Strange signs

I walked past Stornoway Police Station last week, when my eye was drawn to this sign on the (supposedly) automatic doors:


Pull doors apart to open/close

And the Press and Journal newspaper had a spellchecker glitch; they had bombs diffused (rather than defused).

Monday 14 March

Quite a nice day, if a tad nippy today. There is considerable disruption on the mainland due to heavy snow; the ski centre in the Cairngorms had to be closed after 30 inches (75 cm) of snow fell. The weather here was quite bright and sunny. I sent off another card on Postcrossing, which should hopefully reach its destination in about a week; it went to the States. The previous one reached Finland in 3 days; I omitted an airmail sticker on the first, and it took 3 weeks to get to Russia. I am yet to get a postcard in return, and that could be from anywhere. I print my own postcards (on blank postcards), using one of about 30,000 pictures of Lewis and Harris.

Today, I went to St Peter's Episcopal Church on Francis Street - the Episcopal Church in Scotland is equivalent to the Church of England.

I went there as I had word that a memorial to a WW1 casualty could be found there. I was not disappointed.

Interior of the church

Memorial to Alex John Macaskill, who died in the Iolaire Disaster of 1 January 1919, aged 19. 

There is one other Episcopal Church in Lewis; it is referred to as St Moluag's Chapel and can be found at Eoropie, near the Butt of Lewis.

Sunday 13 March

A very wintry start to the day with a heavy snow shower; but it did not settle as the temperature was too far above zero for that. It is very windy, with a full gale blowing outside.

Continuing to monitor events in Japan, with television reports revealing more horrifying images of the tsunami and its aftermath. The situation at several of the country's nuclear powerplants continues to be a cause for concern.
Another on-going crisis is the Libyan one, with Gaddafi's forces gaining the upper hand on the rebel forces, moving east along the coast of the Gulf of Syrte. Gaddafi's regime uses torture as a matter of course, as well as summary executions. A cameraman from the Al-Jazeera TV channel was killed in an ambush; Gaddafi dislikes Al-Jazeera. Should he regain full control of Benghazi, the centre of the rebellion, Gaddafi is not expected to hold back. All that talk of a no-fly zone is coming too late.

I was pleased to hear from two bloggers who have been off the radar for a while. They are highlighted on Call for Support, both here on Blogger and on Facebook.

Earthquake

I have experienced one earthquake first-hand, and that was nearly 20 years ago. It measured just over 5 on the Richter scale and was centered near Roermond in southern Holland. It did a fair bit of damage in that town, toppling chimney and other masonry. I was 60 miles to the north at the time, and it was a strange and frightening experience.

I awoke at 3 am, with the moon shining into my bedroom. There was not a sound - which was odd, as there is always the noise from the motorway, linking Holland to Germany, in the background. Not that night. I dropped off to sleep.

Just over 20 minutes later, I awoke to the bed swinging back and forth, and the whole house in fact creaking and swaying. It lasted for about 15 seconds, then ceased. The power had gone off, but I had batteries in my bedside radio, and this reported the quake, as well as the power outage. Things got back to normal fairly soon. The power grid had tripped out as a result of the quake, but was reset quickly.

It compared in no way to the massive quake that struck Japan yesterday, and the aftershocks are still generating tsunami waves along that country's coast. I am learning that nearly twenty 9 ft tsunami waves came ashore at Crescent City CA over the past 24 hours.

Saturday 12 March

A day of pale sunlight, as high cloud is shrouding the sun. I see shadows, so it's not completely covered. And it's been cold in the night, -5C / 23F. The mercury went above freezing only at 10 o'clock this morning. Snow is currently affecting Central Scotland, and will move north, reaching my corner of the world through the night.

I have decided to devote rather more time to my blogging friends than to Facebook games. Donna (Just Me) wrote that she had been blogging since 2004, gaining friends she otherwise would never have met. And the same applies to myself. I started blogging in October 2004, getting involved with J-land a year and a half later. Although I have infrequently called round blogs in recent months, I'll dedicate the time I used to spend on games to visiting blogs. Makes more sense, I'd think.

