Tuesday 10 September

It was overcast and not too cold today - in other words, unremarkable in terms of weather.

I have updated the sidebar and front picture of this blog, which I had not really attended to over the past three months. I had not even switched the seasonal picture over from spring to summer; I could immediately post an autumn pic, in this case of the spider I spotted on Sunday. Sunday's pictures also provided the front pic, which is the blog header. Tomorrow is 9/11, so you will only get two posts in memory of two of the victims of 9/11. The posts are scheduled to appear at 1.46pm BST or 8.46am EDT, the time that the first attack on the WTC in New York took place on 11 September 2001. I intend to update this blog more regularly from now on; October will see the 5th anniversary of this blog and the 9th anniversary of my blogging activities. I commenced my first blog, Northern Trip, on 8 October 2004 at Kyleakin, Isle of Skye, some 75 miles southeast of my current position in Stornoway. At the time, I only had one blog. There are now have 69 blogs on my Blogger account, most of them static, doubling as websites. I also have one or two blogs outside Blogger.

Monday 9 September

The cruiseliner season comes to a close with a visit from the Marco Polo, its 4th visit this season.The day started with a flat calm, which allowed the big spider outside to weave an even more impressive web. Although cloud bubbled up through the morning, it did stay dry. I made further progress with my sixth short story, as well as research into the WW1 casualties from North Uist. In the afternoon, it was reported that Matheson Road in Stornoway was closed following a collision at the junction with Church Street. Later pictures showed that the crash must have happened at quite some speed.

Sunday 8 September

A beautifully sunny day, with only a few fluffball clouds and the mercury at a pleasant 16C / 60F. It was very nice and warm sitting in the sun and out of whatever wind was blowing. A large spider had woven a web and was busy catching wee flies. Bumble bees were flitting about the flowers - a nice late summer's day.

Saturday 7 September

11 degrees this morning with this northerly breeze. Bit nippy. I'm pretty good, even if I say so myself, at working public transport timetables. They can be tricky, certainly in parts of these islands. So I was quite proud to be able to help a visitor who wanted to go to a beach, Callanish and Harris today. No mean feat on a Saturday. By 6 o'clock, the cloud and rain had moved away, leaving us with a nice evening.

Friday 6 September

Fairly bright today, but mainly overcast. Just watched the ferry coming in on the last day this summer that we have three sailings - on Wednesday and Fridays from late June till early September. Normal service, two a day except Sunday, will resume tomorrow. The cessation of the 3 a day service will really mark the end of summer for me. The tourist season will continue until the mid-term holiday in late October. The weather is nice enough, but decidedly autumnal. How about the mushrooms out the back? The starlings are flocking, the days growing shorter. The equinox is nigh, what else to expect?

Wednesday 4 September

Wet, windy and grey sums up today. It was only at sunset time, 8.15pm, that the sun came out in blazing colours. Spent the afternoon compiling more information on WW1 casualties from the island of Berneray.

Monday 2 September

Another windturbine unloaded for installation somewhere in the island. Don't know where, don't really care. The renewables industry was supposed to be the salvation of the islands economy, with the diaspora flocking back to snap up the 400 jobs at the Arnish Fabrication Yard to make all those turbines for all those windfarms that would soon embellish the moors of Lewis and beyond. Well, nothing of the sort has happened. A lot of the turbines are made overseas; one of the them is making a marine habitat somewhere in the North Sea after it washed overboard from the good ship Lass Moon, back in 2006. And those that install the windturbines are not local either - I have seen crews of German workers out and about in the island, putting up the Pentland Road windfarm earlier this year.

Sunday 1 September

A walk around Stornoway on Sunday usually shows nobody about. One thing of note: the poor old Monaco has now well and truly sunk, and is just sitting on the bottom of the harbour. The tide is going up and down in and around it, so that shows the state the wreck is in.

Syria

The House of Commons have surprised all tonight by voting against military intervention in relation to the chemical attacks in Syria last week. That has come as a huge relief to myself, as the consequences of such action were potentially quite serious. However, it should be borne in mind that at present, there is no UN mandate for undertaking such action. The UN Security Council is likely to see a Russian veto against any military action against Russia's ally Syria. The only one who could still mount unilateral military action is the USA, but I'm not so convinced about that happening either. Substantive measures still should be taken against Mr Assad's horror regime, but it's not clear to me what they will me.

Egypt

A few words about events in Egypt in recent weeks. It may be held that the Arab Spring there has failed, with the Muslim Brotherhood's president Morsi being deposed by the Army. The murder of hundreds of people in Cairo and other places around the country is a demonstration of appalling brutality, justified by the current military regime by referring to law and order.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not universally popular in Egypt, far from it. A large number of people are apprehensive about the Islamists, fearing the imposition of strict Islamic rule - look at Iran as to what that looks like. Since the Brotherhood came to power, people who initially opposed deposed president Hosni Mubarak increasingly expressed a longing for his return to power. Although his was an oppressive and repressive regime, it was seen to provide a degree of stability at home and abroad.

There is a huge divide in Egyptian society, and for the moment, the military have patched the gap. But for how long, I wonder.

Syria

I just want to say that I abhor what happened in Syria. Although there is no cast-iron evidence, I hold the Assad regime responsible. The Russian government, being Assad's primary backers, are indirectly complicit. Mr Putin &co are in a position to reign in the worst of the excesses of the Syrian regime. However, they have swallowed hook, line and sinker, all the lies and fabrications that have come out of Damascus over the past two years. I am not saying that the rebels are any better. They are not. Given the right hardware, they would behave in exactly the same fashion as the Assad regime would.

David Cameron and William Hague (the British prime minister and foreign secretary) are treading a very dangerous path, if they are aiming to militarily retaliate against Syria for the use of nerve gas in Damascus last week. When you engage in a military campaign, you can NEVER anticipate how your adversary will react. I'm not a betting man, but I'd be prepared to wager that Assad will react in the worst fashion possible. An attack on Israel, aided and abetted by his regional ally Iran is almost a certainty. Also, what would the Russian government do in this situation, as in, would they continue to back the Assad regime in the face of an all-out assault? At any rate, the resulting conflagration will spiral out of any control of Mr Cameron and Mr Obama may think they have before you know where you are. I would

The British parliament will debate the issue tomorrow, Thursday 29th August. The motion being debated will be worded in such a way that it its passage through the House of Commons is a virtual certainty, leaving the door open for the prime minister to act as he sees fit. Including military action. I'm not looking forward to the next few days and weeks.

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.

Monday 12 August

This morning, news came out that a holiday maker had died after getting into difficulties while swimming off the west coast of Harris. Apparently, the 45-year old woman from London had gone into the sea after first her son, and then her husband got into trouble. Locals tell me that they would not readily take to the water there themselves due to strong currents.