Sunday 28 September

Just read my way through a copy of DER SPIEGEL [The Mirror], a prominent publication in German. It obviously focuses heavily on German affairs, but also looks at other European countries. The edition of 15th September had a lengthy and disturbing feature on the child-abuse scandal that has rocked Rotherham in recent times - why did I have to get the full rundown on this atrocity in a foreign publication, and why was this snowed under by the effing referendum here in Scotland?

Another interesting snippet from DER SPIEGEL was on the tiny islet of ‪#‎Tromelin‬ in the Indian Ocean, some 350 miles west of Mauritius. A French ship came to grief there in the 18th century, leaving hundreds dead - illegally transported slaves - and probably leaving the survivors to resort to cannibalism to survive. It took 15 years for them to be rescued. It left one species of bird extinct on Tromelin. Nobody lives there - it is little more than a scrub-covered sandbank.

A new tropical depression in the Pacific (where is Chuuk, anyone?), a dying tropical storm southeast of Japan and a fading hurricane southwest of Mexico. Furthermore, the Atlantic has an attempt at a tropical disturbance (don't hold your breath), and the Eastern Pacific is breeding system #19.

The Council want to paint more double yellow lines (that means: no parking, for my US friends) in a town that soon won't have a traffic warden left to police them. Why don't we just ban cars from the town centre, inside the triangle formed by Matheson Road, Bayhead / Cromwell Street, and South Beach / James Street. JOKE, OK, JOKE.

When I went through a medical for my national service, back in the year of our lord 1982, I had to undergo a spelling test. The word "chauffeur" featured (it's the same in Dutch), and I was told that your average male manages to find 36 different ways of spelling that. Now go through this article on Hebrides News and count the number of different ways of spelling the Gaelic words Comunn Eachdraidh (historical society).