I continue to be horrified by the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. The explosion at the nuclear plant, earlier today, appears to have served to reduce the amount of radiation at the site. But the images from the areas affected by the tsunami are mind-boggling. However, don't forget that a cubic metre of water (10.76 cubic feet) weighs a ton. And that lot was sweeping across the ocean at 600 mph, and across land at a speed of about 100 mph. The debris will have augmented the destructive power of the water.

Friday 11 March - evening notes

The massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami had me glued to the TV and the internet all day. It was beyond comprehension to watch a wall of water creep inexorably over land, sweeping away everything, and I mean everything in its path. Japan has awoken to a new day, with hundreds or thousands dead or missing, fires continuing to blaze out of control and a dangerous situation at one of its nuclear powerstations. The cooling system in one nuclear powerplant failed after the quake, and the reactor core is thought to have overheated. Radiation levels around the site are reported to be 1,000 times above normal, according to Sky TV this evening. Aftershocks continue to hit Japan, some as strong as 6.6 on the Richter scale - that is higher than the quake that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month. More than 140 aftershocks bigger than magnitude 5 have been reported since the main quake, which struck at 05.46 GMT this morning, with a magnitude of 8.9.

The tsunami is rolling across the Pacific Ocean, and its effects on smaller islands or atolls are presently not known. The height of the tsunami as it is presently hitting the US states of Oregon and California has surprised me, with one station reporting a 2.02 m (6.6 ft) surge. Several people are reported to have been swept out to sea as they tried to take pictures. As I type this (1430 PST), the tsunamis are still rolling ashore, so if you're on the Pacific coast, please be careful.

Friday 11 March

Awoke to the news of the massive earthquake in Japan, which has clocked in at magnitude 8.9. This is only marginally less strong than the 9.1 quake that produced a devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day 2004. This quake has produced tsunami waves of between 7 and 10 metres (24 to 33 feet), which have carried away anything in its path. This has varied from people to vehicles, boats and buildings. The pictures on NHK World, relayed through most broadcasters, are terrifying. The Japanese are used to earthquakes, but a near-9 is off their scale. As I type this, the tsunami is still rolling across the Pacific, currently affecting Indonesia. However, the tsunami warning extends right down the west coast of the entire American continent, with the wave currently closing in on Alaska.

A tsunami is not a wave, as you may see along the seashore. It is a wall of water. 

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center is issuing hourly updates.
The WCATWC Warning Center covers the North American coastline, also hourly.

NHK World is carried on Sky TV (satellite, UK) channel 516.

Thursday 10 March

It's a cold morning and a band of heavy rain or snow is moving up from the west. We are on warning for 20 to 30 cm of snow. Or was that supposed to be Caithness or Sutherland (further east)? The forecast on local radio was not clear. Anyway, I'll let y'all know how we got on, and whether we needed to get the diggers out.

I am actually posting on the vexed question of a new voting system for UK Parliamentary elections. People are going to the polls about this in May, and Stuart has made a posting about it. He summarises the proposed AV [Alternate Vote] system as follows:

When you vote in a general election you will order your candidates in order of preference. Once the votes are counted, the candidate with the least number of votes is removed from the running, the votes are then counted again and all the voting slips that had the now excluded candidate as number one choice will have their second choice counted, and so an ad nauseum until, until at last somebody gets 50%.

If you really want to see proportional representation in action (which the above is not), I'd like to refer to the Dutch voting system. In Holland, there are 150 seats in the Lower House of Parliament, and about 10 million people eligible to vote for those. Which means that each seat roughly equates to 65,000 votes - this is referred to as the Electoral Divider. There are about 20 parties contesting each ballot, of which 10 gain at least 1 seat. A party that gets less than the Divider does not gain any seat at all. First of all, the number of votes for each party is divided by the Divider, which yields the first lot of seats. Any remaining votes (rest votes) will then be distributed according to a set of rules, determined (among others) by the preferential votes for any one candidate, if more than a quarter of the Divider. A tad complicated, but at least you are not in the position that your vote is wasted if you don't vote for a winning candidate.

