The Highest Apple

Lyrics copied from Where Mountains meet the Sea
Performed by Runrig

An Ubhal as Airde

Comhla rium
A tha thu an drasd
Mo shuilean duinte, mo chuimhne dan
Nam sheasamh a' coimhead
Gach cnoc is gach traigh
Is an siol a dh'fhag thu ann a 'fas

Tha an garradh lan
Le craobhan treun
Le meas a' fas dhuinn ann ri bhuain
Ubhlan abaich
Milis geur
Ach tha aon ubhal nach ruig sinn idir air

Seididh gaoth is dearrsaidh grian
Tro mheas nan craobhan lin gu lin
Ach thig an la is thig an t-am
Airson an ubhal as airde
Air a' chraobh a bhuain

Is co 'nar measg
A mhaireas la
Seachad air am is air oidhche fhein
A liuthad uair
A shreap mi suas
Airson an ubhal as airde chur gu beul

Seididh gaoth is dearrsaidh grian
Tro mheas nan craobhan lin gu lin
Ach thig an la is thig an t-am
Airson an ubhal as airde
Air a' chraobh a bhuain


The Highest Apple

At present
All you were is with me
My eyes closed, my memory confident
Standing here watching
Each hill and shoreline
With the seed you left
Still growing

The garden is well stocked
With mighty trees
With fruit growing for the whole world
Ripe, sweet
And bitter apples
And the one apple
That is beyond reach

The winds will blow
And the sun will shine
From generation to generation
Through the trees of the garden
But the day and the hour
Will surely come
To take the highest apple
From the knowledge tree

Who amongst us
Can exist a single day
Beyond our own time and our own limits
Countless and futile
Are times I've climbed
To reach and taste
The forbidden fruit

The winds will blow
And the sun will shine
From generation to generation
Through the trees of the garden
But the day and the hour
Will surely come
To take the highest apple
From the knowledge tree

Monday 19 September

Typhoon Roke has strengthened from 70 to 100 knots in a period of 6 hours. The storm will weaken a little as it approaches the Japanese island of Honshu from the southwest over the next 24 hours. However, the unpredictability that this system has shown over its lifetime of more than 8 days could yet herald more surprises. Another typhoon, Sonca, will veer away into the open Pacific; furthermore, it is slowly turning into a normal depression.

I have transcribed and linked the 1942 tributes from the Stornoway Gazette to the WW2 tribute site. This has yielded four names of people not previously known [to me] to be connected to the Isle of Lewis who fought and died in the Second World War. This is a large task, with about 100 tributes per year coming out; some just consisting of a portrait photograph with a few identifying lines. However, tomorrow, I shall continue with the images of tributes from 1943.

Sunday 18 September

A man who caught burglars red-handed in his home in Cheshire killed one of them by repeatedly stabbing him with a knife last night. There has been an on-going discussion in the UK whether a home owner or occupant is allowed to use force to defend himself against intruders. I can imagine that this could have fatal consequences, but whether murder or manslaughter is condoned in such circumstances is an extremely difficult call to make.

I have been watching a series of programmes on BBC TV highlighting the on-going discrimination of Australia's indigenous population. The circumstances under which those "Aborigines" are living defies all description. A British GP, Dr Mary Fortune, spent 11 weeks at Kununurra, Western Australia, last year, with a camera team in tow. It painted a bleak picture of a community slowly succumbing to alcohol abuse, inadequate or non-existent housing, and systemic government neglect. It made the apology by former Australian PM Kevin Rudd, made three years ago to the Aborigines, sound rather hollow.
However, that all meant nothing to the family who had travelled 600 km (370 miles) to their nearest clinic, with sick children. One, a kiddie of about 3, had pus pouring out of his ears. Number 2, aged about 6 or 7, just wanted to lie down all the time, and was found to be thirsty, hungry and suffering from a chest infection. How can a nation like Australia, which is very like Western Europe in many respects, treat its own citizens like that?

Saturday 17 September

A cool autumn day, with some sunshine and the odd shower of rain. I went to the library to gather more material from the Stornoway Gazette, year 1943, and processed the tributes for the preceding year. Tomorrow, I shall link them from the site with all the personal and military information. I find it striking that the number of tributes decreased markedly as the year 1942 progressed.

