Sunday 4 March

A bright and sunny day, but with isolated showers. Some of them of a wintry nature at higher elevations, as shown in this picture from North Harris. It has turned noticeably colder, as I found out when I went out for an amble in the afternoon.

To my delight, I found that my regular short walk round the powerstation has reopened following months of closure due to soil cleaning work. Four years ago, several fuel storage tanks were removed outside the powerstation, and the fuel had leaked into the ground. This necessitated a huge clear-up, which continues today.

The walk takes me round to the Battery.

And yes, those are two ships' cannon. They mark the spot where the Royal Naval Reserve had a base during WW1, and it was near there that the bodies of the sailors who drowned in the Iolaire Disaster of 1 January 1919 were brought ashore. The total number of casualties was 205, but 60 of those lost were never found.

I continued to look at details of several Stornoway men who were lost during WW1 - you can follow progress here. I have researched 124 (not claiming to be supplying complete information by a long shot), and still have about 1170 to go. I completed the transcription of evidence given to the Napier Commission at Inverness, From the county of Inverness, I have the evidence from Kingussie left to transcribe. Otherwise, there is the sessions in Argyll, Lanark and Edinburgh. And I have also continued to transcribe the evidence from the Dewar Report at Stornoway. I copy interesting bits onto my local history blog Pentland Road. The Dewar Report was published 100 years ago this year and led to a revolution in healthcare in Scotland.

Saturday 3 March

Quite a bright day to start with, but clouds rolled in after lunch, and we were treated to a few heavy downpours. Spent the afternoon transcribing a large segment of the Napier Report of 1883, closing the evidence that was taken at Inverness. This, to a large extent, related to evidence from other parts of the Highlands. The witnesses consisted mainly of factors and other representatives of landowners, but with a widely varying take on the problems facing crofters and cottars in the north of Scotland. I have yet to copy the transcripts from Inverness onto the website.

Friday 2 March

Quite a mild day with good long spells of sunshine. We managed an unexpected 13C, but we'll have to wait a while to temperatures like that again. A cold spell is headed our way from the Atlantic.

I have continued to transcribe the Report from the Napier Commission, which had been hearing some very lengthy evidence during its session at Inverness in October 1883. The question was all about deer forests. Now, what is a deer forest? Forget about trees. They tend to be depopulated areas of land, whether depopulated through compulsion or through inhospitable terrain, where deer roam free. The deer are there to be shot, for sport, by gamesmen who rent a day's shooting from the relevant estate. During the 19th century, hundreds of villages and thousands of people were cleared from land, in order to make way for deer forests, sheep farms or other means of making more money for the landowners. Bear in mind though that the landowners were required to support their tenants at times of need, like supply food. In 1846, e.g., the potato harvest failed, giving rise to famine in many areas of the British Isles, such as Ireland and Scotland. Earlier that century, people had been forced to emigrate, even though there was no real need for them to do so.

The resentment, created by this less salubrious episode in Scottish history, still runs to the surface today. Some believe that Scottish independence is the way forward. However, many forget that it was Scottish lairds that were responsible for some of the clearances.

Thursday 1 March

March has come in like a lamb, here in the Hebrides. A cloudy morning gave way to a sunny afternoon, although when cloud gradually increased, it began to feel colder, out of the sun.

The unfamiliar outline of the ferry MV Clansman loomed up at the ferry pier this morning. The boat is here until the weekend, when she will sail the 40 miles to Tarbert to take up the triangular service between Uig, Lochmaddy and Tarbert, whilst its regular vessel, the MV Hebrides goes off for refit. Checking AIS, I noticed the MV Hjaltland passing Cape Wrath, the far northwestern corner of the British mainland, on its way to Lerwick. The Hjaltland sails between Aberdeen, Orkney and Shetland, but has been in drydock at Birkenhead for the past couple of weeks. The people of the Northern Isles will be very happy to see her back, as they have been on a severely curtailed service for the past couple of weeks.