I am not saying that the UK should adopt this system, because the political system and culture is totally different on this side of the North Sea. After the May 2010 general election in the UK I was glad to see a coalition in power. After a couple of weeks, I had to draw to the conclusion that a UK coalition is subtractive, rather than additive; confrontational rather than consensual. Weak, rather than strong. Although my political preference is not relevant (I'm not eligible to vote in UK general elections), I do prefer to see one party in office now. At least you know what you're going to get.

Wednesday 9 March

A very cold start to the day, with snow on the ground. This readily melted after the sun came up, but on higher ground it will have stayed all day. Heavy snow and hail showers punctuated late morning and afternoon, almost putting us back into winter. However, the seeds in the bird feeders were sprouting enthusiastically, showing that the equinox is only a matter of days away. High winds will affect the southern isles overnight; we further north should avoid the worst of those stormforce winds. The overnight freight ferry Muirneag is not sailing at any rate.

I have continued to transcribe the war diaries of the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders in the First World War, now well into 1915. The troops made it through the 2nd battle of Ypres, and I shall rejoin them in spirit six months later in northern France. I have also uncovered another WW1 casualty from Lewis who merits inclusion on the CWGC registers, but is not there. He died in New Zealand a few months after being invalided out of Gallipoli.

Gallipoli is a name of infamy in the annals of the Great War. Allied forces were going to land on the Gallipoli peninsula, which lies at the western entrance to the Bosporus, which in turn leads to Istanbul. In 1915, this was the capital of the Ottoman [Turkish] Empire, an adversary of the Allies. The landings, carried out by British, Australian and New Zealand forces, claimed thousands of lives as a result of strategic blunders. On both sides, it should be said.

Tuesday 8 March

Feeling increasingly cold as the day went on, with a heavy snow shower in the last hour before sunset. As I type this, the mercury down at the airport shows only +1C. Tomorrow is supposed to get even worse, with a forecast layer of 5 to 15 cm of snow, the higher up the more snow we're likely to get. It is only early March, after all; I've had a significant amount of snow as late as March 22nd, 5 years ago.The other aspect of today's weather is the wind; the afternoon ferry was off, and I don't think tomorrow morning's service will fare any better.

The House of Commons has decided to postpone a debate on the future of coastguard services in favour of MPs talking about International Women's Day. Now, I find that a totally worthy cause, but I rather think that actual life saving is just a tad more important. However, it appears to me that the decisions have already been taken and nothing you are I do is going to make the slightest bit of difference. Sounds despondent? Well, not quite as bad as that - there will be a march in Stornoway on March 19th to support the local Coastguards.

Monday 7 March

Absolutely pouring with rain this morning, and it only improved very gradually through the afternoon. We are on warning for snow on Wednesday, showing that March is very much a month of transition between winter and spring. The crocuses and narcissi may be out, but we still have 2 weeks to go until the equinox.

I have continued my transcriptions of the war diaries of one British army unit, the 2nd battalion Seaforth Highlanders, from 1915. I am currently going through the months of April and May, with more than a dozen Lewismen being lost at the start of the 2nd battle of Ypres (Belgium), and several more in gas attacks. According to the entry for May 2nd, 1915, the respirators were little more than woollen strips, which did nothing to lessen the effects of the chlorine gas being unleashed by the Germans. They had to lug 5,400 canisters of the stuff to the frontline. The disadvantage of using poison gas in this way is that a shift in the wind can blow it all back in your face. We are all familiar with chlorine, it is the stuff given off by bleach, especially when it is in a toilet being used without the bleach being flushed away first.

The end of the universe

The sun has been our star for 5 billion years, and will continue to shine for another 5 billion years. Nothing to worry about. Once all the hydrogen in the sun has been converted to helium, our star will swell up to reach a size close to the Earth's orbit. All life on our planet will cease at that point. Once all the helium has been converted to the next nuclear fusion element, beryllium (element #4), the sun will shrink and cool down to a white dwarf star, barely the brightness of the full moon - as seen from what's left of the Earth. In the end, the sun will go out, leaving a cinder - a black dwarf.

Stars that are much heavier than the sun will end their life as a black hole, which carry a gravitational pull that exceeds the speed of light. Nothing can escape from their grasp, and there are theories around that state that even time gets warped within a black hole. Nobody knows for sure.