Investigations are underway to determine the cause of the fatal accident in the Gleision mine in South Wales, which claimed the lives of four miners. I copy a little poem I found on Facebook:

A Welshman stood at the golden gate, his head was bent and low.
He meekly asked the man of fate, The way that he should go.
'What have you done' St. Peter said 'To gain admission here?'
'I merely mined for coal' he said, 'for many and many a year.'
St. Peter opened wide the gate, And softly tolled the bell.
'Come and choose your harp' he said 'You've had your share of hell.'

Remembering the miners of Gleision ..... may you all Rest in Peace Boys.

Friday 16 September

. ... .(,)
. . _.-ﺜ-._
. . |. . . . |
. . |. . . . |..A candle burns in memory for the Welsh Miners in Swansea.
. . |. . . . |
. . [♥ღღ♥]..Please keep the candle burning

Yesterday, a group of four miners became trapped in a small coalmine north of Swansea, South Wales. A fall occurred in one of the mine shafts and the exit routes became flooded. A search and rescue operation was mounted, requiring the use of divers and the pumping out of large volumes of water. As the day progressed, the missing miners were all located - deceased.

Mining in the UK took a huge tumble in the wake of the 1984/85 miners' strike, and very few collieries remain open today. One reason is the imports of cheap coal from places like Poland and South Africa; the other is geological conditions which make mining in this country a hugely expensive operation. Being a mineworker is one of the most dangerous occupations, as is demonstrated again in Wales this week.

Thursday 15 September

Another sunny autumn day, but noticeably cooler than earlier in the week. The sun still keeps it nice and warm, but in the shade, you do notice it's not much above 14C.

I transcribed more 1942 tributes today, some of which threw up some interesting queries. During 1942, HMS Curacao was sliced in two by the Queen Mary, leaving many sailors dead. Their bodies washed up all over the Hebrides. One at Kilmory, on the northern shores of the Isle of Rum.


However, when I checked my files, it appears that the casualty actually lies buried in Sandwick Cemetery, here in Lewis. Donald Maciver came from Newvalley, just outside Stornoway. I am chasing it up (hopefully) with local history people in the Small Isles, to check if there is a record of such a burial on Rum. At the time, the island was still privately owned by the Bullough family of Accrington.

Fifteen years later, Lady Monica Bullough was taken to her last resting place at Harris (sic), Isle of Rum, along that hard, hard track from Kinloch.

She was to be laid to rest at the family mausoleum. The first mausoleum was constructed, but subsequently destroyed at the orders of Sir George, as he was not pleased with it. The Greek-style mausoleum you see below now stands over the last of the Bulloughs.

Wednesday 14 September

A day of sunshine and showers, although the latter receded during the latter part of the afternoon. I have spent the better part of the afternoon transcribing more 1942 tributes, and am now on the last 30. Some of the articles consist of a photograph and a few lines; some are a whole newspaper column long, and the columns in those days were more than 2 feet long. As I have come to recognise the limitations of the photographs, I end up splitting up lengthy tributes into more than one picture.

There has been a lot of gentle ribbing in this island's internet output about all the dire warnings regarding last Monday's storm. However, reading the reports in the Press and Journal newspaper, it appears to have been a lot worse elsewhere in Scotland. Sometimes it is better to be a lot further north than everybody else.

I was stunned to read that the British Transport Secretary feels that train travel is a rich man's plaything. Well, Mr Hammond, you'd better get your finger out to make it transport for everybody. Trains are public transport. Rail travel in the UK was privatised in the 1990s, and there are now two dozen different train companies providing services. These are more interested in generating profit, it would seem, than in providing a decent service. Worse than that, next January fares are set to rise by 8%. The current rate of inflation in the UK is 4.5%. There are a lot of people who rely on trains to go to work, and have no alternative.

One other gripe is the idiosyncratic fare structure. Two years ago, I was travelling from Inverness to Darlington, a town in northern England. The distance is about 320 miles. The fare I got out of Scotrail was £96 single; splitting up the journey into a Scotrail and an East Coast Trains segment reduced it to £56. The dearest fare ever found was a single from Penzance to Kyle of Lochalsh - an eye-watering £1,000. The distance is approximately 700 miles.