There is an on-going hullabaloo about fuel prices in these parts. The UK government introduced a price derogation of 5p per litre today, but it is alleged that fuel wholesalers have been edging up the prices by 5p over the past fortnight, so the net effect of this fuel derogation is zilch. A government minister has warned that profiteering will be dealt with, but knowing how the fuel business is tied in with certain councillors in these parts, I really do wonder if that will carry much clout.

I spent 45 minutes in the library, scanning 57 pages from the Dewar Report and uploading them to my Dropbox account. I shall unleash an on-line OCR (optical character recognition) programme to turn the scans into manageable text, for uploading to another of my blogs. Of which I now have 61.

Wednesday 29 February

It's :Leap Year Day today, and the babies born today will only be able to celebrate their birthday properly once every 4 years. It reminds me of the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta Pirates of Penzance, where the hero can leave his apprenticeship with the pirates on his 21st birthday. Only to find out it was February 29th, so he can't leave until he is 84.

It felt very cold today, as a strong wind blew over Stornoway. Quite a contrast to the summery scenes over in Aberdeen, particularly yesterday. Went into town for a few bits and bobs, but it felt bitterly cold in the southerly breeze. We are set for a colder spell as March comes in, but just a dip in temperatures, no return to winter imminent.

Quite a few schools in the Western Isles are closing this year, among them the ones at Sandwickhill and Bragar. A Facebook page, organised by Tasglann nan Eilean [Hebridean Archives] has been set up for each of the schools, and the one at Airidhantuim seems to be particularly popular. Wanna try pronouncing that last name? Unless you're a local person here in Lewis, you will never get it right.

Tuesday 28 February

An overcast day, but fairly mild. However, the mercury at Aberdeen crested 17C / 63F, which is 11 degrees above the long-term average. The high temperatures were caused by the föhn over the Cairngorms.

Ferry company Calmac have made a hash of their brochure for their services. On a map of the islands to the west of the mainland, several hotels and guesthouses have been pinpointed to the wrong location. And not just a little; a hotel in Barra has been placed in Skye, 50 miles to the east, and a guesthouse north of Stornoway is placed 50 miles away in Uig. They have apologised for the error.

I spent about 40 minutes in the library scanning pages from the Dewar Report of 1912, which reviewed the provision of medical services in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland at the start of the 20th century. As I outlined last week, this report led to the establishment of the Medical Service for the Highlands and Islands, and ultimately the NHS in 1948. Some of those pages I have forwarded to my friend and fellow researcher Direcleit, who covers Harris, Berneray and adjacent areas of North Uist.

Monday 27 February

A very mild day, with the mercury easily reaching 12C under cloudy skies. It was also quite breezy, but nothing dramatic.

Went to the optician's for an eye-test and the selection of a new pair of spectacles. Should be ready within one or two weeks. The prescription will have to be faxed to a place on the mainland, which will produce the lenses. The optician's will then insert the lenses into the frame, and get in touch with me to come and collect them. Like everybody else, I'm not getting any younger, so I'm joining the ranks of the varifocal brigade. A certain person, well-known to me, decided to wear their varifocals for the first time when going on a train journey. On alighting from the train, they misjudged the distance between carriage floor and station platform (2½ feet), so they ended up prostrate on the platform.

Our Post Office, on Francis Street, has had to shut unexpectedly due to security concerns. People with car tax applications have been panicking, because they faced a round trip of 50 miles to Ness or 75 miles to Tarbert to have their forms processed. Fortunately, Royal Mail have seen sense and deployed their staff to the sub-postoffice on Bayhead.

Sunday 26 February

Yesterday, it was reported that a pedestrian had been knocked down in the road between Carloway and Callanish. The man was taken to hospital in Stornoway, and has undergone an operation. Following an appeal in local media, the driver of the car, which had driven off following the incident, has come forward.

An overcast day, with plenty of wind and rain, although the wind appears to have subsided somewhat.
Kept another quiet day, watching an episode of Columbo in the afternoon. More tomorrow.

Saturday 25 February

A pretty bright day with good periods of sunshine. We managed 10C / 50F, but the mercury is going down fast as I type, 9.20pm. Tomorrow will not be as good a day, as the Met Office is warning of rain and wind. What's new, it's the Hebrides.