Professor Brian Cox, whose programme prompted this post, states that it is the nature of the universe to progress from order to chaos, a state of decreasing entropy. He referred to that as the Second Law of Thermodynamics. By virtue of that, all the remnants of dead stars, whether they be black holes or black dwarves or whatever, will decay like a sandcastle on a windswept beach - to nothing. In the end, all matter will revert to energy (as per Einstein's E=mc2), and the universe will cool to absolute zero.

That, however, is where I start to disagree. Apart from the 2nd law of thermodynamics, the universe is governed by a few more laws. Gravity is one of them. And it is quite feasible, in my mind, that all matter will be pulled together by gravity into one entity - like the universe began? There is another law at play. The law of conservation of energy, the 1st law of thermodynamics. If the universe cools down to zero, that means that it will lose all the energy that is around at the moment. The 10 to the power of 77 atoms that slosh around the universe on a daily basis represent an ever large number in terms of energy. Energy is shown in motion, light, heat, radiation - and although it can be diluted, it cannot be lost.

I am not a physicist or astronomer, although I know a little bit about both. But isn't this fascinating!

Sunday 6 March

A sopping wet day, which improved only gradually as the afternoon progressed. Kept quiet, except for a few entries on my current project, which follows a battalion in the First World War and chronicles the days on which men from the Isle of Lewis were lost.

I also watched a very interesting programme, presented by physicist Prof. Brian Cox. He explained his theory what will happen when the universe comes to an end. I'm in danger of losing most of you (with all respect) when I say that I don't agree with his ideas. Prof. Cox says that the stars will finally all burn out and their remnants turn into radiation, cooling down to absolute zero in about 10 to the power of 81 years. Remember Einstein - mass is proportional to energy? I think all the stars will finally implode into one single entity - a new universe. I'll write a separate post about my theory. I'm not a physicist by the way, but have my own ideas on the issue.

The fishing boat Symphonie that was helped in by the lifeboat on Friday had to be helped in again on Saturday. After repairs, she went back to fishing, but broke down again within 10 miles of Stornoway. There have been quite a few rescues around the Hebrides in recent days, and it shows how vitally important the work of the Coastguard is.

Saturday 5 March

Quite a nice day, if a little overcast - in Stornoway that it. We went to Garry Beach, 15 miles north of here, and we were in broad, brilliant and warm sunshine. OK, 7C is not exactly the Med, but it was most enjoyable. Garry lies a mile or so north of North Tolsta on the east coast of the island, and lies at the Bridge to Nowhere. Because, if you continue beyond the beach to the large concrete bridge

you'll find that the road turns into a track, and a little further on, will end in a bog. 90 years ago, there were plans to extend the Stornoway - Tolsta road all the way to Ness, 10 miles further north. It has never come to anything. Walking the distance is a challenging undertaking.
Meanwhile, on the beach, the rock stacks are home to fulmars, a type of small gull, which spit fish oil at you if you come too close. Fortunately, they were 30 feet up, so well out of range.

The stacks are pieces of the mainland, which coastal erosion has separated onto the beach. They have subterranean passage, which (at certain times) you can walk through. Not today: this one was full of quicksand. 

At the southern end of the beach, there is a link to Traigh Mhor, half a mile to the south, but only at extremely low tides. I had to run to avoid being cut off by the rising tide after taking this pic. You can see the headland, Tolsta Head, which lies beyond Traigh Mhor [Big Beach].

In the opposite direction, the coastline curves away to the headland of Cellar Head, Rubha an t-Seileir [Rocky Point].

Who would come to the Outer Hebrides for a beach? Well, there should be droves here. Just as well the climate is the way it is, else the hordes would descend.

You will have noticed the fulmars cozying up together; spring is on its way.

