Saturday 2 June

Ooh, we had two drops of rain early this morning. Otherwise, another bright and sunny day, with a biting northeasterly wind keeping the temperature around 11C all day. Bit warmer darn sarf [down south], where HM the Q attended the Epsom Derby horse race as a start to her Diamond Jubilee weekend. There was a streetparty here in Lewis (at least one I know of) in Laxdale, with another one planned for next Wednesday in the town area of Stornoway. On Monday, we'll be watching the lighting of beacons.

I was pleased to hear that former president Mubarak of Egypt was sentenced to life in jail for complicity in the killings of people 16 months ago in Cairo, when his regime was overthrown. He could have been executed, but that would have made him a martyr. Isn't it odd though, how certain figures crash from favourite to outcasts in a matter of weeks. Mubarak and Gadaffi are certainly good examples. As a classical music afficionado, I am only too familiar with Carl Orff's rendition of Carmina Burana, and the first excerpt of that piece:

The wheel of Fortune turns;
I go down, demeaned;
another is carried to the height;
far too high up
sits the king at the summit -
let him beware ruin!
for under the axis we read:
Queen Hecuba.