The above complaints are longstanding, and no political party has the bottle to put the train companies down to a decent fare structure. End of moan.

Tuesday 13 September

The day after the storm that never was. It continued to be a quiet day, but with less sun than yesterday. I spent the day transcribing tributes from the local paper for the year 1942; the total number stands at about 90, I guess. I am halfway through the 110 articles, some of which carry photographs.

The Lewis Chessmen came "home" today; 6 of the figurines were taken across to Uig Museum in Timsgarry for five hours. The museum stands about a mile from the site where the Chessmen were first found in 1831. The event was accompanied by story telling, people dressing up as Vikings and an opportunity to share tales. I viewed the Chessmen myself shortly after they came to Stornoway, but did not attend the event in Uig. It is hoped that the 91 Chessmen can come to the island as a permanent fixture.

Day of wind

Well, it's not blowing here, that's for sure. We never had more than 15 mph, that's force 4 on the Beaufort scale. After my lunchtime update, the weather just got quite summerlike for a few hours. By 3pm, I was sorely tempted to go and sit outside in the sunshine, with the mercury at a most creditable 17C. The only thing that spoiled it was the midges. By 4pm, the cloud returned and we had a shower of rain.

I am just hearing that a driver was killed on a road in county Durham, when a tree was blown onto his vehicle. A boy of 11 was injured when he was struck by a roof, blown off a garage in the same area of England. The winds appear to be subsiding on the western side of the British Isles, but may pick up again - but we remain in the eye of the causative depression.

Monday 12 September

It is 1.20pm as I type this entry, and it is brightly sunny with a mild breeze. Not what you might have expected from me, after all the dire warnings I have been pumping out all through last week. An indication of Katia's presence is the low barometric reading (974 mbar) and winds of 50 to 75 mph over Northern Ireland, southwestern Scotland as well as west Wales. The depression is directly overhead - we're in the eye of the storm. I'll update later if conditions change markedly.

9/11 - a decade on

This tribute is published on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on 11 September 2001, under the auspices of Project 2996.

Jeffrey Dwayne Collman

Image: Family photograph, via http://guy-at-judson.blogspot.com.

Source: Aurora Beacon News, Aurora IL 9-23-2001
Jeffrey Dwayne Collman, age 41, of Novato, California, formerly of Yorkville, IL, a flight attendant for American Airlines, died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City at 8:45a.m. on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

Jeffrey was a 1977 graduate of Yorkville High School in Yorkville, IL. Jeff was formerly employed, for over 10 years, at All-Steel in Montgomery, IL. He had then worked, for a brief time, at Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California before attaining his dream of being a flight attendant with American Airlines. Jeffrey loved his job and traveling to other countries around the world. He also loved to play and watch tennis. Jeff was a true people person who enjoyed visiting with and getting to know others. He became a flight attendant in 1997. Two years later, Jeff received the American Professional Flight Attendant Award and was considered a spirited and dedicated flight attendant. He liked to entertain children on his flights, and he was fond of playing tennis and traveling, friends said.

He is survived by his parents, Dwayne and Kay Collman of Yorkville, IL and Beverly Sutton of North Aurora, IL; his close companion, Keith Bradkowski of Novato, Ca; his brothers, Charles Collman of Fort Meyers, FL and Brian Collman of Las Vegas, NV; his sister, Brenda Sorenson of Aurora, IL; his step-brothers, Steve (Linda) Gengler of Yorkville, IL and Chuck (Lakshmi) Gengler of South Orange, NJ; his step-sister, Susan Bohan of California; a god-child, Marlene Wakelin; his half-sisters, Laura Kries of Brooklyn Park, MN, Caroline Sutton of Joliet, IL and Vickie Michel of Aurora, IL; several nieces and nephews, many loving aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. Jeffrey will also be missed by 100 other flight attendants.

He is preceded in death by his grandparents and his brother, Mark Allen Collman.
A memorial service was held on Monday, October 1, 2001 at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Yorkville, IL with Pastor John Leaf officiating.

