Monday 30 April

Another sunny day, with only a transitory bank of thin, high cloud to mar the enjoyment. Much better than the inches and inches of rain in parts of England. The resulting flooding claimed a life near Newbury, Berkshire.


I finished the transcription of the 1902 report into social conditions in the Isle of Lewis, which made for interesting but at times aggravating reading. It has a distinctly condescending tone,which compares unfavourable with that of the Napier Report of 1883.

There was a bit of excitement this afternoon, when the town and his wife came down to the seafront to see the Norwegian submarine Uredd move into port. Five sailors stood out on deck as she came in to dock on the eastern side of pier no 1. There have been manoeuvres in the Minch of late, but this vessel apparently came in as a courtesy call.