Monday 2 September

Another windturbine unloaded for installation somewhere in the island. Don't know where, don't really care. The renewables industry was supposed to be the salvation of the islands economy, with the diaspora flocking back to snap up the 400 jobs at the Arnish Fabrication Yard to make all those turbines for all those windfarms that would soon embellish the moors of Lewis and beyond. Well, nothing of the sort has happened. A lot of the turbines are made overseas; one of the them is making a marine habitat somewhere in the North Sea after it washed overboard from the good ship Lass Moon, back in 2006. And those that install the windturbines are not local either - I have seen crews of German workers out and about in the island, putting up the Pentland Road windfarm earlier this year.