Monday 03/07/06

Nice sunny day with some mid-level clouds and a temperature of about 16C / 60F. Better than the heatwave and flooding further south. The weekend was full of excitement, although at times of the wrong sort. Sailors ashore from HMS Blyth were chased to their ship by local youths, who had to be shown a baton on the gangway, before backing off. A Harris policeman went off the road and damaged his car when he swerved to avoid a sheep in the road. The Coastguard helicopter had to go to Reef Beach on Saturday to attend to an injured 6-year old, but had to divert to Stornoway to effect the rescue I mentioned. I nearly forgot about the Big Beer Robbery. Three hundred unlabeled beer bottles went missing from the Hebridean Brewery on Rigs Road - anyone with information on their whereabouts can contact the police or Crimestoppers. I've got a fair idea about the contents: down the pan already. On a more serious note, 500 old bibles were buried at Swainbost Cemetery this weekend. The family bibles, mostly in Gaelic, had been handed in to the Ness charity shop, but they could not be resold because they were tattered and worn. The families that had handed them in were unhappy to throw the treasured volumes in the bin, so the idea came up to bury them in a religious ceremony. The local minister was quite prepared to conduct the service to the respectful disposal of the bibles. Mrs B's litany of visitors continues through the afternoon, with the arrival of her nephew and her sister, after her brother in law leaves. The Met Office confirms that a heatwave will be present across much of England and Wales, with temperatures up to 32C, lasting until Thursday. Up here, it's 17C max, this with a cool on-shore northeasterly. I head out for a walk to the Iolaire Monument, 2½ miles away, at 3.20pm. Walk to and through the village of Lower Sandwick, where children are playing in the sea. Continue along the little shingle strand of Mol Bhag [Mol Vack] to Stoneyfields Farm. After the boggy patch, I find the Holm Road end and proceed down the path to the Iolaire Memorial, which stands on the shore, above the place where the ship sank in January 1919. HMY Iolaire was taking sailors home after World War 1, when it ran aground on a reef called the Beasts of Holm. The ship sank, taking 205 sailors with her. Only 75 survived. This came on top of the 1,000 that had perished in action - out of the 6,000 men from the island that had joined up.
The sewage treatment plant near the Memorial stinks to high heaven. Snap away merrily, some 45 pictures. Lambs have grown big, but one lies dead on the shingle below Stoneyfields. I report it to a local resident, who says she'll tell its owners. Return to a warm (as wind sheltered) Newton, after which I go to the supermarket. Learn that two people were charged with the assault on a sailor early on Sunday morning.