Tuesday 2 August

Another bright but not sunny day, with the mercury at a pleasant 18C / 64F. Went to the library to trace more tributes to WW2 casualties from this island, which were printed in the Stornoway Gazette in the first 5 momths of 1940. The main event I came across was the sinking of the destroyed HMS Exmouth on 21 January 1940, which was lost off Wick (Caithness) through aerial attack. Six Lewis men went down with that ship.

I am an Archers addict (British readers will know what I'm talking about), and have been for nearly 30 years. The present storyline, where a contaminated batch of icecream from a family farm has put two children in hospital because of E-coli 0157 is a pertinent subject. Food hygiene is a subject of high importance, and the merest omission can bring about disaster. A farm worker returning to the job a little too soon after suffering a spell of diarrhoea was the cause of the contamination. But getting the all-clear from Environmental Health will probably do little to undo the damage to their brandname. The worker in question will not be dismissed (should be), as she is a family friend. And therefore, the farm is not seen to be addressing the root cause of the problem, and 25 years of hard work could come crashing down.