Tuesday 1 February

A bright day with good sunshine - and equally good, heavy, showers. The wind turns squally in the showers, but otherwise it's not too bad. We are on warning for severe gales on Thursday and Friday.

Queensland is on warning for tropical cyclone Yasi, which will strike near the northern city of Cairns during Wednesday local time. At present, maximum sustained winds near the centre are at 135 mph, gusting to a puny 160 mph. This is likely to increase further, and the cyclone could carry winds of 150 mph at landfall, gusting to 180 mph. For the hurricane savvy among you, this is equivalent to a top-end category IV system. I don't think I'd like to be in Queensland just now. Because a category IV hurricane does this:

There is a very high risk of injury or death to people, livestock, and pets due to flying and falling debris. Poorly constructed homes can sustain complete collapse of all walls as well as the loss of the roof structure. Well-built homes also can sustain severe damage with loss of most of the roof structure and/or some exterior walls. Extensive damage to roof coverings, windows, and doors will occur. Large amounts of windborne debris will be lofted into the air. Windborne debris damage will break most unprotected windows and penetrate some protected windows. There will be a high percentage of structural damage to the top floors of apartment buildings. Steel frames in older industrial buildings can collapse. There will be a high percentage of collapse to older unreinforced masonry buildings. Most windows will be blown out of high-rise buildings resulting in falling glass, which will pose a threat for days to weeks after the storm. Nearly all commercial signage, fences, and canopies will be destroyed. Most trees will be snapped or uprooted and power poles downed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Long-term water shortages will increase human suffering. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.

Still on weather-related topics, the Chief Coastguard, Sir Alan Massey, made some breathtaking remarks on Scottish TV last night. He said that local knowledge should be pooled onto Google Earth. Well, that's bonny. There is such a thing as the Gaelic language in these parts; and anyone who has ever done a search on Google generally knows what a pile of results can crop up. Secondly, he said that coastguard stations are often overmanned in relation to the amount of work. Accidents and emergencies do not occur on schedule, and do not wait for daylight, when the proposed satellite Coastguard Stations may be manned. Sir Alan also admitted that the cutbacks in service were purely money-related, and if the demand for savings had not come down from upon high, nothing would have changed. 

Monday 31 January

Atrocious weather today, with strong winds (up to galeforce) and persistent rain. I nonetheless ventured out at lunchtime for a rally at the Coastguard Station to join a protest against the proposed closure of the station. They held a short march in front of the station, with banners and placards protesting against the closure. A handful of people held speeches, some very powerful, and with the chant "Save Our Station", the rally was closed at 1.30pm.




Trades union banners


Save Our Station


The march

Sunday 30 January

After a spell of heavy rain and high winds, the sun has come out to grace us with its presence for the last hour of daylight. There was a cloud of seagulls over the harbour outside my window, and when I went down to find out what attracted 400 gulls it turned out to be BIRDSEED. Lewis Crofters stock birdseed and other stuff, and as we have not had any heavy rain for a while, a lot of it got washed down the stormdrain and ended up in the harbour.

A moutain walker in the Highlands is the luckiest man alive, after he fell down 1,000 feet off a mountain top, east of Ben Nevis. He was spotted by the crew of a helicopter, who had been sent to his rescue. They did not believe he was the casualty, as he was standing up and reading his map. However, when the chopper crew saw the trail of debris, leading from the summit to the point where the man was standing, it did become clear he was the casualty.

Not so lucky were the passengers on a train in the German state of Sachsen-Anhalt, when it collided head-on with a goods train near Magdeburg. Ten of them died, and 33 were injured. The cause of the crash, which headed on a single-track line, is not clear. German railways (DB) have a good safety record.

I have completed the website for the casualties from the Uists and Barra from WW1 and WW2, replacing two separate webpages. I do not have as much information on the Uists as I had for Lewis, so hope it does serve some purpose.

And today brought more sadness to J-land, when I was told that Angie Marshall (Can you all hear me at the back?) had passed away unexpectedly. I was not a regular reader of her blog, but the expressions of grief over the past few hours have shown she was well loved in the community, and will be sorely missed.

Saturday 29 January

A bright day, but the high cloud does not bode too well for the near future. Went outside Stornoway for the first time this year, to Bosta Beach in Great Bernera. That's about 30 miles by road. Bosta is one of my favourites in the island; I also wanted to go there to see the Time and Tide Bell that was installed there last July. It was not working, as the clapper appeared to be missing. In the evening, we gave the restaurant in the An Lanntair [Lantern] arts centre another try, and this time everything was good. Prompt service, good food and a decent price. I'll spare you the disasters that have befallen me there over the past five years.


