Although events today also happened before 11 a.m., I take the liberty of starting the diary at that point, which is when breakfast was over and the two friends of mrs B's son took their leave to return to Glasgow. It is a nice sunny morning with a good breeze, which helps the yacht race which is held in Stornoway Harbour. The yacht Alba Volunteer wins. Their crew came to mrs B's on Wednesday for a bath. The yacht is due to relocate to Tarbert on Sunday. Today is the day of the Highland Games at Tong, 4 miles northwest of Stornoway. We set off on the free bus service, which takes about 15 minutes, to arrive there at 1.45pm. It is very busy there. A lot goes on, and I'll just list the events - no attempt at completeness.
highland dancing
one man and his dog plus a few sheep
hit the coconut with up to 3 balls
a stall by the Coop
various drinkstands as well as a beertent
craftstalls
3 bouncey castles
several pipers
a brass band
helicopter flypast plus stunts
Spitfire flypast (one of them is called Lewis and Harris)
athletics
BBC Sports Relief "Run a mile"
Heavy events
tossing the caber (a long pole of wood)
lifting 100kg heavy spheres of rock
tossing a bale of hay up to 20 ft high
flipping tractor wheels (the hind ones)
pulling said tractor wheels
A few notes. The running was disrupted by a spectator blindly walking over the racing track, right into the field of runners. The helicopter was a wee bit low and close. Of course, someone parked where they shouldn't, so their car's registration numbers were broadcast. Refreshments were available in the hall adjacent to the fields.
On return in Stornoway, at 4.15, I go to buy papers, but find I'm 1p short. So, I go up and down to Newton for 1p. Why do they price newspapers at stupid prices like 56p? Supper was a pastabake. No luck on lottery.
A note on the Pacific cyclones: the last advisory is issued on Bud, as it fades into the ocean east of Hawaii. Corletta is rapidly losing strength as well.
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