Friday 15 February

Awoke to a nice dawn, little wind and later on pleasant sunshine. The mercury managed 8C / 46F this afternoon, which is quite good for the middle of February, and a value that we hadn't seen for a while.



Quite amazing images from Russia, which was at the receiving end of a meteorite. It appears that the sonic boom from the phenomenon caused a lot of damage and injury - nearly 1,000 were hurt through flying glass around Chelyabinsk, in the Ural Mountains. That other piece of space rock, 2012AD14, whizzed past at a close but safe distance of 17k miles. Still on space matters, a comet will approach the sun this autumn, and Ison will be brighter than the full moon. On its closest approach, the comet will be very close to the sun (only a degree away). During 2014, the comet, if it does not disintegrate on its passage by the sun, will fly away again, never to be seen again.

Thursday 14 February

Valentine's Day it seems to be today. Well, the weather was determined to make it as unromantic as possible, but those so inclined would not have been put off, I'm sure. Tipping it down all day as a pesky weather system slowly edged east. Not much rain falling in total, but enough to make you wet.

Our regular ferry boat, the MV Isle of Lewis, return to Stornoway this afternoon at 4.30. She had been away for refit at Leith for nearly 3 weeks, and I eagerly awaited her return, glued to the AIS screen. Although the IoL is much maligned (all Calmac's boats are much maligned by the way), she is our boat. The people in Harris and Uist continue to be long-faced as their regular boat is on relief duty this winter.

Two people have died after being caught by an avalanche in the Cairngorm mountains near Aviemore. They were in a group of 8, who were surprised by the cascade just after midday today. Some were dug out from under 13 feet of snow.

Wednesday 13 February

A very wild day to start with, and the gale did not subside until the second half of the afternoon. Winds touched force 9 in the southern isles, leading to extensive cancellations and delays on the ferry network. Nonetheless, people served on the Uig / Tarbert / Lochmaddy triangular route felt it necessary to moan about the cancellations suffered by replacement ferry MV Finlaggan. Their regular boat, the MV Hebrides, has been on the Stornoway to Ullapool route, and the Uisteachs are demanding their boat back as the Finlaggan is allegedly unfit for purpose. Well, I'm sure that the Finlaggan would not be sailing here if she was not licensed. Breakdowns can happen at any time, and to any boat - the Hebrides did not sail this morning due to a breakdown. I think people would come down like a ton of bricks on Calmac if anything happened because a vessel went out in unsuitable conditions. It has been a very wild few weeks, and disruptions to the ferry service are to be expected. It is the Hebrides, not the Med.

Tuesday 12 February

Although the day started brightly, cloud gradually increased and so did the wind later in the day. The remnants of a major snowstorm in the eastern USA, nicknamed Nemo, is on its way in, and will give us much wind. The mainland can expect a lot of snow. Although that would be welcome for the ski centres, one of them suffered a major malfunction, when a skilift derailed. Six people were hurt, and 36 others were stuck on the lift for up to 90 minutes. In strong winds and temps of -2C, this made it all a bit cold. The Health & Safety Executive is due to investigate the accident.

I am quite disgusted with the mess surrounding the horse meat scandal. Everybody blaming everybody else, and there is an almost impossibly complicated tangled web of meat, crossing up to half a dozen border from beast to fork. For American readers, processed food that claimed to contain 100% beef was found to contain up to 100% horse meat. In the UK, eating horsemeat is almost anathema. At any rate, it is in flagrant violation of the Trade Descriptions Act, which stipulates that labelling should accurately represent the content.

Monday 11 February

Overcast and feeling cold today, although the (now) southeasterly wind is not as strong as yesterday. The tide was well out this afternoon, which gave me the opportunity to go down to the tideline and look for shellfish. There was only one huge big oyster, which I'd have a job opening, so I lobbed it back into the sea. Strange thought that 6 hours later, there would be 17 feet of water over where I had walked at 2pm this afternoon.



The Pope has announced his resignation, the first pontiff to have done so since 1415. Benedict XVI has said he felt no longer up to the job, so as of 8pm on 28 February, he will retire. A new pope is to be elected in March, with the result of the vote being announced by white smoke (if a pope has been chosen) or black smoke (if not). I wonder if the Vatican will move into the 21st century, but some customs are best left alone, I suppose.

More and more equine rather than bovine in our foods. Enough to put you off processed foods for a while. Let's have more home made lasagnas - no, there is no excuse. And please, no references to a sponsorship deal for Findus for the Grand National at Aintree.

Sunday 10 February

A bright and fairly sunny day, but perishing cold in the stiff easterly breeze. Further south, snow is plaguing folks, but it sometimes pays to sit at a high latitude. The nor'easter that has dumped a metre of snow on New England will slowly move across the Atlantic, to bring us milder conditions from Wednesday onward, in what looks like a classical battle between cold (to the east) and mild (to the west) air.