Have completed the second set of transcriptions of the Napier Commission's report from Inverness, dated October 1883. This document is pivotal in the history of the Highlands and Islands, and amongst today's gem was an exercise in polite jibing between the commissioners and a less than pleasant witness. The subject was the clearance of Strathnaver, in the far north of Scotland, which the witness played down.

Otherwise, I kept a quiet day on account of a very disturbed night.

Ferry woes

After the problems surrounding the ferry Isle of Lewis, which decided to dispute passage with the town of Birkenhead, the lifeline service between Stornoway and Ullapool has gone back to normal. Fellow blogger Tony has highlighted the issues surrounding the freight ferry Muirneag, which was out of action this week either because of bad weather (what bad weather?) or on account of its steering gear being faulty. The Muirneag carries our freight, varying from roofbeams to cans of catfood. However, she is an old lady of the seas, starting life in 1979 and plying various routes in northern Europe before coming to Stornoway in 2002. Muirneag will be scrapped in 2013.

The reason for the cancelled sailings are two-fold. First of all, her manoeuverability is poor, and the fact that she carries light loads means she is high out of the water, making her susceptible to high winds. The second reason goes back just over 6 years, to events on 11 November 2005. Muirneag ventured out to sea, hoping to beat the forecast storm. Unfortunately, the Met Office was late issuing its storm warning, meaning that she was forced to go with the force 12 winds and ended up 60 miles north of the Butt of Lewis, well on her way to the Faeroes. Since that hairy episode, Calmac have been justifiably cautious with her sailings. And I'd rather have Muirneag stuck in port than stuck on the bottom of the Minch.

Muirneag is named after this hill in the north of the island, 4 miles west of North Tolsta.

Friday 24 February

A fairly bright and sunny day, but quite a bit cooler than yesterday. The mercury only just about reached 8C / 46F. The weather in the Southern Hemisphere tropics is calm, with no hurricanes worth mentioning. The two disturbances that the Joint Typhoon Warning Center has detected have little chance (less than 30%) of developing into anything serious.

Dutch prince Friso, second son of Queen Beatrix, is in coma and unlikely to ever waken up again. Last Friday he was buried under an avalanche for 20 minutes, after which he was resuscitated for 50 minutes. Doctors in Austria today revealed he had sustained massive brain damage. The mood in Holland has shifted from quiet hope to gloom. Several public engagements by Queen Beatrix have been cancelled. Prince Friso will be transferred to a neurological rehab unit elsewhere in due course.

I am continuing with my transcription of the Napier Report, a 4,000 page document relating the conditions under which crofters and cottars were living in the third quarter of the 19th century. Having reached evidence that was taken at Inverness in October 1883, I found contrasting witnesses. One decried the crofters in western Scotland as lazy and indolent; the very next witness listed the achievements of his fellow residents in a glen, some 20 miles west of Inverness. Several had become bishops, and quite a few had achieved high ranks in the Army.
In 2007, a statue was unveiled at Helmsdale, 40 miles north of Inverness. Strath Kildonan, just north of Helmsdale, was the scene of clearances in the early 19th century. The statue depicted a Highlander, boldly striding forth to a new life in the New World, ready to achieve great things. And many did so. My point is, however: why were they not allowed to achieve great things on their home soil?

The Italian Chapel

It is 70 years ago today that the first Italian prisoners of war (POW) arrived on the Orkney island of Lamb Holm. They would spend the next two years reinforcing the Churchill Barriers, which protect the then naval base at Scapa Flow. In between, they also converted two old Nissen huts into a church. In addition to these picture slides on the BBC, I am posting some of my own pics, which I took during a visit in October 2008.

Thursday 23 February

After a slight mishap with my spectacles, I had to attend the optician's first thing this morning. Only to be told that repairs were not really possible. So, I'm going to have an eye test next week and hopefully a new pair of specs soon. I have made a temporary fix on the old ones, but it is a tad annoying.

