Sunday 31 October

The clocks went back an hour overnight, and we now have sunrise just after half past seven, and the sun setting around a quarter to five. Yep, winter is not far away now. Hallowe'en today, but as I indicated last night, I'm not feeling like it. I would like to wish everybody else a happy Hallowe'en though.



Today was a bright and sunny day, with not much wind. The ferry did its customary single crossing back-and-forth this afternoon and evening, returning on schedule at 9pm. November looks like making a similar start, but then is going to give us a nice present in the shape of a late afternoon gale. However, if it doesn't get worse than a force 8, I won't be complaining. It's that time of the year after all.

Later this week, on Friday 5 November, we'll have Guy Fawkes night. Fawkes was intent on blowing up the Houses of Parliament in 1605, but his plot failed and he was hung, drawn and quartered for all his bother on 31 January 1606. Four hundred and five years later, they are still burning effigies of Fawkes and letting off fireworks on 5 November. As is customary, the media are full of gruesome pictures of burned and torn limbs belonging to people who didn't observe the normal precautions in letting off fireworks.

Hurricane update - 31 October

Hurricane Tomas is moving west into the Caribbean, having wreaked destruction in the Windward and Leeward Islands. The storm, currently a category 2 hurricane, will strengthen a bit more before settling at around 95 knots whilst making headway across the Caribbean towards Jamaica.

Tropical cyclone Anggrek is located south of Indonesia, a few hundred miles north of the Cocos Islands near 9S 95E. The storm has an Indonesian name as it first formed north of latitude 10S. The system will move south to pass close to Cocos Island with winds up to 75 knots near the centre. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology are issuing warnings for the islands.

Hallowe'en 2010

Hallowe'en is not a tradition I grew up with, and I've only grown more familiar with it since I came to the UK, 13 years ago this month. It is a relatively inoccuous event, although I resent, like the gentleman in the pic above, the abuse of black cats just because they have black fur.


I'll just stick to the black cat as depicted in this graphic. My family had a black tomcat for 15 years in the 1970s and 1980s, and he was the friendliest creature you could care to find. Other cats, around at the time, would agree or disagree with that vehemently; other toms would get a sound thrashing out of him, whilst the females of the species got all they ever wanted out of him and more.


Donna provided me with this graphic 3 years ago, and I'm glad to see she's slowly getting back in the habit. She was also behind this graphic
which had us trick-or-treating through J-land, meaning this image is at least 3 years old. I had two Hallowe'ens in J-land (2006 and 2007); J-land was closed on Hallowe'en 2008. I was sitting in an airport lounge at Aberdeen when news came through that our blogs had gone. I've never understood why they had to be deleted, rather than being kept in an archived status. It caused a lot of upset, and I've not forgiven AOL for it.

Hallowe'en has a serious side to it. Its full name is All Hallows' Eve, the day before All Hallows, when we remember those that have passed away. 1 November will be the day, 2½ years ago, that my mother passed away, and I'll bear that in mind on Monday. Others who have recently lost loved ones or friends will be kept in mind on that day. November is also the month that I post the links to journals whose bloggers have gone before, and I'm closing this admittedly sombre post with that.

In remembering those that went before us, we will gain strength from their memory and the fortitude they showed in adversity.

Lahoma's Laments - Lahoma, RIP 25 December 2007
The Diatom Project - Walt, RIP 27 April 2007
My Reason for Reasoning - Barbara, RIP 20 November 2007
Dribble by Chuck Ferris - Chuck, RIP 1 July 2008
There are no Sundays - Jim, RIP April 2007
I shaved my legs for this??? - Kim, RIP 26 December 2007
One Girl's Head Noise (UK) - Pam, RIP 16 April 2006
Pennie's Pieces of Ohio - Penny, RIP 1 October 2007

Summer time / Winter time

Summer left us long months ago, but tonight at 2 am, the clocks will be turned back one hour to revert the UK back to Greenwich Mean Time. There is once more talk of bringing the country into line with the rest of Europe, meaning that British Summer Time would become British Standard Time.

