Thursday 27/07/06

Foggy start to the morning. The ferry blasts its way out of the harbour at 7.15, with Muirneag blasting her horn on the way in. The fog lifts during the morning and a German chap calls in at 10 am. This evening, he intends to go to the MacLeod lecture in An Lanntair. A couple is due later today, off the Berneray to Leverburgh ferry. Fog comes down again by 11.30, to finally dissipate an hour later when the wind starts to pick up. The German man heads for Point and I go into town. Discover the schooner Thor Heyerdahl moored behind Amity House. Two seals play in the harbour. Stornoway is busy with visitors. The Press and Journal paper has not come in today, but the Glasgow Herald, West Highland Free Press, Stornoway Gazette and Hebridean have. The Free Press, a radical weekly, reports that the nursing trades unions have threatened Western Isles Health Board with strike action if the situation in the NHS here does not improve. The Gazette carries an interesting article about schools in the district of Uig, in the remote west of Lewis. Remote settlements would send their children to a school in a larger village, sometimes up to 10 miles away. All but one of the schools mentioned have disappeared and so have most of the villages. I had never before heard of places like Luanachar and Crola near Kinloch Resort or Ardbeg near Hamnaway, 9 miles southeast of Brenish. I managed to find them on the OS Explorer map 458, with symbols denoting ruins. It is a sad read. The evening is very quiet with some sun. Thunderstorms herald the end of the heatwave down south, but the situation in London is quite severe, with lengthy powercuts on account of the heat. Supper is sweet and sour chicken, prepared by your writer. Sunset is now at 10 pm, and the difference with the solstice is now quite noticeable. Mrs B's boiler decides to pack in at 11.30pm; just as well it's not the middle of winter. Inside temperatures 21C.