Father’s thoughts
Dwayne Collman's imagination gets the best of him when he thinks about the final minutes of his son's life on American Airlines Flight 11. He's filled with horror thinking about what the 41-year-old flight attendant from Yorkville went through as terrorists with knives steered the plane into the first World Trade Center tower. Collman knows his son received safety training in flight school, but he doubts it ever could have prepared him for the challenges he would face on the morning of Sept. 11. The grieving father is sure of one thing about his son, though, even if the details about his death are not certain:
"He would have fought like hell."

Jeffrey Collman, an American Airlines flight attendant for five years who grew up in Yorkville, died Tuesday morning when his hijacked plane, destined for Los Angeles, crashed into New York's famous landmark at 8:45 a.m. Though his body has not been recovered, his parents knew he was gone when he didn't call within a few hours after the tragedy. He had sent his stepmother, Kay, an e-mail the night before, telling her he would be flying from Boston to Los Angeles the next morning.

"I knew he was in that accident because every time there was something going on with airplanes, he would call and say, 'Hey, I'm all right,' " said Kay Collman. "So I knew that, when he didn't call, he was on that plane."

His parents [...] say Jeffrey Collman wanted to be a flight attendant because he loved to travel and meet people around the world. After working for years at Allsteel in Montgomery, he moved to California about five years ago to pursue that dream. Lifelong friend Dolores Humphrey, who went to school with Jeffrey Collman at all grade levels in Yorkville, said she feared he was killed when she heard the news because he often flew early-week flights from Boston to Los Angeles.
She said Collman never lost contact with his friends, even though his job took him around the world.

"Every time he got into town, he would call anyone he knew to meet for breakfast," said Humphrey, who last talked to Collman [5 days before 9/11]. "He would talk for a couple hours, then have to go fly somewhere else."

His stepmother said Jeffrey was the type of person who could "sit down next to someone on a plane and walk away knowing their life story." His father said Jeffrey loved tennis and flew around the world to watch professionals play. Kay Collman says her stepson never went anywhere meekly, and he loved his job so much that she's sure he didn't back down in the face of terror. "He took it seriously," she said, "and he would not have let anyone walk on him."

Humphrey said Jeffrey talked of flying even when he was a child, and his dream came true when American Airlines gave him a job. He was never afraid to fly, she said, always asserting that he was safer in the air than anyone on the ground. Collman's parents have begun to realize how their son died, and that he will always be remembered as a victim on one of the saddest days ever in the United States.

"It's completely different than just someone dying," Kay Collman said. "We'll have the pictures forever. We'll always see where he died. It's part of history."

Seattle Times, 17 September 2001
His partner, Keith Bradkowski, said Collman was courageous and safety-conscious. "He was so focused on safety," Bradkowski said. "If there was a threat, he would have done anything in his power to prevent it." He didn't normally work the Boston-to-Los Angeles route but made an exception to get vacation time at the end of the month. Collman grew up in Yorkville, Ill., and besides Bradkowski left behind four brothers and a sister. (Seattle Times)

Further information: the fate of Flight 11.

Memorial to flight crew

Source: www.maritimequest.com


Postscript
Blogger Nathanael V.  found out 5 years after 9/11, that Jeffrey Collman was a neighbour's grandson.

Sources
http://www.afacwa.org/memoriam/jeffreycollman.htm
http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=jeffrey_collman_1
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5767989

and as attributed above.

9/11 - a decade on

When this post is published, it will be exactly ten years to the minute that the first aircraft hit the World Trade Center in New York. The events of what is now referred to as 9/11 are only too well known.

My thoughts are with all victims, whether identified afterwards, or not. In New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

My thoughts are with the passengers and crew on the four flights destroyed. My thoughts are with the victims killed in the World Trade Center. My thoughts are with those emergency workers who lost their lives trying to save others'.

My thoughts today are with the families of those who perpetrated these atrocities, for they lost too. Even before the events of September 2001, they lost their loved ones to a delusion of hate that is not of the religion they claimed to be faithful to. Hatred leads to destruction - as shown seven years ago. Forgiveness is a pillar of Christian faith, as it is one of the Islamic faith. Whether those that lost a loved one in 9/11 can find it in themselves to forgive is beyond my scope.

