Saturday 10 December

One of those strange days. It started literally freezing cold, with half an inch of snow on the ground and icy conditions underfoot. However, by evening, the snow had melted, the mercury had risen to 7 degrees above freezing and it was blowing a force 7. Went out for a meal to the County Hotel on Francis Street, which was a success. I'm not in the habit of plugging businesses, as most restaurants in Stornoway are quite decent, offering a good quality of food for a reasonable price. And the County, which had a refurbishment a few years back, is right in among those. It was a typical Saturday in Stornoway, with the pavements full of young people out for a night on the town. As one of my party was not happy to walk all the way home (a distance of just over a quarter of a mile) a taxi was engaged for the return trip.