A warm day again today, with good spells of sunshine and the mercury up to 18C / 64F. Had lunch outside, admiring the cloudscapes of cirrus. Not a harbinger of good weather, as they gradually took over the sky and thickened. Fortunately, no rain ensued.
Our ferry sailed today, but as I type this, it is running very late. What should have been a 19.45 departure incurred a 2-hour delay. At this rate, it will be returning to Stornoway not much before 4 o'clock tomorrow morning; only to have to go out again at 7. There is a sneaking suspicion that these continual breakdowns might be down to a change in fuel oil. Cheap is nasty, it would appear. As I type this, an update has appeared on the local news website, indicating another technical fault. Well, if this happens next week, when the very well attended Hebridean Celtic Festival is on, we can expect chaos on an unprecedented scale. On average, 15,000 people attend the festival (roughly double the resident population of Stornoway, yep, we're that small).
I have previously written about the trials and tribulations of Rangers FC of Glasgow. The club was in severe financial difficulties, and its business has been wound up - and relaunched as a "newco" Rangers. Today, the 11 clubs in the Scottish Premier League voted against Rangers being readmitted to the SPL. In fact, Rangers could be made to resume in the lowest (3rd division) league.
Rangers is one of the most successful football clubs around, with 54 league titles in its 140 year history. The "Old Firm" matches (against fellow Glaswegian club Celtic) are legendary, but not always for the right reasons. Rangers and Celtic are always numbers 1 and 2 in the SPL, and the other clubs in the Scottish Football League deeply resent this, as they never stand any chance. With Rangers now dumped to the lower divisions, this would give other clubs a chance.