But first and foremost, my thoughts are with Norberto Hernandez, whose tribute I first filed on Northern Trip, the predecessor to Atlantic Lines, in 2006. The searches for Norberto on Google are contaminated with references to the Falling Man, who was in fact another victim, Jonathan Briley. This confusion has led to much anger and anguish, something the families of both men could do well without.

Norberto, rest in peace.

This entry, as stated above is dedicated to the memory of




Norberto was a pastry chef from Elmhurst, working in the restaurant Windows on the World on the 106th and 107th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York. After the attacks, he was reported missing for a week until parts of a torso and an arm were found in a collapsed stairwell. DNA testing and finger printing reveiled that these were the remains of Norberto. It also invalidated claims that the image of the Falling Man was that of Norberto; this was another victim of 9/11 who will be the subject of a different tribute.



At the time of the attacks on the WTC, Norberto was aged 42 and had been married for 25 years. He was the fourth of ten children by his parents’ marriage, and also had six half-siblings through his father. His parents separated when he was young. Norberto himself had three daughters, three grandchildren and 37 nephews. He was a man of Puerto Rican origins, and had hoped to spend his final days there. Instead, after 9/11, a funeral service was held and his remains cremated in Puerto Rico.

His sister Luz described Norberto. “He was quiet, kind”, she said. “He was a handsome man. Everybody loved him, you know. Everybody.” Norberto’s nickname was Bible, as he was very dependable. Together Forever was his motto.

Norberto started work in Windows on the World at the age of 17, washing dishes. He was interested in cooking, so a manager paid for his tuition at cooking school. Norberto became pastry chef and worked up to 10 hours a day. His sister Luz said that he made cakes, desserts, cookies and bread. His cakes were fabulous.

Outside work, Norberto loved sports, and was a fan of a Puerto Rican boxer, Felix Trinidad Jr. Four days before the attacks, he rang his mother and asked her to play “I would cry but I have no more tears” four times.

In the immediate aftermath of the plane striking the North Tower, Norberto called his sister Luz. “He said: ‘Yeah, don’t worry, I’m OK”.They were disconnected, and when Luz tried to call back she could not get through. Other accounts from Windows on the World tell that smoke and dust filled the restaurant after the strike, and that people lay on the floor to escape the worst of it. Air was beginning to run out at the time of the last contact.

These are the facts that I have managed to pull together from the Internet.

From the little that I have learned of Norberto, he came through as a gentle giant. Although 6’2” (1.84m) tall, he was always listening, and talked later. His family suffered a double loss, as Claribel Hernandez (his sister-in-law), a secretary working elsewhere in the North Tower, was also killed in the attacks. Norberto was close in the family and responsible, which earned him the nickname Bible. He loved his work, and by the look of one of the images, loved to impart that knowledge to others around him.

September 11th, 2001, dawned as a brilliantly sunny morning in New York. Two planes were flown into the two towers of the World Trade Center, leading to their collapse within 2 hours. The destruction of so many lives was brought about by mindless hatred and madness, fuelled by religious zealotry which was not based on any writing in any scriptures in any religion.

Norberto may have heard of that on news reports, but it was probably quite far from him. He was a man that lived for his family, always there for them. A diligent worker, putting in up to 10 hours a day, loving his creations from the oven. Travelling to the WTC on the Subway every morning, his thoughts were probably far from what was to happen not that much later on that fateful Tuesday.

Two thousand nine hundred and ninety-six are known to have died that day, or in its immediate aftermath. Norberto’s ashes were scattered in his homeland of Puerto Rico. His memory lives on in his family, and in the memory of those that read this. He is deeply missed by those close to him.

