Wednesday 17/05/06

Bright morning, which sees the departure of all 3 guests - Karen from Australia as well as the two workmen. The latter are due to be replaced by two colleagues who are travelling up from Barra today. That is an 8 hour journey by road. Mrs B's brother-in-law calls in for coffee. Have not seen him for a while. As he is leaving, I spot a group of canoeists rowing up the harbour towards the town. Apparently, some start from the pier at Crosbost to row the 8 miles to Stornoway. One of the French fishingboats comes in for a crew change. Within 90 minutes it is leaving port again. At 1pm, the sun is out. It's set to be a nice afternoon, although tomorrow's forecast is pretty dismal. Yesterday, Eoropie had 26 mm (1 inch) of rainfall. That is a lot - it equates to 26 litres (6 gallons) of water on every square metre (11 sq feet). Go out for a walk and some shopping at 2.30. Walk up Island Road and Smith Avenue, where the sun makes it quite warm. It is just 13C / 55 F on the thermometer. Blossoms and leaves are out all over the place. Carry on down Goathill Avenue and Church Street right down to Cromwell Street. Pop into the Hebridean Jewellery Shop at the corner of Church Street for a book about a walk all the way down the Western isles, from the Butt of Lewis to Vatersay - 230 miles. Somerfields have abandoned their Saver card scheme, which will speed things up enormously at the tills. Back in Newton, mrs B is inundated with requests for accommodation. After 4pm, cloudcover increases and odd spots of rain begin to fall. The major fall commences at 6.35, when a wall of rain quickly moves across from Arnish.