Out of office

This morning, I made the first entry on the Tropical Cyclones blog in ten days, a record time. There were no hurricanes or the like to report on. However, my entry elicited two automated Out of Office replies from the Southern Hemisphere. One from Rarotonga and one from Australia. Both were away on holiday.

Enjoy yourselves down there.

Wednesday 21 April

As I'm typing this post, MV Muirneag comes in, nearly 3 hours late. The Muirneag is our cargoboat which takes lorries and other goods vehicles from the mainland on an overnight crossing. It is cold and bright with intermittent heavy showers this morning. Much like yesterday, which saw a litany of showers of snow, hail, rain and the kitchensink. Yesterday, Stornoway airport was the busiest in the country. This morning, there is hardly a plane to be seen, as only the flights to Inverness operate. It has something to do with the presence of ash from the Iceland volcano in the area. That should not be a problem for very much longer, as the weather forecast shows the wind direction to be veering to the southwest tonight.

Meanwhile, the airlines can now start the mammoth task of repatriating 150,000 Britons stuck overseas.