To Norberto Hernandez

Rest In Peace


Links
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/terror/sep19/three_lives.asp
This link is no longer operational

I have attempted to contact the University of Columbia to use the material in this link, but have not received a reply. As it is central to the tribute, I have used it, and acknowledge the writer, Sarah Clemence.

http://www.poetrykit.org/pkl/tw6/pg05.htm


This is a poem by Barbara Phillips, from which I have used some factual references to Norberto. It refers to him being the Falling Man though.

http://www.unitedinmemory.net/gallery.php

I have been granted permission by UIM to reproduce the commemorative quilt for Norberto.


http://www.queenspress.com/archives/coverstories/2001/issue38/coverstory.htm

The poster, pictured above, proclaiming Norberto as missing after the attacks, hung on a walkway of Manhattan for more than a week

In memory - 9/11

Katia

Having monitored tropical cyclones for 5 years from the northwest of Scotland, it is a strange feeling to be the subject of a direct warning from the National Hurricane Center over in Miami. Hurricane Katia is no longer a tropical system, but a very strong depression, currently just under 2000 miles west southwest of Glasgow, to quote the NHC. The dangerous surf conditions, which the eastern USA have experienced during the past week will now affect these shores, and the stormforce winds are expected to cause damage to trees and disruption to transport networks in the UK. Ex-Katia, with a central pressure of 954 mbar, is scooting east at 46 knots, that's 52 mph, with winds of 70 knots, 80 mph. The contrast between a cold airmass to the north and a warm, tropical airmass to its south, will maintain Katia's strength - it is temperature contrasts that fuel mid latitude depressions, rather than the venting of oceanic warmth through condensation as shown in tropical cyclones.

Katia will sit over the Western Isles at midday on Monday, as I already reported in my previous post. This is part of public advisory #50 from NHC, published at 4pm local time.

WIND...GALE- TO STORM-FORCE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO AFFECT MUCH OF THE BRITISH ISLES ON MONDAY...AND COULD CAUSE DAMAGE TO TREES AND DISRUPT TRANSPORTATION AND OTHER PUBLIC SERVICES. INTERESTS IN AND AROUND THE BRITISH ISLES AND NORTHERN EUROPE SHOULD MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY THE UK MET OFFICE AT WWW.METOFFICE.GOV.UK/

SURF...LARGE SWELLS GENERATED BY KATIA WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT U.S. NEW ENGLAND AREAS...ATLANTIC CANADA...AND BERMUDA TODAY....AND SPREAD EASTWARD INTO THE BRITISH ISLES SUNDAY AND MONDAY. THESE SWELLS ARE LIKELY TO CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING SURF AND RIP CURRENT CONDITIONS. PLEASE CONSULT PRODUCTS FROM YOUR LOCAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

RAINFALL...TOTAL RAIN ACCUMULATIONS OF 50 TO 100 MILLIMETERS... 2 TO 4 INCHES...ARE EXPECTED OVER THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS OF SCOTLAND THROUGH MONDAY.

Saturday 10 September

My eldest nephew is 21 today, so he'll be having a whale of a time this weekend. My youngest niece is 13 on Tuesday of next week, meaning she'll be a teen well and truly. Trust a good time will be had in her house as well.

Here in Stornoway, it is a calm if slightly damp Saturday morning. The news is full of dire headlines about the approaching hurricane, which will be carrying winds of force 9 to 11 to Scotland on Monday. We shall see. According to the latest weather charts, its centre will be right over Lewis at midday on Monday, meaning we'll be seeing the eye of the storm, and some very low barometric pressures. The charts suggest 960 mbar. Not a record; the 2005 hurricane carried a central pressure of 944 mbar.

Tomorrow will see the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and I shall not be posting a normal blogpost on here. What you will see are two tributes dedicated to the memory Norberto Hernandez and Dwayne Coleman, who lost their lives in the atrocities at New York ten years ago. These tributes will be posted at the exact time that the first plane struck the WTC in 2001.

If there is anything else I can think of to post today, you will see that, else I'll be resuming normal service on Monday.

Friday 9 September

Overcast and wet, but no wind to speak of. Quite a few boats in port today. The Froyhav and Roy Kristian are well-boats, used to transport young salmon to fish farms.



The yacht is the Cary Ali, registered in the Marshall Islands, in the middle of the Pacific.



And we even had a tall-ship in, the Soerlandet, a Norwegian training vessel.



This was, as I said, a calm day. Over the next few days, things are going to get progressively worse. Monday shows winds of force 9 to 11 on the forecast - as Katia comes to gives us an old-fashioned "winter storm", to quote the National Hurricane Center in Miami. We in Scotland get warnings from the NHC? Oh my goodness, I'd better batten down those hatches!

