Brilliant start to another cold day. The German couple leave for Skye this morning, on the 11.05 ferry from Tarbert. They had a great day in Harris yesterday, including a run down the infamous Huisinis road. On their return to Stornoway, temperatures went down to -1.5C on the open moor. Have a chat with the Canadians over breakfast at 8.45. They hail from Vancouver Island, from where the Mod choristers also came who stayed here last October. Today's visitors will be going round the West Side by bus, to see Callanish and Gearrannan. The gentleman, aged around 70, used to work in the Arctic north of Canada, in the MacKenzie delta. One of his colleagues went round a building one evening and was dragged away and killed by a polar bear. I tell the story of the Norwegians from Kirkenes whose dustbins were forever raided by bears, who came across the border from the Kola peninsula in Russia. Everybody goes their respective ways at 9.30. Mrs B's son has put his new boat in the backyard - there are now 5 boats sitting there, including a canoe. An osprey at Boat of Garten is reported to have hatched 3 chicks. Regarding the NHS here in the Western Isles, 6 out of 7 consultants now say that patient care is definitely suffering as a result of the financial and management crisis. Consultant 7, the Board's Medical Director, denies that this is the case. Write an acerbic post on the Lighthouse blog, which will be published later today. The Gress Councillor is now calling for the resignation of the Scottish Executive's Health Minister, Andy Kerr. He has allowed this situation to spiral out of control by saying it's a local matter. It cannot be locally resolved because of the culture of bullying and intimidation from the highest levels of the NHS Board. I've used the Lighthouse blog before to demand the resignation of Mr Kerr.
At 1.30, the cruiseliner Polar Star leaves port. She is a small ship, only 4,000 tonnes, which plies routes round both poles. She can carry 96 passengers, and cruises cost between £2,500 and £7,000. At least. In the afternoon, mrs B's nephew turns up. He is not too well today. He takes us into town to do a bit of shopping. I find out that the MacKenzie River in Arctic Canada is named after Sir Alexander MacKenzie, who was born in Stornoway in the 1760s. A memorial plaque is mounted on the Francis Street wall of Martin's Memorial Church. Between 2 and 3pm, it pours with rain. After 4pm, some very beefy showers turn up, leaving some fantastic cloudscapes. Mrs B's son reappears at 4.30, at the same time as I do, to work on his boat. Find several websites with live weather data, much like the Eoropie webcam. Mrs B cooks the lamb dish that is in my Recipe Book (see Journals links), but replaces the lamb with chicken. The showers relent during the evening. Find out that I have taken 2,000 pictures between April 2005 and May 2006. Sounds a lot, but I read in someone else's journal (sorry, it's a private one) that they had 11,000 pics on-line.
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