Today's highest temperature in the UK has been 18.7C (65.7F) in Warwickshire, central England. Here in Stornoway, it has been slightly less warm at 13C / 55F. Still far above normal for the time of year. Everybody will revert back to normal by the weekend. The weather here has otherwise been rather damp and quite windy, with force 7 being the rule.

I have been asked about the condition of Prince Johan Friso of the Netherlands, who was severely injured in an avalanche in the Austrian Alps last Friday. He remains in coma, with apparently a body core temperature of around 34C / 93F, and no change in condition since the accident. Doctors will now not declare when they expect to make a prognosis. Johan Friso's mother, Queen Beatrix, and his wife Mabel are never far from his side; the Queen has even cancelled an engagement to accept papers of accreditation from new foreign ambassadors to The Hague.

Wednesday 22 February

Although the day started out wet, it did clear up and we had a decent amount of sunshine. It felt slightly colder than of late, but I'm still happy with 9C / 48F. Two hundred miles away in Aberdeenshire, they are expecting the mercury to hit 16C / 60F tomorrow.

Spent a couple of hours in the library, looking at the two historical reports I mentioned yesterday: the 1912 Dewar Report (evidence from Lewis and Harris) and the 1902 Crofters Commission for Lewis. I also took information from the Croft Histories of the villages of Sheshader and Bayble in Point, some 6 miles east of here. I need the latter info to double-check my WW1 tribute site.

The island is bemused tonight as the freight ferry Muirneag is not sailing tonight due to bad weather. However, the forecast is not for bad weather. At least, not until tomorrow night. Some wag on Twitter was wondering whether it would be carrying the Olympic Torch to Stornoway in June. The Torch will come here, and like the Muirneag, it never goes out.

Sunshine Colorado Notes

Our J-land community appears to have moved from blogging to Facebooking, but I somehow don't feel quite at home on Facebook. It seems to invite one-liners, just about as bad as Twitter. So, when I have something more to say than can be squeezed into the entry box on Facebook, I return to Blogger. Well, if you're a regular reader, you know I blog here every day.

This post is to highlight David Wheeler's blog Sunshine Colorado Notes. A few years ago, David very kindly sent me a copy of the book about the history of Sunshine, a small mining community, a few miles outside Boulder CO. It was probably typical of many a frontier town of that era (late 19th C) and area, with the go-ahead spirit that comes with that. It was almost as if I was there myself. And although I live quite a few thousand miles away, on the other side of the Atlantic, I felt as gutted as the village when I learned of the devastating wildfire of October 2010. It destroyed most of the houses. Apart from the loss of property, I guess it also ended, whether temporarily or permanently, a way of life for its residents. This was portrayed quite graphically when David had to let go of his faithful canine, Milo, who could not settle away from the village. I know property can be replaced, and the village can be rebuilt. But whether the people will return, and more importantly, its spirit remains to be seen. However, one day I may come across and look for myself. Better keep some of that homebrew ready, David.

Tuesday 21 February

Shrove Tuesday, and no, I haven't had a pancake today. I'm not a pancake eater, as I am full-up after just the one. Those that know me off-line are aware that I'm not averse to food, but pancakes are beyond me above a quantity of one.

Weather today was not very good, overcast and grey, with occasional drizzle. By 4.30pm a serious downpour passed over with rising wind. The forecast is for a gale tomorrow. The only redeeming feature of today's weather was the elevated temperature of 10C / 50C. The east of Scotland may see the mercury right up at 15C / 59F tomorrow. No such luck for the Hebrides, but I don't really mind.

I am sending off another five postcards for the postcrossing project, bringing my tally to 94 when they are all delivered. One is still in the mailsystem, bound for the USA. Over the year I've done this, two never arrived. One was headed for Taiwan, the other for Germany.

I have researched another handfull of men from this island who were lost in the First World War. I am making my way through the Stornoway, which will take me a wee while yet. Another project, equally large, is the transcription of the Napier Report from 1883.
In addition, I want to go and have a look at the findings of a successor commission, which went round the Highlands and Islands in 1902; as well as at the findings of the Dewar Commission of 1912, which led to the foundation of the medical service in this part of the world and contributed towards the setting up of the NHS 36 years later. Both reports (from 1902 and from 1912) are available in my local library, so it's only a 10 minute walk away.