Went out for an amble along the shore this afternoon, just as the Sunday ferry left port. It was rather cold in the wind, but the bright conditions, a nice contrast to yesterday's mist and murk, made it worthwhile. I waited for the passage of the ferry at the site of the old Royal Naval Reserves base at Battery Point, known as HMS Iolaire [Eagle]. It was in that lowly shed that the bodies of the 140 servicemen who drowned and whose remains were recovered were laid out, just after their transport, HMY Iolaire, had sunk on 1 January 1919. Windows and doors in the building have now been bricked up.

Saturday 9 February

A very foggy start today, visibility was less than 200 yards. Although the fog did lift into low cloud, this continued to tease down to sealevel, and it did remain around all day.

I have completed the section of my project dealing with the parish of Barvas, meaning that two thirds is done. The parishes of Uig and Lochs are next, comprising the latter third. I have also cleaned up the 'tags', some of which were incomplete in the entries for Stornoway and parts of Point. Once I have progressed to Bernera, I shall be able to glean more information on each casualty from Hebridean Connections, which covers West Uig, Bernera and Lochs. I'll need to look at those names where there is virtually no information, other than what the Roll of Honour gives. And the Roll of Honour is a venerable but far from flawless document. Contrary to elsewhere, the Lewis Roll lists the names of everybody that signed up for war service.

Friday 8 February

An overcast day but dry, apart from the odd spot of rain. A band of rain passed just south of us, but it did not affect us. I was up early and saw the light creeping up the sky from 7 o'clock onwards; sunset at the moment is at 8.40 am.



In the afternoon, I went to the Town Hall, where the Port Authority was holding an exhibition on proposed developments for the marina. At the moment, this consists of two pontoons at the end of Cromwell Quay, but they intend to built four large pontoons as far down as Lazy Corner (outside the Stornoway Trust Offices, for locals), with separate pontoons for the fishing boats.

After that, I went for a 4 mile amble round the shore as far as the River Creed, then along the banks of said river to the Iron Fountain and back to town via the Castle. Quite a few people out for a walk as well, as it was a nice day for a stroll.

Thursday 7 February

An overcast and at times slightly damp day, which felt decidedly cold. Mercury did not rise above 4C (39F).

Last year, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) announced that it was planning to close a number of rural primary schools, as well as junior secondary departments in one or two others. 12- and 13-year olds can take their S1 and S2 classes in rural schools, such as the ones at Lionel (Ness) and Shawbost (West Side), but it is no longer accepted policy to continue to offer this option. However, the closure plans for Carloway and Seilebost (and Shawbost's S1/S2) ran into considerable opposition, and the Scottish Government "called in" the closure plans, for further perusal. Unfortunately, a legal wrangle has now resulted in a stalemate. Although the legal challenge by the council against the government has been upheld, the closure plans remain "called in". This is a typical case where the law is an ass.



Our main post office branch, on Francis Street, is threatened with closure. The Post Office wants to close 70 branches and reallocate them into a local retail outlet. Not sure if that is such a good idea. I already dread having to go into (e.g.) Murdo Maclean's to reach the men's department which you can only reach through the women's lingerie - unless you walk round into Kenneth Street behind the store...

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.

Tuesday 5 February

A better day than yesterday, a little milder and no snow or hail. The wind, however, was perishingly cold, now from the north. The swells in the Atlantic are making all the headlines, some rising up to 70 feet high. A retaining wall at the Fair Isle lighthouse was smashed by the waves.

I have sent off 5 more postcrossing cards, one to the USA and four to Europe. I print off my own pics onto blank cards, including the code that postcrossing supplies. Said code also goes onto the envelopes, which I print with the address of the recipient. I have sent and received 140 cards (in both directions), but 5 of my cards were never registered. The Dutch Post Office has issued special stamps for postcrossing; here in the UK it is 87p for a card to Europe and £1.28 for a card outside of Europe. Fortunately, Europe includes Russia and its former satellite states.

Monday 4 February

A very cold, windy and wintry day, although not as bad as forecast. Winds stayed at 40 to 50 mph, gusting to 70-80 mph throughout, sweeping frequent hail and snow showers along. The sun also put in regular if brief appearances. The folks at the tearoom in Eoropie, near the Butt of Lewis, posted some spectacular pictures of waves, crashing to a height of 150 to 200 feet at the cape. Ferry services were severely disrupted across the western and northern isles, although our boat bravely made its two scheduled crossings, if a little behind schedule at times. She is the Hebrides, one of the better sea boats on the Calmac network. Our regular tub, the Isle of Lewis, is currently in drydock at Leith, but should be back with us next week.

On the subject of ferries, the Small Isles (south of Skye) may lose their dedicated ferry Lochnevis, for it to be replaced by 30-passenger RIBs. That's all fine and dandy, but not in the wintertime (too rough) nor in summertime (too many people travelling). In other words, a complete non-starter.