Looking towards Roineabhal from the Bernera road


Old and new: the slipway for the pre-1950s ferry to Great Bernera, and the bridge


Loch Barraglom, near the Bernera Bridge


Croir


Bosta cemetery


Tide and Time Bell


At Bosta Beach

Hurricane update - 30 January

The Australian state of Queensland will take delivery of two tropical cyclones this week. Anthony is headed for landfall near the town of Ayr later today or early tomorrow. Its highest winds are at 45 knots, that's 50 mph or equivalent to force 10 on the Beaufort scale. The Australian weather service is issuing warnings.

I am far more worried about tropical cyclone Yasi, which has formed between Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, 1500 miles east northeast of Queensland. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center is forecasting that this storm will blow up to an upper-end category III hurricane, striking the Queensland coast near Cairns with winds of 110 knots, 120 mph, on Friday of this week.

Friday 28 January

The day started fairly bright, but cloud increased and when the sun went down, just after 4.30pm, there was some rain. We'll get more of the wet stuff through the night. Did I mention we had the saltboat and the coalboat in at the same time on Wednesday? Well, the coalboat usually leaves the town painted black, with lumps of coal scattered along the streets.
I spent a few hours in the library, to look up the croft histories for South Uist. I am not very familiar with that island, and I had to check the Gaelic names of the townships there against the English ones I have on file. I shall now incorporate those on my Berneray to Vatersay tribute site.

Thursday 27 January

I have blogged about two things, Auschwitz Memorial Day and the ditching of an RAF Tornado jetfighter off Rubha Reidh lighthouse. I spent the day processing the information I gleaned from the Berneray and North Uist croft histories, and putting a tribute to Barra on the Net as well.

Croft histories show each and every person who has occupied a croft since about the middle of the 18th century, in some cases. A croft is a piece of land that is leased from a landowner. It is not by definition a farm. Neither does it automatically include buildings. Houses, sheds or whatever are regarded as improvements. Crofts in the 21st century may well have a ruin of a blackhouse on it, which was rendered uninhabitable in order for the crofter to be able to apply for a grant to built a modern house on it. To my knowledge, nobody lives in a blackhouse the way it was done up to the middle of the 20th century. Apart from the crofter, the leaseholder, there used to be cottars (a peasant farmer), who would work for the crofter, but did not hold land as such.

Crashed Tornado jetfighter

A Tornado jetfighter has crashed northwest of Rubha Reidh lighthouse, 18 miles southeast of Stornoway. Two crew ejected and were recovered from the water by Coastguard helicopter, and flown to hospital in Inverness. RNLI lifeboats were launched from Stornoway and Portree. Coastguard tug Anglian Earl is on the scene of the crash to try to recover the wreckage - as shown on this image from AIS Minch.

It's ironic that there is a vigorous debate over the closure of Coastguard Stations, and of the RAF base at Lossiemouth, where the Tornado was based.

Auschwitz Memorial Day

Today it is 66 years ago since the infamous Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp was liberated by Soviet forces. More than a million people, mainly Jews, were killed there during the Second World War. The process was conducted as an industrial process. To date, some of the goods left behind by the victims of the Holocaust remain on display. These include suitcases with name tags, spectacle frames, hair and shoes. I have never visited Auschwitz and am not likely to. January 27th is Holocaust Memorial Day, remembering all the victims of the Nazi's policy of extermination of all those they considered to be sub-human. We must never forget. 

Wednesday 26 January

An overcast and cold day, although it has stayed dry.
Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan, who once headed the Scottish Socialist Party, has been sentenced to 3 years in jail for perjury. He lied under oath whilst fighting a defamation case against the Sunday tabloid News of the World which had alleged that Mr Sheridan had visited a sex-club in Manchester. The trial was a sordid affair, and I could not get over that Monday evening news bulletin on Radio Scotland, last November, when a list of people was read out who had had sex with each other.

Sordid is the word to describe the News of the World, which is gutter press at its worst. I was positively astonished that British prime minister David Cameron appointed a former editor of that rag to be his communications advisor. Do you know why he needs somebody like that? Mr Cameron has been educated at Eton (a private school for the very privileged) and therefore hasn't got a clue what goes on for Johnny Average. Anyway, Andy Coulson got sacked over allegations over phone hacking / tapping, that his journalists are said to have carried out over the years. Some of their alleged victims are high-ranking politicians like former PMs Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.

