly enjoying her book - I'm not going to link, as I've done more promotion in one post than I've done for many a month.
Hurricane update - 20 March (2)
Tropical cyclone Ului is approaching the coastline of Queensland as I type (1520 GMT). I was fascinated if horrified to read the continual updates from the weather station at Hamilton Island, just off Proserpine, which reported winds of 172 km/h (that's 107 mph), with gusts to 202 km/h (126 mph). The 0900 GMT forecast from JTWC was miles out with regards to strength: they were talking about sustained winds of 60 mph with gusts of 80 mph.
The last update, from 15 minutes ago, showed winds abating (I suppose 80 mph is less bad than 107 mph) at Hamilton Island, but beginning to pick up at Proserpine, 25 miles to the east on the mainland. It is an interesting demonstration how localised a phenomenon a tropical cyclone is.
The last update, from 15 minutes ago, showed winds abating (I suppose 80 mph is less bad than 107 mph) at Hamilton Island, but beginning to pick up at Proserpine, 25 miles to the east on the mainland. It is an interesting demonstration how localised a phenomenon a tropical cyclone is.
Saturday 20 March
A bright and sunny morning, if a tad on the breezy side. It's not cold, with the temperature already into double figures at 10 am. Started the day by washing the salt off the windows - couldn't see a thing. Who needs net curtains if you can have a gale and seaspray.
The freighter Wilson Dover, which was in distress in galeforce conditions off Cape Wrath yesterday, was safely towed into Kirkwall, Orkney. The coastguard tug Anglian Sovereign managed to get the ship alongside the Hatston terminal north of the town at 8 am this morning.
With reference to the Battle at Culloden, April 1746, a military historian has called for a memorial to be erected in memory of the soldiers who fought on the side of the Duke of Cumberland, in opposition to the Jacobite forces, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Not much is being made of the Red Coats, as all the attention is focused on BPC. I have previously made clear that I feel that the Jacobite prince was a royal fool and incompetent to a catastrophic degree. Whilst the clan system was already on the way out in the mid 18th century, Charlie's actions served to give the Hannoverian forces the pretext they needed to go on the rampage in the Highlands and Islands.
Culloden is often marked as the occasion which marked the end of the Scotland of old. Well, in 1707, Scotland had already ceased to be an independent nation, by virtue of the merger of the Scottish Parliament into the Westminster one in London. The rebellions by the Old Pretender in 1715 and his son, the Young Pretender, in 1746, served no purpose. To this day, the people in the Highlands and Islands can be claimed to feel the effects of the disaster that was Culloden, without a doubt.
Comparing Scotland to Norway, as some politicians like to do, throws up some unpleasant home truths. The remote areas in Norway are supported, if necessary subsidised, by the government in Oslo. The remote areas of Scotland are not supported to any degree like that of the Norwegians. The fish farming industry is a case in point, where plants and companies have been taken over by foreign parties - to be closed down and asset stripped. The Norwegians would never allow that to happen in e.g. the Lofoten Islands. So, why does the Scottish Government or indeed the British Government permit it?
No, I'm not a Scottish nationalist. Far from it. Regular readers are aware of my provenance. This post is merely one of my pet hates, the elevation of Prince Charles Edward to the status of near-sainthood in Scottish history. The man was an unmitigated disaster for Scotland.
The freighter Wilson Dover, which was in distress in galeforce conditions off Cape Wrath yesterday, was safely towed into Kirkwall, Orkney. The coastguard tug Anglian Sovereign managed to get the ship alongside the Hatston terminal north of the town at 8 am this morning.
With reference to the Battle at Culloden, April 1746, a military historian has called for a memorial to be erected in memory of the soldiers who fought on the side of the Duke of Cumberland, in opposition to the Jacobite forces, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Not much is being made of the Red Coats, as all the attention is focused on BPC. I have previously made clear that I feel that the Jacobite prince was a royal fool and incompetent to a catastrophic degree. Whilst the clan system was already on the way out in the mid 18th century, Charlie's actions served to give the Hannoverian forces the pretext they needed to go on the rampage in the Highlands and Islands.
