Sunday 5 October

It's all go on the typhoon front. Phanfone is headed for Tokyo, which it is set to pommel at category 1 strength during rush hour tomorrow morning; and Vongfong is making a beeline for Guam and surrounding islands as a category 3 typhoon - winds of about 100 knots. After that, it will strengthen further to 130 knots before heading north, for Japan.

In the eastern Pacific, Simon was a major hurricane (> 100 knots), but is now weakening, en route for Baja California. Its attendant rains will reach Arizona and New Mexico next weekend. That's the third tropical system to soak the desert southwest of the USA.

The heavy rains of Phanfone may well have contributed to an accident at the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, where one driver ploughed into a support vehicle on the track, leaving him critically ill in hospital with brain injuries.

Was watching a cormorant drying its wings at lunchtime, until the tide flooded his perch.



The weather today was filthy, with plenty of wind and rain. The ferry company decided to retime its sailings to and from Ullapool, putting them forward by three and a half hours. Then, not as scheduled, the boat went back to Ullapool at 6pm, where it will remain until tomorrow.