Monday 20 February

After a windy night, the day started wet. However, the sun came out and the wind dropped after midday, leaving us with a mild afternoon. The mercury reached double figures, and it felt quite mild outside. Rather a contrast to yesterday morning's snow.

The thaw has spread across Europe, causing problems on the river Danube in Serbia. The ice has started to break up and move downstream, taking riverside accoutrements such as floating restaurants and ships with it. The cost cannot yet be estimated, but are reckoned to be substantial.

You may remember the case of the alleged murder of Liam Aitchison last November, which was the first murder in these islands in 43 years. Channel 5 presenter Matthew Wright and his team thought it was an appropriate subject for some off-the-cuff humour, but more than 2,200 people disagreed. They lodged an appeal with broadcasting regulator Ofcom, who have now ruled that the program was liable to cause offence. However, as apologies have been profuse and apparently sincere, Ofcom have now declared the matter resolved. No further action against Matthew Wright or Channel 5 will be taken. I will continue not to watch garbage like that.

It was pointed out in a letter to an on-line news website that it took our local council an awful long time (months) to join the campaign against high fuel prices, contrasting to the few weeks that it took them to join the campaign to retain reduced ferry fares for commercial vehicles. At least two councillors have vested interests in the fuel business in these islands. Anyone thinking of a word starting with C?

Sunday 19 February

A cold day, which started very white. Snow had fallen last night, and more fell through the night, leaving us with just a little under an inch on the ground. Most of it had melted by mid afternoon, in spite of a few more snow showers through the morning. The mercury is rising slowly, and is presently at 4C / 39F.

Cromwell Street after a hailshower, yesterday
I was bemused by the news of the two boxers who had a punch-up during a post-match press conference - and they had not even been in the ring together. One taunted the other and they had an off-the-ring bout. Everybody is crying shame, but they do it all the time inside the ring, so what's the fuss? Said he sarcastically.

A climber has died after falling more than 1,000 feet near the summit of Ben Nevis. The circumstances are as yet unclear, but police think it was probably just an unfortunate accident. Although the mountains in Harris are nowhere near as tall as Ben Nevis (the Clisham is shy of 2,700 feet), they are serious mountains. I remember people having to be guided off at dusk in December one year, after their undertaking to traverse the Clisham Horseshoe proved to be too lengthy for the 7 hours of daylight at that time of year.


Clisham Horseshoe, April 2005

Saturday 18 February

And all of a sudden, winter is back. Heavy hail showers pepper Stornoway all day, leaving the place looking decidedly white at times. The strong northwesterly wind makes it feel very cold outside. The sun does compensate, and it is gaining strength every day. It is also rising higher in the sky.

The Dutch prince who was injured in an avalanche yesterday remains in hospital in Innsbruck, Austria, in a stable but as yet life-threatening condition. He is kept in an induced coma. His mother, Queen Beatrix, and his wife, Mabel, have been to see him at his bedside. Doctors say that no prognosis can be made for a number of days, until they lift the coma.

Locally, the ferry Isle of Lewis has finally taken up her duties again, after returning to Stornoway during the night. She sailed for Ullapool at 2.30pm, leaving the Hebridean Isles to complete its last morning run to and from Ullapool.

Friday 17 February

An overcast day with rainy spells at time. Not cold, but that is going to change. Tomorrow, we're in for wintry showers, which will bring 6 inches of snow to the mainland. Galeforce winds are likely to bring blizzard conditions to Highland Scotland. Not a nice day for being out and about.

Snow has caused a skiing accident in Austria, involving the brother of the Dutch crown prince. Johan Friso (43) was skiing off-piste when he was buried under an avalance. It took 15 minutes for him to be extracted, and he is currently in an artificial coma in hospital, dangerously ill. Dutch news media are reporting on the incident continually. The royal family has flown to Austria to be beside the prince's bedside.

Broadband service has resumed more-or-less normality, although there was another brief outage around midday. It appears that all of Stornoway and adjacent areas were affected, with even shops and banks being cut off.