Culloden is often marked as the occasion which marked the end of the Scotland of old. Well, in 1707, Scotland had already ceased to be an independent nation, by virtue of the merger of the Scottish Parliament into the Westminster one in London. The rebellions by the Old Pretender in 1715 and his son, the Young Pretender, in 1746, served no purpose. To this day, the people in the Highlands and Islands can be claimed to feel the effects of the disaster that was Culloden, without a doubt.
Comparing Scotland to Norway, as some politicians like to do, throws up some unpleasant home truths. The remote areas in Norway are supported, if necessary subsidised, by the government in Oslo. The remote areas of Scotland are not supported to any degree like that of the Norwegians. The fish farming industry is a case in point, where plants and companies have been taken over by foreign parties - to be closed down and asset stripped. The Norwegians would never allow that to happen in e.g. the Lofoten Islands. So, why does the Scottish Government or indeed the British Government permit it?
No, I'm not a Scottish nationalist. Far from it. Regular readers are aware of my provenance. This post is merely one of my pet hates, the elevation of Prince Charles Edward to the status of near-sainthood in Scottish history. The man was an unmitigated disaster for Scotland.
Hurricane update - 20 March
Tropical cyclone Ului is now approaching the Queensland coast of Australia, and I'm a bit concerned about the news from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Forecasts from the past few hours suggest the cyclone is intensifying, which contradicts the forecast from the Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). Their predictions keep Ului at tropical storm strength, with winds of 55 knots, 65 mph. BOM Australia is currently putting the storm's intensity at 65 knots and increasing. Ului is forecast to make landfall near Proserpine, with a margin of error stretching from Mackay in the south to Ayr in the north. The coastline from Yeppoon to Cardwell is under a tropical cyclone warning (map). Residents are strongly advised to follow the tropical cyclone advices from the BOM, and listen to ABC Tropical Queensland for updates.
Friday, 19 March 2010
Forever for sale
I was once again travelling the island by Google Streetview this evening, when I decide to head down the Eishken Road. About 3 miles in, there is this ruin of a house, in a glorious location overlooking the head of Loch Seaforth. It has come down in price over the years, from about £25,000 in 2005 to £13,000 today, in 2010. No facilities on site at all. Why doesn't it shift? I mean, it would perfectly suit a hermit, a holiday home, or someone wanting to be away from it all. Well, there is the minor matter of a windfarm with 33 turbines, each 500 feet high which will be constructed on the hills on the other side of Loch Seaforth.
Leaving monstrosities like a windfarm to one side, there are other reasons why houses don't sell. The house shown in this picture, which stands in Ness, has also been for sale for at least the duration I've been here. It requires such an enormous amount of work, that demolition is probably the cheapest option. Sometimes houses are not put up for sale for years. The reason is quite often that the occupants have passed away, but there is a dispute of subsequent ownership. Or nobody knows who the owner is. I'll never forget the description of the interior of a house that was put up for sale some 14 years after the last occupant had died. Newspapers, dating back to the 1930s, were still present. The man's caps were neatly piled up, and everything was still the way it was the day he died, in 1991. More often than not, houses fall into rack and ruin.
Evening notes
Just before darkness fell, a flutter of large, whitish wings caught my attention in the backyard. It flew into the hedge, which is home to many small birds, flew out at high speed and back in again. In the end, the bird sat down outside the hedge and I could see what it was: a sparrowhawk. Small wonder the blackbird was panicking. I did not have my camera on me, and the light conditions were way too poor to be able to take pictures at any rate.
The below image shows a gull taking advantage of the force 8 conditions this morning.
Although we have had fewer gales this winter than average, it is still a relief for boat owners that they can put their vessels on hard standing during the winter months. By 1 May, they will have to be back in the water.
Friday 19 March
The above map has been cropped from AIS Northern Scotland. The MV Wilson Dover has run into mechanical problems amidst a force 9 gale and an 8 metre (27 ft) swell. The MV Anglian Sovereign is a coastguard tug, which has come to the aid of the Wilson Dover out of Kirkwall, some 45 miles to the east, trying to tow the ship to safety in Orkney. Conditions are so horrendous that to even attempt to attach a towline is proving well-nigh impossible. STV alerted me to the rescue. The location is some 50 miles north of Cape Wrath, the farthest point northwest in mainland Britain; approximately 100 miles northeast of Stornoway.