Friday 4 March

As sunny as Thursday was, so grey was Friday. A thoroughly featureless and at times nearly foggy day. Not without excitement, although I suppose the crew of the Symphonie would not particularly appreciate the breakdown of their vessel as excitement. This Bayonne-registered vessel, crew 14, broke down just before 4 am, and the RNLI lifeboat went out to tow it into Stornoway. The two vessels arrived at 11 am. Two other rescues have had to be effected over the past 24 hours, one involving a ship off Benbecula whose cook was injured after a fall. The other was from another fishing vessel who had an unwell crewmember who required transfer to hospital. Conditions were difficult at sea.

The famous Stornoway black pudding (a type of blood sausage) has been put forward for special protection status, to prevent people from elsewhere in Scotland (or indeed the island!) from pinching the famous name for their own poor imitations. Consultation has closed, and the Scottish Government will now apply to the European Union for this special status. It has already been awarded to champagne and Parma ham.
Black pudding? Can't stand the stuff, way too rich for me.

Thursday 3 March

A cloudless and windless day, with the barometer quite high at 1039 mbar, 30.7 inches. Anticyclonic brilliance, except that cloud does move in from the west, obscuring the sun after lunchtime.

I recently obtained the war diaries for a battalion from the First World War, the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders. They were active on the Western Front, and about 110 of their number from the Isle of Lewis were lost in action. I have opened a new blog, in which I am transcribing the diary entry for a day in which a Lewisman was lost. See more here.

I am also cleaning up the transferred blog entries from Arnish Lighthouse, which was initially hosted on the BBC Island Blogging website. It is now hosted on an independent website, but the transfer missed some entries, the picture links don't work and the comments are not there. However, I only have the posts from March to December 2006 left to do.

Wednesday 2 March

A very wet day, although the rain did decrease from torrential to a fine drizzle as the hours went by. I took delivery of a new book Making the rounds with Oscar. There has been some publicity recently about a cat in a Rhode Island (USA) nursing home, which had the uncanny ability to predect when one of its residents was about to die. The doctor who made the discovery has written a book about this, extending the story beyond the abilities of the cat. Perhaps an uncomfortable eye-opener to anyone who has had a relative with any form of dementia.

Colonel Gaddafi of Libya has been described as delusional by some people. He is not, I can tell you. Our Muammar is a very clever manipulator, and admitting that anything is amiss constitutes admitting to a weakness. Making terrible threats is all part of the deal. For the moment, there appears to be an uneasy stalemate, with a failed attempt by loyal Libyan forces to retake a town in the east of the country.

In Scotland, the football competition is dominated by two teams, Rangers and Celtic. These are both from Glasgow, but one is representative of the protestant section of society (Rangers, or the Gers) and the other of the catholics (Celtics, or the Hoops). Their matches are tense affairs, and in the past led to crowd trouble. Last night's Old Firm match (as Rangers vs Celtic games are referred to) saw trouble on the pitch. Rangers lost 1-0, and had three players sent off. I don't have a lot of time for football, as I think the players are paid ridiculous sums of money, and are traded with 7 or 8-figure sums of money. However, where I come from, they say that football is war, and in that case I prefer 22 guys having it out on a grassy pitch as opposed to people slinging lead against each other.

Last week in February - picture post

Anyone for dinner?


Passing puss


23 February


Distant shower


24 February

Picture post - 27 February

6.30pm


The A866 road from the airport to Stornoway


The Braighe at Melbost


Melbost


Cattle at Melbost

Tuesday 1 March

The start of the meteorological spring, although the astronomical spring is still three weeks away. Nonetheless, the daffodils, crococuses and snowdrops are already well in bloom.



The weather was bright but with a good amount of high-level cloud about, making it a very glary day. I spent Tuesday monitoring developments in Libya, which continue to be as confusing as ever over the past fortnight. This evening, a meeting about the proposed changes in the Coastguard service turned into a lively affair, according to a report on local news website Hebrides News.

This afternoon, one of my Irish contacts held a short private ceremony to remember one of the Lewis casualties from the First World War who lies buried near Dublin. John Macaulay was torpedoed in his ship SS Kenmare on 2 March 1918. His body washed up north of Dublin and was buried with full military honours at Balrothery. Today, a commemorative poster was put on the railings around John's grave, a  poem was read as well as a tribute. Photograph and account of ceremony courtesy David J. Grundy of Skerries, Dublin.