Saturday 27 August

A fairly bright day, but the wind rose steadily through the day. Sitting outside was therefore no longer an option. We are on warning for high winds tomorrow, but the worst of it appears to be making for the mainland and the Northern Isles.


We once more have a cruiseliner in port, the Ocean Countess. Her passengers flock ashore, but wise to the extortionate coachtours they head for the service bus. However, local people and other tourists also want to go to Callanish, so it's handbags at lunchtime for a place on W2.

I'm monitoring the progression of Hurricane Irene up the East Coast of the US, and the main problem appears to be rain. The NHC is forecasting up to 20 inches, which is not an amount anyone wants to have within 24 hours. Another two tropical systems: typhoon Nanmadol is battering the north of the Philippines, and tropical storm Talas is creeping north - with Japan in its crosshairs.