Sunday 9 September

Another autumnal day, with no sunshine and little if any rain. Quite breezy, force 6, but otherwise pretty non-descript. I spent the day going through my Gaelic music CDs (not got that many), and had a look through the Napier Report for Sutherland. I am also going through the Statistical Account for Scotland, which yields little gems of information, such as the annual rental for a house in Stornoway at the end of the 18th century: £15 to £25. Per annum. At that time, fishery was the mainstay of the town's economy, as it was to remain so for another 150 years. I have decided not to literally transcribe the report, but just excerpts. I have no completed posts yet, so I'll post the link later in the week when I have.

In anticipation of World Toilet Day on 19 November (ok, still two months away), the BBC have revealed that there are four things you cannot discuss in China. Tibet, Taiwan, Tiananmen and ... Toilets. The World Toilet Organisation has stated that China has the worst public toilets in all of Asia. The ruling Communist Party has reacted to that criticism by publishing an edict that not more than two flies are allowed in any one public loo.

Just an advance notice that on Tuesday, the 11th anniversary of 9/11, this blog will only feature the tributes for two of the victims, Norberto Hernandez and Jeffrey Dwayne Collman. These posts will appear at 1.46pm local time, 8.46am EDT. Normal blogging will resume on Wednesday 12th.

Hurricane update - 9 September

At the apex of hurricane activity in the North Atlantic, and Western Europe is going to get a double whammy: the combined force of two hurricanes by the end of this week. Tropical storm Leslie, currently 100 miles east of Bermuda is headed north for Newfoundland. It will intensify to a hurricane before morphing into a deep area of low pressure. Joining Leslie will be hurricane Michael, a category II hurricane (winds 100 mph near the centre) which is headed northwest across the ocean. Michael will be absorbed into the larger circulation of Leslie, adding its force. I really do not like the resulting depression as it turned out on the 5-day forecast weather chart from the Met Office. By Friday, we can expect a decidedly windy day.