Sunday 3 February

A day of ferry tales, and they were not exactly fairy tales either. The day started with the cancellation of the service on the Uig - Lochmaddy - Tarbert triangle. The Finlaggan had broken down. This meant that all this traffic had to come north to Stornoway to make the crossing to Ullapool. The distance from there to Uig in Skye is 170 miles, although the distance from Ullapool to Glasgow is the same as from Uig to Glasgow - 225 miles. The Hebrides had to wait more than 2 hours for everybody to turn up from Leverburgh and left at 4.45, 2 hours 15 minutes late. As I type this, at 10pm, it is chugging its way across the Minch in worsening conditions. She should be in by about half past eleven. The wind has started to pick up, and the birds were very excitable this afternoon. After a flock of starlings had taken wing, two goldfinches were left scanning for leftovers. Winds will increase to 50 mph overnight, and that will be sustained throughout the day.

Saturday 2 February

Last night's rain caused no end of problems on the road, and in the middle of the night even the temperature by the sea (where I am), dropped sufficiently low to allow a thin blanket of snow to fall.



By daybreak, the gritters had been round and it had all disappeared. It did remain cold and it took until lunchtime for all the slush to melt.I have been receiving a couple of postcrossing postcards in recent days, after I sent some off at the beginning of January. Those took rather long to get registered, but it's always nice. So far, I have received 140 since 2011. Due to the cost of stamps, I am restricting myself to 5 cards each month.

We are on warning for a storm on Monday, which will last all day, and take right through Tuesday to die down. The causative depression will track between the Faeroes and Scotland, with a central pressure of 055 ,bar - windspeeds could reach 50 to 70 mph, with even higher gusts. Last week's storm carried winds of 135 mph over the mountain tops.

Friday 1 February

A fairly calm day, with not much wind. As a consequence, the showers that did crop up during the afternoon took their time passing over. After nightfall, the temperature dropped and things started to get a bit nasty on the roads. Away from the seashore (where I am positioned), the wet streets and pavements froze, and higher level areas began to experience light falls of snow. The council does not grit roads after 6pm, so it got messier and messier, with drivers telling hair-raising tales of skids and 20 mile journeys that took nearly an hour. The forecast, meanwhile, is looking very ominous, with 50 mph winds forecast for all day on Monday.

The early morning radio provided some light entertainment today. Radio Scotland's excellent Gary Robertson started by saying It is now 7 o'clock on Friday the 1st of January, which earned him a pile of New Year's wishes. Isles FM, our local radio station, meanwhile, referred to our local MP, Mr Angus B. Macneil, as the MP for Na h-Eileanan an Lar; which translates as the Floored Isles. The word Lar should be read as Iar, meaning West.

Thursday 31 January

Quite a change after two wild days, with a sunny start followed by a gradual increase in cloud cover. The rain followed by the end of the evening. Ferries are sailing according to schedule again, and things seem to be back to normal. Just that the Stornoway Gazette (also known as the Two Minutes Silence) was not in the shop yet. It is usually on the shelves on Thursdays. Two Minutes Silence? Well, it takes people not more than two minutes to read (not my words or sentiments).

By 9pm, the lights started to pulsate at 1-second intervals. Strange that you get electrical problems when there is no wind. Later, I learned that two electrical poles had started arcing in Portnaguran, which is 10 miles away in Point. They were consequently off supply until midnight, and Ness, 25 miles away, was also in the dark for a while.

The post office branch in Bayhead was due to be relocated to the filling station on Sandwick Road, but the people in the north of Stornoway registered their opposition, and the Post Office withdrew the plan.

Wednesday 30 January

The storm that started yesterday evening only got worse after midnight. The winds rose at Eoropie, a mile from the Butt of Lewis, reaching a crescendo at 5.30 am with an unofficial highest windspeed of 112.8 mph or 181 km/h. Sustained winds had steadily crept up from 80 mph at midnight to that highest reading. The effects of the storm appear to have been moderate. The gable end of a house in Leverburgh and its windows were blown in; the ferry service was severely disrupted up and down the west coast and a few bits and pieces had gone walkabout. But no casualties, fortunately. Shared what information I had with people on Facebook and Twitter, some of which even made it onto Good Morning Scotland on Radio Scotland first thing in the morning.

As the day wore on, the winds very gradually abated, only dropping below galeforce at Eoropie after 6pm this evening. The highest windspeed measured at the airport was 52 mph sustained, with a gust to 78 mph. A bad one, and the second strongest storm of the eight years I have been in this island. As recompense, we were treated to a brief flash of a colourful sunset around 4.45pm.

Tuesday 29 January

Another day of high winds, but of a more severe category than yesterday. The morning started fairly calm, but winds soon picked up and increased to hurricane force at the Butt of Lewis. At time of posting, the highest sustained windspeed measured at the nearby village of Eoropie was 84.5 mph, that is about 136 kph. Bus services stopped earlier than usual, at 6pm. The ferry tried to make the crossing from Ullapool, but was met with mountainous seas when emerging out of Loch Broom. The captain decided that the comfort and safety of his passengers took precedence over derring-do, so he turned back. Passengers are spending the night on the boat, or ashore, as arranged by the ferry company. The ferry service to Harris and North Uist is all up the spout, with only a return trip to North Uist tomorrow. On the roads, the council have temporarily closed causeways in the Uist, and to Point. All closures appear to have been lifted by now. Meanwhile, the causative depression is heading away to the northern isles, to liven up the Up Helly Aa celebrations in Shetland tonight.