Wednesday 19 December

Well, we lost the nice weather with a colourful prelude to sunrise - by 9 am, the sky was completely covered by grey clouds. After lunchtime, the rain started and is continuing as I type, at 6pm. Further south, it is blowing a gale, but that is not anticipate to reach this far north. We seem to have changed weather pattern to wet and windy, something that is set to continue over the next couple of days.

Locally, the community buy-out for the Pairc Estate in South Lochs has received a boost, with the news that land owner Barry Lomas's human rights were not infringed by the hostile buy-out bid. Under legislation, enacted in 2003, communities can mount a hostile bid (i.e. against the land owner's will) to take over the land. Mr Lomas has also stated that the ballot in favour of the bid, taken 3 years ago, was legally flawed. The court in Stornoway is to rule on that issue next month.

Tomorrow morning, I fly off to Amsterdam to spend Christmas and New Year in Holland. This is therefore the last post on Atlantic Lines until 8 January 2013, the day after I return to Stornoway. As of Friday 21st December, I shall resume blogging on the Shell Gallery.