Tuesday 20 August

The day started misty, but in the end the cloud lifted and let in warm sunshine. Early in the evening, the mist rolled in again from the sea and it became quite grey and chilly. Late August in the Hebrides - a distinct whiff of autum in the air.

Monday 19 August

The men of Ness have set off for the annual guga hunt. The guga is the salted meat of a gannet chick. They are culled under an EU license to keep their tradition alive. A local wag has previously suggested they be boiled in diesel - guga is reportedly very oily. After a two week spell on Sula Sgeir, 40 miles north of Lewis, the men will return with 2,000 guga. 

Sunday 18 August

Last night was a bad night with plenty of wind and rain. The ferry had to return to Ullapool following its scheduled departure at 6.15 tonight. She finally came in at 11.30pm. Today, she had an extra sailing at 7 am; not usual on a Sunday. Ostensibly it was to take away all the rally cars that took place in the Lewis Car Rally yesterday. But there were still about a dozen vehicles to go on the ferry at 2.30pm.

Saturday 17 August

Lashing down with rain this morning and quite windy, but not the gale we had been warned against. Ferries appear to be running normally, although trailing green smoke most of the way.



I started another short story, and when I do so, I tend to have no idea how it will run. In this instance, I have the legend of St Donnan of Eigg in mind, who made the supreme sacrifice for his faith back in 617, when he and 50 followers were massacred at Kildonan in Eigg...

Friday 16 August

Thanks Yahoo for not telling me you were going to delete all emails from people whose email accounts are no longer valid. Thanks Yahoo for not giving me the opportunity to hold on to those emails. Even if the accounts have lapsed, I may still have reason to want to access those messages.

Fairly bright this afternoon, but with a bit of a breeze and occasional outbreaks of drizzle. Ah, a typical Hebridean day. Just teasing one of my friends who is currently away from the islands and enduring the big city. The Hebridean Princess put in another appearance.

Thursday 15 August

It's trying to brighten up here in Stornoway, with a blinding band of white along the horizon. But do I trust the weather here? Nope.
One of my current projects is researching the WW1 casualties from Harris (and later on Uist) more in depth than previously. It is an onerous task, as the primary information on Harris consists mainly of that displayed on the memorial at Tarbert. But with the aid of census returns and military databases on Ancestry, I do manage to get a decent enough picture together.

Wednesday 14 August

A quiet day, with sunshine (see pic) to start with, but clouding over later. Using the power of social media to help the owner of a young cat to find her missing feline down in North Uist. Dougal has been AWOL for a while. It reminds me of an episode here in Stornoway some years ago, when a missing cat was reported from Seaview Terrace - and a found cat answering the same description was reported from Inaclete Road. The two streets run parallel to each other...

Tuesday 13 August

A sad day for any Dutch person, and that includes me of course. Prince Friso died at home, 18 months after an accident whilst skiing in Austria. Oxygen deprivation left him with minimal consciousness and although he was brought home from hospital in London earlier this year, complications set in and Prince Friso died at The Hague. His funeral will be a private affair on Friday, 16th.