Sordid is also the saga around two sports commentators, who were caught on microphone as saying that a female linesman at a soccer football match would not know the off-side rule, because she was a woman. The person concerned to be a very capable linesman at a Premier League football match. It got worse, when one of the commentators was seen asking a female production assistant to tuck a microphone into his trousers, and discussing (on camera) a woman, in such language that the broadcaster concerned would not show us anymore. Although one of the men concerned has apologised to the linesman, the other would only offer his excuses over his contribution to the furore, not over his language or his attitude to women.
I thought we had come a long way in society with regards to sex discrimination, bearing in mind that women now get to high positions just as easily as men. I am even more disgusted with football than I already was now that I see this rampant sexism coming into the open.

BBC World Service

I am extremely angry tonight at the announcement that more than 600 staff at the BBC World Service are to be made redundant (that's a quarter of its workforce), and five of its language services shut down. This follows a 16% cut in its budget, as supplied by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. I have gone so far as to describe this as state-sponsored vandalism, which takes no account of the invaluable work that the BBC WS does around the world.

I have been a supporter of the BBC WS since the early 1980s, and although I do not listen to the station at the moment, that does not diminish my appreciation of its work. In many areas of the world, its output is often the only source of reliable information, particularly before the advent of the Internet. But as anyone with a modicum of common sense will realise, you have to be careful which sources to use on the Net.
I fully support any (lawful) action taken to reverse these cuts, and do hope that a reversal will take place.

Tuesday 25 January

Overcast with occasional light rain. 'Nuff said about the weather here.

It's Burns Night in Scotland, and it's haggis and whisky galore. Tortured renditions of Burns prose and poetry will be the order of the night, made even more tortured by the water of life. Haggis is an offal-based meat dish, and various bits and pieces of a sheep's innards are turned into basically mutton mince, packed into a sheep's stomach. This is served with neeps (turnips). I've tasted it once, and it's not far off mincemeat; but knowing how it's made it is not something I'd care to repeat in a hurry. Our local supermarket has shelves, laden with haggis. Leaving my slight sarcasm to one side, I would like to state that Robert Burns did not just write in Scots, he also wrote in perfect English. This is in Scots, with verses 1, 3 and 5 read by Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond:



Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an' a' that;
The coward slave-we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, an' a' that.
Our toils obscure an' a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The Man's the gowd for a' that.

What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an' a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man's a Man for a' that:
For a' that, and a' that,
Their tinsel show, an' a' that;
The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a' that.

Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that:
For a' that, an' a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that:
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that.

A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an' a' that;
But an honest man's abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa' that!
For a' that, an' a' that,
Their dignities an' a' that;
The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth,
Are higher rank than a' that.

Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.

Over in Shetland, it is Up Helly Aa tonight. The streetlights will be turned off at around 7.30pm, after which a torchlit procession will carry the boat through the town. It will then be put in place and all the torches tossed into the boat, which will duly burn to a cinder. Celebrations will last until and beyond first light (around 8.30 am). I dread to think what the combination of Burns and Vikings will do to the Shetlanders; but when asked what Burns meant to Hebrideans, the answer was a simple 'not much'.

Monday 24 January

An overcast and at times wet day, with a cold wind blowing. Not very enjoyable to be outside, to be honest.
I was just watching a documentary on the people who keep sheep in remote islands, off Lewis and Harris. On the Shiant Islands, this is extremely hard, partly on account of the crazily angled terrain, partly on account of the fickle weather conditions.


Tomorrow, I intend to start compiling a map, showing all the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries around the world where casualties from Lewis lie buried. That is 400 locations, including war memorials. I also want to check up on the Harris casualties of both world war. There is far less documentation on their number than on their Lewis comrades.

Sad news

A second blogger has passed away; yesterday (Saturday 22nd), Daria Maluta lost her fight with cancer. This is a profoundly sad day for our community, and I'm having to pull myself up by the bootstraps quite sharply.

Bill and Daria: Rest in Peace.

Sunday 23 January

My father is 77 years old today, and is having a full house over in Holland. I sent him a present (courtesy Amazon) a week or so back, which I hope will come in useful this coming summer.