Image courtesy inquisitr.com
Here in northern Scotland we are not in favour of that. Daylight hours are at a premium in winter, with sunrise at 9.15 am on 21 December and sunset at 3.35 pm. It doesn't require a mathematical genius to work out that this leaves us with a paltry 6 hours and 20 minutes of potential solar visibility. So, if the clocks go forward 1 hour and stay like that all year, we'll have sunrise at 10.15, leaving the kids to go to school in total darkness, and sunset at 4.35pm. A trial of 'double summertime' was conducted in 1968, but was abandoned. I just see it as sheer laziness from people who, when dealing with continental Europe, cannot be bothered to add an hour to calculate the time at their European counterpart's office.

Saturday 30 October

Another windy day with occasional showers. The ferry is sailing, but the captain is reported as advising passengers to secure personal belongings as well as themselves. I am looking forward to seeing the boat coming in, wreathed in a green cloud.


For what it's worth, my blogposts indicate that last night's broadband outage has been resolved. Apparently, a fault in a telephone exchange in Edinburgh caused the failure, which affected large parts of the United Kingdom. My emergency dial-up service had ceased to operate, meaning I was reduced to mobile phone messages to Facebook and Twitter. Oh, what would we do without the Internet?

Well, it gave me the opportunity to make good progress with this year's Armistice Tribute. It will be a significantly pared down version of Faces from the Lewis War Memorial.

Hurricane update - 30 October

Tropical storm Tomas is headed for the Windward and southern Leeward Islands in the eastern Caribbean, strengthening rapidly. The system will pick up more strength as it ploughs through the Caribbean, approaching Jamaica after the weekend with winds of 100 knots (125 mph) if not higher.It is worth monitoring this storm closely, particularly after the weekend, when its future track (which is expected to be towards Cuba) becomes clearer.

A tropical disturbance has formed in the southern hemisphere, which is making ominous noises towards the Cocos or Keeling Islands. 92L is expected to develop into tropical cyclone Tasha, with winds of 85 knots by the time it reaches the Cocos Islands. This is equivalent to a category II hurricane in the Atlantic.

Friday 29 October

Friday ended with a broadband outage across Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland, which affected me as well, hence this post on Saturday morning.

Friday began with galeforce winds, which prompted the cancellation of the first sailing of the ferry to Ullapool. The 1.50pm sailing did go ahead, but I cannot imagine that it would have been a pleasurable experience. Although the wind abated, the weather remained cold and grey.

The parents of Lewis aid worker Linda Norgrove, who was killed in Afghanistan 3 weeks ago, have spoken on TV about their experiences with regards to the kidnap and death of their daughter. Although they tried to dissuade her from going back to Afghanistan, Mr and Mrs Norgrove acknowledged that it was not right to deter her from persuing what she wanted to do. A charitable fund has been set up in Linda's name, which aims continue her work in Afghanistan.

When I went out to the shop, I came across a flock of waxwings, small berry-eating birds, which were feasting on the contoneaster bushes outside Tesco. They flew off to nearby TV aerials and rooftops, but there were about a hundred of the birds there. I could not get a good photograph of them, as the light conditions were poor.

Thursday 28 October

One of those non-descript autumn days. It was cold and increasingly wet. The wind is also picking up as I write this (11.10pm). It has already caused the cancellation of the overnight freight ferry to the mainland, and MV Muirneag was moved from its customary berth along pier no 1 to pier no 3, as the latter is undergoing maintenance work at present. The ferry is docked alongside pier no 1, meaning that passengers have to shuttle courtesy taxis paid for by Calmac.

On the hurricane front, typhoon Chaba is beginning to weaken south of Japan, and will not affect that country as a tropical system. In the Atlantic, there are three disturbances which could develop into a tropical depression or storm, but will have to wait for the morning to see further developments.

Watched a recorded episode of a Poirot mystery, which I taped last night. Two hours of Hallowe'en horror. Aaaagh! Will I sleep...

