Saturday 15 February

It is most unusual, to have cars parked bumper to bumper for several hundred yards along this street. It turns out there was a very well attended funeral in a church down the road. I don't know who the deceased was, but custom dictates that the coffin is carried from the church by all male mourners in turn. A dignified way of paying respects, and I disappeared from my vantage point for the duration.



It's actually not too bad in between the showers, which are not heavy but make you thoroughly wet. Much better than the ravages wreaked on the south of England, which has taken a battering through the night. My sympathies go out to the family of the cruiseline passenger who died on board MV Marco Polo, when that ship was struck by a big wave in the England Channel; and to the family of the hapless motorist whose vehicle was crushed by falling masonry in London. The Hebrides has the reputation for bad weather; it's the south of England that's had its unfair share of it these last few weeks. A reprieve looks set to be on its way.

Continuing my trawl of Stornoway-related WW1 casualties courtesy CWGC. A steady trickle of new additions, which were somehow missed in the Roll of Honour, War Memorials and other sources - and who definitely turned out to be island lads. So far, there are about a dozen.

Went for an amble in the Lews Castle Grounds this afternoon, but was plagued by showers - and not just of rain. Hail clattered down as I crossed the Bayhead Bridge. Went up the Stornoway Golf Course, then down the new path to Strawberry Hill, skirting the quarry. Returned by Lews Castle.

I'm pleased to report that the MS Clipper Ranger has left dry-dock on the Wirral and is headed north. She is due into Ullapool at 2 am on Monday morning. The MV Hebridean Isles, meanwhile, has left Stornoway and is currently docked in Oban.