Today has been a wild day, and the weather is taking its time in calming down. The day dawned with a force 8 gale here in Stornoway, and conditions so poor that the early morning sailing of our ferry was cancelled. The wind is slowly subsiding, currently at force 6 with winds of 25 mph, but not out at sea it would appear.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Thursday 18 March
Overcast, wet and windy. With a temperature of 9C, we're lagging behind the rest of the country. Can't say it bothers me very much; I prefer the cooler weather.
Here in the islands, a ferocious row is going on in the Isle of Barra, 120 miles south of Stornoway. The school in the main town, Castlebay, has been receiving less than favourable reports from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Education, now for 3 years in a row. Parents are concerned and so are the pupils. A local internet blog highlighting the issue received 100 comments, whereas commonly the number of comments on its entries is around a dozen or so. More remarkable is that the Council blocked access to the blog from computers at the school in Castlebay. In spite of a visitation by a senior education official, parents’ and students’ fears are by no means allayed, and a move could be afoot to wrench control of the school from the council to the community. This would require the consent of the Scottish Government.
A report has been published in which the deathtoll of the bombing of the German city of Dresden in February 1945 has been put at 25,000. During three nights, British and American planes bombed the city in the east of Germany, raising a firestorm as a result. Neo-nazis have put the deathtoll as high as half a million, a claim disputed by the report's authors. They say that far fewer refugees from the east, who had been fleeing the advancing Red Army, had been in the city. Critics have claimed that the bombardment served no military purpose, but others have said that Dresden was an important logistical centre at the time.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Missing - bad outcome
Contents warning: may upset
A few days ago, I noticed a tweet from Sarah Brown, the wife of the UK prime minister Gordon Brown, that a 12-year old girl from Dordrecht, Holland, had been reported missing. A poster was linked to, provided by the Dutch national police.
Today, I received an email from my father, who is not on Twitter, saying that a girl of 12 was found murdered in Dordrecht. She had been taken across the street by a neighbour, killed and buried in the man's garden. He was a police officer. The Dutch national police fear a backlash against their officers, who are there to protect and serve.
Some of you are deeply involved with the Amber Alerts that go out for missing children. This was an Amber Alert, which can now be stood down. Unfortunately, for the wrong reason.
A few days ago, I noticed a tweet from Sarah Brown, the wife of the UK prime minister Gordon Brown, that a 12-year old girl from Dordrecht, Holland, had been reported missing. A poster was linked to, provided by the Dutch national police.
Today, I received an email from my father, who is not on Twitter, saying that a girl of 12 was found murdered in Dordrecht. She had been taken across the street by a neighbour, killed and buried in the man's garden. He was a police officer. The Dutch national police fear a backlash against their officers, who are there to protect and serve.
Some of you are deeply involved with the Amber Alerts that go out for missing children. This was an Amber Alert, which can now be stood down. Unfortunately, for the wrong reason.
Wednesday 17 March
Pretty wild day and pretty wet at times. Got myself out to the Post Office to send off the letter to New Zealand I blogged about last night. Expect it to take a week to reach NZ, two weeks for the query to be sorted and another week for the result to reach me. Popped into the supermarket for a few items, and you have an express checkout available if you have less than 10 items. Well, people think that the express check-out is there if you bring your shopping in a basket. Even if it has like twenty items in it. Rant over.
Australia's northeastern coast should get worried about tropical cyclone Ului, which has been making ominous noises near the Solomon Islands for the past couple of days. The storm will head towards Queensland, but is expected to weaken to category I (on the Saffir Simpson scale) before making landfall in a few days from now.
Australia's northeastern coast should get worried about tropical cyclone Ului, which has been making ominous noises near the Solomon Islands for the past couple of days. The storm will head towards Queensland, but is expected to weaken to category I (on the Saffir Simpson scale) before making landfall in a few days from now.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Snapvine Voice Comments
In my sidebar is an option where you can leave comments by telephone. A few of you have done so early last year (thank you!), but the website (snapvine.com) that provides this service will be closing down at the end of March - and I'll be removing that feature from the sidebar by then.
Tuesday 16 March
Having spent most of the day on this computer, I have yet to post a blog entry. Well, it's 10.40pm, might as well do it now, before I retire for the night.
