Wednesday 6 February

Quite frankly, a sigh of relief after several days of high winds, perishing cold and a snowy, icy mess. Although there was a light fall of snow around dawn, this melted and even the showers ceased after the middle of the afternoon. We are rapidly gaining daylight hours, with sunset now around 5pm.



Bad news for the rural communities in South Harris and on the West Side of Lewis today, with the announcement that the closures of the primary schools in Seilebost and Carloway, as well as that of the junior secondary department in Shawbost are now likely to go ahead. Take the school out of the heart of a community, and you take the heart out. Seilebost admittedly only had 6 pupils, and Carloway 15; but the S1/S2 dept at Shawbost had several dozen youngsters, who now have to be bussed to Stornoway's Nicolson Institute every schoolday. It is all to save money, and the aging schools in Seilebost and Carloway probably cost a lot to maintain, but sometimes you lose more in the long run if the community bleeds population.

This pic shows the decrescent moon rising early this morning, two hours before sunrise.