Picture post - late October 2010

Cromwell Street, Stornoway, after the shower (27 October)


Cloudscapes (26 October)


Broken water mains elsewhere in the town leaves us with this water (25 October)



Dusk (23 October)


Perceval Square, Stornoway (23 October)

Wednesday 27 October

A day of changeable fortunes in terms of weather: plenty of showers and a breeze about. Not really cold, but 10C cannot really be described as tropical either, can it now?

I spent just under an hour in the library, copying tributes from the Stornoway Gazette of 1917. The hard copy of that year's edition is now in such poor shape, that it has been transferred to microfiche. Some of the tributes I print out (for a small fee), others I copy by hand. I then add them to the Faces from the Lewis War Memorial website.

An earthquake, measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale, struck the Mentawai islands off Sumatra, Indonesia, on Monday. The quake triggered a tsunami, which was 3 metres (10 feet) tall. It wiped villages off said islands, and the death toll currently stands at more than 270.

Tuesday 26 October

11.30pm, and the wind is howling outside. A southerly wind, force 7, and the mercury at 13C. Yes, nearly midnight and it's still very mild. Today, the funeral of Lewis aid worker Linda Norgrove was held. It was all over the BBC and STV/ITV channels, so I just want to commend the broadcasters for a dignified and sensitive approach to this occasion. It showed Timsgarry and Ardroil as I have come to know it many a time: under the cover of mist and cloud. An appropriate setting.

An echo from the time of Saddam Hussein came through today, with the verdict on his former foreigh minister, Tariq Aziz: death by hanging. It is nearly four years ago that Saddam himself was hanged, and much has changed in Iraq. I do not know if it is for the better; it certainly could not get any worse, but I'm not getting the impression of vast and lasting improvements there.

This morning, I looked up further details for several more Lewis casualties from WW1 on whom I do not have very much information. My list of queries still stands at 100 (out of 1300), and most of them I will not be able to resolve, using the resources currently at my disposal. With Remembrance Sunday (November 14th) approaching rapidly, I'll try to clear up as many queries as I can.

I'll have a picture post tomorrow in addition to the normal entry.

Monday 25 October

A cold day, and as the afternoon progressed, cloud has moved in to deprive us of the sun's warmth as well. A southerly breeze is blowing the leaves around, and the rainfall radar shows the rain only a few dozen miles away. It will last until tomorrow.

Here in Stornoway, there has been a burst water mains, which briefly led to a loss of pressure and continuing brown discolouration of the water. Although the burst occurred on the other side of town, here by the water's edge, we're still not back to normal, an hour and a half after the initial problem. I'm keeping tabs on the website of Scottish Water for updates. #fail

Not that that was rated as anything remotely important to local radio station, Isles FM, which blithely reported on the break-in at Aladdin's Cave (a small shop) over the weekend, the controversy surrounding the proposed withdrawal of tug cover for the Minch &c. #fail

Facebook allows you to download everything you have ever put on the site. In order to verify your identity, you have to recognise pictures of any of your friends. Well, I failed dismally (sorry folks), and can now not access my details. Another big round #fail, this time for Facebook.

Sunday 24 October

A quiet Sunday, with some sunshine, although not feeling very warm. It is supposed to get really cold overnight - on the mainland. An overnight low of -6C is forecast for southwestern Scotland. Being on an island carries certain benefits, although it does not mean we don't get frosts. We had very hard frosts last winter.

I have been referring extensively on this blog to the death of Linda Norgrove, who will be buried at Ardroil on Tuesday. The circumstances of her death have led me into two quite ferocious discussions. The first was on the subject of 'what was she doing in Afghanistan', and whether a woman should have been active in a patriarchal society. I believe that her activity, steering local farmers away from opium poppy production, was a valid aim which has an impact far beyond the confines of Afghanistan. I never met Linda, but accounts in the press describe her as having a unique gift to relate to people. It would appear that she commanded a degree of respect, to the extent that village elders were appealing to the Coalition forces in Afghanistan not to intervene, but to leave it to them to get Linda free.