The day started well, with my camera back from repairs. It was back in working order, even though I had to adjust all the settings back to the way I want them. I could now finally also put the new strap on, which I had bought back in February, just before the thing broke.
I spent the day transcribing the roll of honour plaque in the Uig Community Centre at Erista, which (it being 500 names long) took me a while. My contact over there, meanwhile, appears to be drowning in the St Kilda Centre. It says enough that UNESCO is going to get involved. The St Kilda Centre (Ionad Hiort) is going to be built between the villages of Mangersta and Islivig, on a site from where the islands of St Kilda can be discerned on a clear day. Two other locations, Leverburgh in Harris and Cleitreabhal in North Uist, were also in contention, but were deemed (by consultants Jura) to be less suitable. The acrimony that this created at the end of 2009 has by no means subsided.
View of the Mangersta cliffs from near the proposed site of the St Kilda Centre
I was also pointed to a new resource on New Zealand casualties from the First World War. I have duly sent off for the records of one New Zealander, who (according to my information) has island roots. My files state that Angus Macdonald came from 1 Islivig. Nobody, not even the local historical society, has been able to give me much information, so I've decided to jump in at the deep end and request information all the way from Wellington, New Zealand. Am expecting this back in the course of April.
Islivig
The day started well, with my camera back from repairs. It was back in working order, even though I had to adjust all the settings back to the way I want them. I could now finally also put the new strap on, which I had bought back in February, just before the thing broke.
I spent the day transcribing the roll of honour plaque in the Uig Community Centre at Erista, which (it being 500 names long) took me a while. My contact over there, meanwhile, appears to be drowning in the St Kilda Centre. It says enough that UNESCO is going to get involved. The St Kilda Centre (Ionad Hiort) is going to be built between the villages of Mangersta and Islivig, on a site from where the islands of St Kilda can be discerned on a clear day. Two other locations, Leverburgh in Harris and Cleitreabhal in North Uist, were also in contention, but were deemed (by consultants Jura) to be less suitable. The acrimony that this created at the end of 2009 has by no means subsided.
View of the Mangersta cliffs from near the proposed site of the St Kilda Centre
I was also pointed to a new resource on New Zealand casualties from the First World War. I have duly sent off for the records of one New Zealander, who (according to my information) has island roots. My files state that Angus Macdonald came from 1 Islivig. Nobody, not even the local historical society, has been able to give me much information, so I've decided to jump in at the deep end and request information all the way from Wellington, New Zealand. Am expecting this back in the course of April.
Islivig
Monday, 15 March 2010
Picture post
Stornoway from the ferry terminal this afternoon (Monday)
Did you know about this tragedy? Don't think you did.
Supermarket carpark on Sunday evening
The Trumpets of Spring
Fridge magnets
Last Thursday's showers
Monday 15 March
Bright and fairly sunny today, with the mercury at 9C. No complaints.
The General Election is due in the next two months, and political parties have been fielding candidates in the Western Isles. One of them went flying on a banana skin of her own peeling over the weekend. Upon being asked what the top priorities were for the Western Isles, the Conservative Party candidate displayed a disconcerting lack of local knowledge. Ms Norquay (sic) stated that the fisheries industry was very important, and that the construction of the harbour wall at Achmore was top priority. That in itself is an innocuous statement, except there are a few practical problems in the way.
The village of Achmore (marked on above map) is the only village in the Western Isles not in the immediate proximity of the sea. It is about 5 miles from the sea, and at an altitude of 350 feet above sealevel. The radio and television transmitter masts stand on the hill Eitsal, at 800 feet above the sea. The state of the pier at Achmore is a standing joke in Lewis, and it is unfortunate that a young (age 22) candidate came out with that clanger - without even being prompted for it. (story courtesy Hebrides News). The water you see in the above picture is a freshwater loch, situated along the main road through Achmore.
Tropical cyclone Tomas is currently roaring through Fiji, with forecast winds of 115 knots (130 mph) around its centre. The storm will continue to batter the archipelago for the next 24 hours.
