Lost in translation

Irish police were left red-faced in the wake of the hunt for the country's worst driver. He managed to rack up dozens of traffic violations and fines, and forces up and down the Republic were on the hunt for Polish man Prawo Jazdy. Except... Prawo Jazdy is Polish for driver's licence.

Which reminds me of foreign tourists in the Netherlands who are driving for miles, looking for the town of Doorgaand Verkeer. This features on hundreds of signs, particularly in larger towns and cities. Never with a distance indication, something that is quite common in Holland. Doorgaand Verkeer is a Dutch fata morgana, as it stands for Through Traffic.

Closing notes

Went out on the bus at 2.30pm for a wee trip to the Callanish Stones, 18 miles west of here. It was freezing cold, although the mercury was at 7C. The Stones sit on the top of a broad hill, and are very exposed to any amount of wind. Whether the flattened grass and broken shrubs had anything to do with the January 17th hurricane is not entirely clear. Also went for a walk to the nearby quayside, where that little blue and white boat is slowly sinking into the mud. At 4.30pm, the bus turned up to take us back to Stornoway the long road - 27 miles through Carloway and Barvas. It was a quiet afternoon, with hardly a sound, apart from the wind. Pictures are uploading as I type.

I also had the good news that my camera will be returning to me early in the new week. It had to go in for repairs just after New Year, when it gave up the ghost. My father very kindly gave me his camera to use in the meantime, and I have taken just over 100 pictures with it since I took it into fulltime use on February 3rd.

I watched some good television tonight; Sky 534 had the closing episode of Andrew Marr's programme on Britain from the air, and Billy Connolly is touring Canada. I did not watch Jade Goody's programme - I saw some recent pics of her, and the poor woman looks ghastly. Neither did I finish watching that absolute cr*p about St Kilda, hosted by Kate Humble. I can't stand Springwatch / Autumnwatch on account of the chemistry between her and Bill Oddy, but the absolute garbage she and co-presenters came out with about St Kilda put the shutters on for me.

A few pictures from this afternoon:

Houses at Callanish


Callanish Stones and Loch Roag


Boat at Callanish Pier


Carloway

Thursday 19 February

Fairly bright day, but a shower just moved by to the south. Nonetheless, will be popping out on the bus later for a visit to the Callanish Stones and a run round the West Side.

A helicopter has crashed into the North Sea, but all 18 on board are safe and sound. The chopper remained afloat, conditions were favourable and rescue services were on the scene immediately. The aircraft came down near the ETAP oilfield, 125 miles east of Aberdeen. An investigation has been launched.

It is reported that social networking on-line is actually bad for your health. Because it replaces social networking face-to-face, the way we perform as persons is altered and not for the better. Gulp.