I was very sad to learn of the death of fellow blogger Bill Janssen, who died two months ago after a sudden but short illness. Others had been asking how he was, after he did not post after November 21st last. It appears he died a week after that. I tried to email Bill, but got a reply back from his son, Bill Jr, with the message. I have posted on Facebook and on the Call for Support journal, and the messages are flooding in. Not all my readers will be aware of my affiliation with the J-land [AOL Journals] Community, which goes back to 2005. Until October 2008, there were hundreds of bloggers in the US and the UK who were linked together courtesy their on-line blogs. When AOL deleted the journals in '08, we emigrated en-masse to Blogger (and other providers), losing many along the way. But courtesy Facebook and Twitter, the strands are pulled together again, and the community is resurfacing. I have noticed that there are people who scoff at the notion of on-line friendships and the like - but I am preaching to the converted if you are reading this. Bill's journal will remain on the Net, as a tribute to him. In the years to come, people will call round and leave a message in remembrance, as is commonly done with the many other journals left behind by those who went before. Bill - Rest In Peace.

Stornoway had a bright and sunny day - except for that one rogue shower at lunchtime - and there are promising buds on the trees and shrubs. However, it's very early days, we still have two months of winter ahead of us.

Saturday 22 January

Not a bad day by any standard. Although it was mostly cloudy, there were some chinks in the overhead cloud cover, and neither was it really cold. 9C this afternoon. At the moment, we're having spring tides, with the most interesting aspect being the low tide. Tomorrow afternoon's ebb tide will clock in at 0.3m (1 ft), which should allow for some exploration of the tide line for any shellfish.


These men are two of the kidnappers of Linda Norgrove, who was kidnapped last autumn. She died when American troops mounted a rescue bid, which went disastrously wrong. The picture was taken by Linda herself, and is one of several found on her camera and mobile phone. The image has been released by Linda's parents, John and Lorna Norgrove, to highlight the humanitarian issues that are current in Afghanistan. Apparently, Linda was kidnapped for money. It also puts the US rescue mission in a different perspective. Whilst I do not fault them for mounting the rescue bid, I maintain that a peaceful, negotiated, settlement could have been reached. And at the end of the day, the responsibility for Linda's death lies squarely with the two pictured above - and their comrades. They paid the price.
Over the past decade, I have felt that American troops have gone barging into places like Iraq and Afghanistan without doing their homework - shoot first, think of the consequences later. Perhaps I should qualify this, as it's the politicians that send the poor sods in without giving them the proper background information.
(Image courtesy scotsman.com)

Picture post - 21 January

Sunset colours, Balallan, 4.20pm


Pairc War Memorial, Kershader


Letterbox


Ram and ewe


Loch Erisort, looking east


In the Pairc Museum, Ravenspoint

Friday 21 January

Quite a nice day, with good spells of sunshine. And I cannot grumble about daytime temps of +8C, 46F, in spite of the breeze that was blowing. In the afternoon, I jumped on the bus to Lochs to visit the Ravenspoint Centre at Kershader, 22 miles (by road) from Stornoway. The journey takes about 40 minutes. Once at the Ravenspoint Centre, it took me the grand total of five minutes to realise that I would not find any of the information required about 18th and 19th century residents of Cromore, 8 miles east of Kershader. So, I had a little while to go on a short walk. The bus journey back was punctuated by primary school kids who all had to pile out of the people carrier in order to let me on. I was back in Stornoway at 5pm, and it was not yet fully dark. We are now one month from the shortest day, and the days are lengthening nicely.

I've taken about 40 pics, and will post those in a separate entry shortly.

Lost at sea

The fishing boat, belonging to a Shetland fisherman, reported missing last night, was found wrecked on rocks on the Isle of Bressay, just east of Lerwick. I'm awaiting further details.

A passenger has been reported missing from a ferry, which had sailed from Larne in Northern Ireland to Cairnryan in southwestern Scotland. The vessel, the European Highlander has been thoroughly searched, and air and sea searches are underway.

Jo Yeates

This lady was murdered on December 17th, after she had gone out to buy some food in the city of Bristol. On Christmas Day, her remains were recovered along a frozen country road near the city. She had been strangled. Initially, her landlord was arrested on suspicion of her murder,  but he was later released on bail. Yesterday, a Dutch architect, Vincent Tabak, was apprehended in Bristol. He was Jo's next-door neighbour. Vincent came to Bristol in 2007 and according to Dutch broadcaster NOS lived there with his girlfriend.

I was taken aback by ITV [a commercial broadcaster in the UK] which had cameras in Mr Tabak's hometown of Veghel, north of Eindhoven in Holland. I'm not surprised people there were reluctant to discuss the case. Under Dutch law, a suspect is not identified by his full name, only by first name and the first letter of the surname.

This morning, police were granted more time to interrogate Mr Tabak, and further investigations at addresses in Bristol continue.