This neatly leads me on to the second discussion, which was by Internet with another blogger. I can start by saying we no longer read each other's blogs. When the news of Ms Norgrove's death was announced, I relayed it on this blog, because she had lived and grown up in the Isle of Lewis; and because the news media were promptly swarming all over the place. A comment cropped up, which roundly condemned American foreign and military policy, a criticism that I partly concurred with. Someone else reacted to the initial comment, and a reply comment came back from the first respondent - which I disallowed. It is something I rarely do, but on this occasion I did not feel it appropriate to permit a discussion to develop on a blogpost that was partly a tribute to a dead person. I was quickly condemned for censorship and not permitting the truth to be aired, and only allowing lies to be printed, etc. etc. Nothing I said in reply (by email) could serve to placate the commenter and (to omit an increasingly acrimonious exchange) the person concerned decided to stop reading my blog. No big deal to me - I'm writing this blog because I enjoy doing it and do not seek to gain from it in any sense.

As I said, I am critical of American foreign and defence policy, and I'm not afraid to air that. I do take exception to people who see fit to abuse individual citizens of the USA over the blunders committed by their government. Yes, a majority voted for the likes of Presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton and their predecessors. It does not mean they necessarily agree with policies adopted by said officials.

To conclude my paragraphs on Linda Norgrove, I feel it deplorable that her death could be attributable to a blunder by American special forces who had come to rescue her. I am deeply saddened by the likelihood that she was targeted for kidnap because she worked for an American aid organisation.

At the end of the day though, we should all remember that the blame for Linda's death lies squarely at the door of the insurgents who kidnapped her last month. RIP.

Saturday 23 October

Not a bad day at all, although there were a few showers mid-afternoon. Went to the shops at around 3pm, among them the garden centre. Where they also have various pets for sale, varying from birds, kittens and rabbits to a very vocal cockateel. It could "talk", saying things like "Hello!" and "Look at that", in other words imitating everything that it overheard people say around it.

I am a stickler to grammatical rules, so I was not please to see a teddy bear in a shop with a notice on it saying Aunt's make life bearable. There are no apostrophes in plurals, ok?

People have been getting their breath back after yesterday's submarine farce off Kyle. The most sophisticated sub in the Royal Navy, but its crew were not able to navigate a couple of red and green buckets in the Kyle of Lochalsh. Meanwhile, plans have been unveiled that laden supertankers will no longer require a tug escort when making their way up and down the Minch. Because said tug will not be on station any more after September 2011. Fortunately, yesterday's problem with HMS Astute has underlined the need for the tug to be here. Stornoway is only 75 miles from Kyle, so a couple of hours' sail had the Anglian Sovereign on the scene. If it had had to come from Glasgow, this would have taken nearly a day.

The family of Lewis woman Linda Norgrove have set up a charity in her memory, which will go live next week; probably around the time of her funeral on Tuesday. The charity will aim to continue her work in Afghanistan, of getting farmers to grow crops other than opium poppies.

Ferry collision

This image from Google Earth shows the small ferry that was run over by a German cargo vessel near Amsterdam early this morning. Dutch broadcaster NOS reports that a body has been recovered from the water. As it is half-term holiday in Holland, there would have been fewer people around to use it. Police are appealing for the one prospective customer who had been waiting on the other side, to come forward.

Hurricane update - 22 October

Tropical cyclone Giri in the Bay of Bengal is approaching landfall in Myanmar. This storm has undergone a stunning round of strengthening, 85 knots in 24 hours. Yesterday at this time, Giri was at tropical storm strength (50 knots); the latest warning from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center quotes it at a staggering 135 knots, which is equivalent to a category V hurricane in the Atlantic. Giri will make landfall in the Hunters Bay and Combermere Bay areas of Myanmar - these are apparently low-lying marshes.

Friday 22 October

Two maritime incidents dominating the news this morning. A small ferry has collided with a German cargoship in the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal south of Amsterdam. The craft would ferry pedestrians and cyclists across the canal, which links the port of Amsterdam to the river Rhine, which in turn links the port of Rotterdam to the industrial heartland of Germany. The ferry involved was shown to be lying upside down in the water, and at this moment, only the skipper is thought to be missing.