The village of Achmore (marked on above map) is the only village in the Western Isles not in the immediate proximity of the sea. It is about 5 miles from the sea, and at an altitude of 350 feet above sealevel. The radio and television transmitter masts stand on the hill Eitsal, at 800 feet above the sea. The state of the pier at Achmore is a standing joke in Lewis, and it is unfortunate that a young (age 22) candidate came out with that clanger - without even being prompted for it. (story courtesy Hebrides News). The water you see in the above picture is a freshwater loch, situated along the main road through Achmore.
Tropical cyclone Tomas is currently roaring through Fiji, with forecast winds of 115 knots (130 mph) around its centre. The storm will continue to batter the archipelago for the next 24 hours.
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Hurricane update - 14 March
Tropical cyclone Tomas is bearing down on Fiji, and is expected to pack a severe punch with winds in the region of 130 mph near its centre. The current warnings are:
A HURRICANE warning remains in force for the eastern half of Vanua Levu, Cikobia, Tavenui, Rabi, Kioa, Yacata, Koro, Gau, Batiki, Nairai, Wakaya, Makogai and nearby smaller islands.
A STORM warning is in force the rest of Vanua Levu, Ovalau, Lakeba, Vanua Balavu, Moala, Matuku, Totoya, Cicia and nearby smaller islands.
A GALE warning is in force for the rest of Fiji
Tropical cyclone Ului is now in the Coral Sea and moving west. The storm is equivalent to a category V hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale (winds of 155 mph near its centre), and I keep a beady eye on its northwestern flank, which could swipe the extreme southeastern islands of Papua New Guinea. Australia does not need to worry as yet. Ului is 900 miles to the east of Queensland, and is expected to veer to the south. Once it resumes a more southwesterly course is the point where we do start to worry. That lies just beyond the scope of the current forecast.
A HURRICANE warning remains in force for the eastern half of Vanua Levu, Cikobia, Tavenui, Rabi, Kioa, Yacata, Koro, Gau, Batiki, Nairai, Wakaya, Makogai and nearby smaller islands.
A STORM warning is in force the rest of Vanua Levu, Ovalau, Lakeba, Vanua Balavu, Moala, Matuku, Totoya, Cicia and nearby smaller islands.
A GALE warning is in force for the rest of Fiji
Tropical cyclone Ului is now in the Coral Sea and moving west. The storm is equivalent to a category V hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale (winds of 155 mph near its centre), and I keep a beady eye on its northwestern flank, which could swipe the extreme southeastern islands of Papua New Guinea. Australia does not need to worry as yet. Ului is 900 miles to the east of Queensland, and is expected to veer to the south. Once it resumes a more southwesterly course is the point where we do start to worry. That lies just beyond the scope of the current forecast.
Sunday 14 March
A very late post for today, even though I've been at the keyboard for most of the afternoon. However that had more to do with finding out about those casualties from the First World War that I cannot trace on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. Although someone more expert in these matters is going to have a go on the hard cases, I do not foresee a huge flood of information.
I had to go into town just before 7pm this evening and lo and behold it was still light! We're near the equinox, so the evenings are now getting nice and long. Friends across the pond, you should have put your clocks forward by an hour.
For some reason unknown to me, comment notifications for my YouTube videos have not been reaching me. Got some today, and boy, did the air turn blue. Never seen such profanity on any of my sites before, and worse than that, it was all related to the start of the Sunday ferries back in July. A number of linguistically challenged people decided to let off steam over the poor folk in the video, who were chanting a psalm outside the ferry terminal before departure time on July 19th last year. Rather than let the cringeworthyness of the situation speak for itself, the genitals were all over the comments section. I've scrapped those comments.
I had to go into town just before 7pm this evening and lo and behold it was still light! We're near the equinox, so the evenings are now getting nice and long. Friends across the pond, you should have put your clocks forward by an hour.
For some reason unknown to me, comment notifications for my YouTube videos have not been reaching me. Got some today, and boy, did the air turn blue. Never seen such profanity on any of my sites before, and worse than that, it was all related to the start of the Sunday ferries back in July. A number of linguistically challenged people decided to let off steam over the poor folk in the video, who were chanting a psalm outside the ferry terminal before departure time on July 19th last year. Rather than let the cringeworthyness of the situation speak for itself, the genitals were all over the comments section. I've scrapped those comments.
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