Another bright and sunny day, although not quite as warm as yesterday: 16C / 60F is still very warm for late March. This evening, we are experiencing serious problems with dense smoke as a result of muirburn, the practice of burning stretches of moorland in order for the heather to regenerate. Visibility is down to less than a quarter mile and it smells strongly of smoke. It has been going on since last week, but I am reading reports of a large fire in the South Lochs area of Lewis, 12 miles south of here. Residents of the villages of Leurbost and Crossbost, 6 miles south of Stornoway, are complaining even more than the folk here in SY. It says in the Muirburn Code, that it should not become a nuisance to surrouding communities, well, if this isn't a nuisance, I don't know what is.
The captain of the cargo ship Flinterspirit, which disputed passage with the island of North Uist last week, appeared in court today, charged with offences in relation to the incident. He was also found to be three and a half times over the legal blood alcohol limit whilst in charge of a ship in Stornoway harbour.
Blogger is switching us all over to the new format as of 1 April (no joke), so I have grudgingly changed over now. I know for a fact I shall complain bitterly; I tried it in beta, and had to abandon it due to copy & paste problems. Tomorrow morning, I anticipate that the air will be turning blue around my laptop when I do my next tropical cyclone update.