I have used the river ferries in Holland, and they are tiny craft, some 40 feet in length, if not less. You walk, ride or drive on; pay the ferryman, who then puts you across in a matter of minutes, and you get off on the other side. You do not register yourself as a passenger, hence the apparent confusion about the number of people missing. The accident happened at 7 am local time, and all canal traffic has been halted.

In Scotland, a nuclear-powered submarine, HMS Astute, has run aground in the Kyle of Lochalsh off the Isle of Skye. Eye-witnesses report that the submarine took a short-cut inside a warning buoy and promptly got stuck fast. Upon high tide, at 6 am, it could not refloat, so it is now awaiting the next high tide at 6pm. The Ministry of Defence has said there is no nuclear leak, nor is the submarine's hull breached, or is any crewman injured. The gibes are flying thick and fast on the local Twitter feeds: Isle of Skye -2, Royal Navy Nuclear Fleet - 0; Got to feel sorry for the Navy: it's those rocks under the sea - they do keep moving around (over millions of years and in mm).......

Hurricane update - 21 October (II)

In the Bay of Bengal, tropical cyclone Giri has strengthened explosively to 70 knots (that's well into hurricane strength), and will pick up even more strength before it comes ashore in Myanmar. I am unable to access the website for Department for Meteorology and Hydrology in Myanmar - I hope they are aware of what's headed their way.

Thursday 21 October

A grey, wet and cold day. The sun popped its head round the corner for a minute, but that was about it.
It is reported that Linda Norgrove, who was killed in a failed rescue attempt in Afghanistan on 8 October, is to be buried at Ardroil, Lewis, next week. An inquest into her death has been opened and adjourned.

The BBC World Service could be forced to cut some of its foreign language services when plans are implemented for it to be funded from the BBC License Fee. Anyone in the UK who owns a television or radio receiver is required to pay £145.50 per annum for the privilege. Until now, the World Service was funded through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
I have been a strong supporter of the BBC World Service for nearly 30 years, as it is held to be an impartial disseminator of news to areas of conflict; particularly where independently verified news can be hard to come by. Strangulating the funding of such an important service is not doing anyone any favours; I do realise that budget cuts have to be made somewhere, but this is the second example of one cut I thoroughly dislike.

The second cut involves our Coastguard tug. The Anglian Sovereign (and four of its brethren) patrol the waters around the United Kingdom, and the tug positioned at Stornoway is there to keep shipping safe. It was put there following the Braer disaster (a supertanker which broke up on the coastline of Shetland in 1993), precisely to prevent a repetition of such a calamity. At least one such accident has been avoided in my 6 years here in Lewis, and I think it is a very, very bad move indeed. Local MPs are thinking so too.

Again, cuts have to be made - but saying that ship's owners are responsible for the salvage of their wrecked boats is the same as saying that they are responsible for the saving of their crews' lives - and cut down on RAF crews doing rescues by helicopter.

Hurricane update - 21 October

A new tropical depression has formed in the northwestern Caribbean. This is expected to intensify to tropical storm Richard, which will move northwest towards if not past the Yucatan Peninsula. Worth keeping an eye on.

Typhoon Megi continues to churn its way north towards China, with winds slowly decreasing, currently at 95 knots (110 mph). The storm will make landfall in the early hours of Saturday to the east of Hong Kong.

The Bay of Bengal is also hosting a tropical phenomenon, here it is termed a tropical cyclone. 04B is headed east and will make landfall in Burma (now known as Myanmar). This system will reach 60 knots as maximum sustained windspeed (that's equivalent to force 11 on the Beaufort scale), but I think rain will be a bigger problem.

To add to the fun, there are two tropical disturbances out in the Pacific which have a good chance (50% or more) of becoming fully fledged tropical cyclones. One is located northwest of Guam, the other west of Wake Island.