Friday 13 August

Friday the 13th today. Well, it hasn't been any happier or unhappier than usual - still 40-odd minutes to go, so am furiously knocking any bare wood within reach. Black cats never bothered me, had one for 15 years.


Thomas passed over the Rainbow Bridge in 1988. His successor, Strider, was with us for 16 years.

I am building an index for the Napier Commission Report of 1883, which covered the whole of Scotland. I am now halfway through, at question 26,500 or thereabouts, and some 450 witnesses have passed in front of the Commission. Next stop will be Lochinver, a small village across the Minch, some 30 miles north of Ullapool.