Thursday 8 September

Quite a reasonable day in terms of weather. Still busy monitoring no fewer than four tropical cyclones - Katia, Maria, Nate and Kulap. Dire warnings are appearing about Katia, which has the British Isles in its crosshairs for early next week. The Metcheck website had a gremlin in its forecast, warning us of 220 mph winds. Well, we do get high winds here, for sure, but not that bad.

I have started transcribing WW2 tributes from the Stornoway Gazette, which should appear on the Internet in the next week or so.It is noticeable that the rate of tributes falls off sharply as the year 1942 progresses, which shows that the RAF has won the battle of the skies, and that the U-boats are losing the battle of the seas. I have more than 100 articles to transcribe.

Hurricane update - 7 September

Approaching the apex of the hurricane season, and boy, it is heaving with tropical cyclones tonight. The Atlantic has no few than three of them.

Katia is a hurricane that is not bothering anyone at the moment, apart from some high swells on the east coast of the USA. The British Isles will see a slightly weaker version on Monday of next week; 60 knots equates to a force 11 storm.

Maria is a tropical storm with winds of 45 knots (force 9-10) in the middle of the Atlantic. She will head west and may pass over the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico by the weekend.

Nate formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, in the Bay of Campeche. A track map is not yet available, but this chap will drift north and intensify to hurricane force. Northeastern Mexico appears to be in the firing line.

Kulap is a tropical storm in the northwestern Pacific, but the forecasters are at daggers drawn over its future course. Will it head north into Korea, or west into China?

Wednesday 7 September

Another day of sunshine and showers, the latter being of the beafy variety. Later in the day, as the showers move away east, they leave behind a legacy of rainbows. This island is famous for its rainbows in spring and autumn. Talking of autumnal weather, we are on warning for some very severe weather. The long range forecasts give us winds of 65 mph, gusting to 85 mph, on Monday afternoon. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says that the remnant of Hurricane Katia will scoot just north of the Hebrides after the weekend, carrying hurricane force winds near its centre. The weekend is not going to be good, but Monday and Tuesday will be extremely bad. I am not given to refer to the weather here as either extreme or bad, but this is going to be one of those events.

I have completed my researches (as much as possible) into the witnesses who gave evidence to the Napier Commission during its sessions in the Outer Hebrides in May and June 1883. The information shows the make-up of their families, names of spouses and children, and if possible the date and circumstances of their death. I know of at least one person whose great-grandfather was a witness, 128 years ago.

If anyone wants to publish a tribute to one of the victims of 9/11, please visit the website of Project 2996. There are more than 2,100 names left without a tribute - many of them used to have one, but they were lost when people closed down their blogs. You can easily research any of those people, and even just a mention of their name would already be sufficient.

Where was I at 8.46 EDT on 11 September 2001? I was at my last place of work when the storekeeper emerged from his office with this strange look on his face. He said that planes had flown into the World Trade Center in New York. Four hours later, replays on the television brought home the horror of that day.

Tuesday 6 September

The day started very unfriendly, with lashing rain and strong winds. The gales that we were warned against did not materialise, as we were in the eye of the storm. At midday, the barometer bottomed out at 975 mbar, the rain stopped and the sun came out. As I type this, at 6pm, pressure has risen to 981 mbar as the causative low pressure system moves away east across the North Sea.

Hurricane Katia is moving steadily northwest and will pass between the USA and Bermuda over the next few days. She is not directly threatening land (apart from gales on Bermuda and an inch or two of rain there), but Katia could well threaten the British Isles in a week's time. Having transformed into an "ordinary" low pressure system, it will still be packing winds of up to 60 knots - and hurricane force is only a notch up on that, at 65 knots. I'll monitor the situation over the next few days.

I spent two hours in the library, photographing articles from the Stornoway Gazette containing tributes to servicemen from the Isle of Lewis who were lost during 1942. Towards the end of that year, the rate of the losses decreases noticeably. Although I took 109 images, I reckon it boils down to about 80 or 90 tributes. Once I have completed my current task of researching the witnesses to the Napier Commission from North Uist - 6 down, 7 to go at the moment.