Tuesday 06/06/06

Mrs B received one more guest, and he didn't come until after midnight. She was not best pleased, and when she's not pleased, you'd better hide. The poor chap apologised his way in the door, and out of the door again at 6.40. I am awake myself at that hour, and cannot sleep, so I join mrs B downstairs for a bacon roll. It's a brilliantly sunny morning, and at this early hour, the sun shines through the back window until 7 o'clock. The ferry departs for the mainland at 7.25, with the workers in the fish factory slowly ambling up the causeway. High cloud moves across the sky during the morning, obscuring the sun by 11 o'clock. A starling chick had left the nest, but it can't fly properly. A dirty big seagull alights on top of the caravan, slavers and swoops down to carry the hapless creature away for his elevenses. Two hoodie crows quickly speed to the scene of carnage on a nearby rooftop. This totally silences the excited chattering in the clematis, where the starlings were nesting. Mrs B is distraught, I'm kicking myself for not chasing the gull away. During the afternoon, the Hebridean Princess (luxury cruiseliner) and the ocean going tug & supply vessel Normand Master come into port. The HP had come across from Ullapool to allow passengers to go ashore for tours of Lewis. 8-day cruises on this ship, an old Calmac ferry, cost up to £7,600. Yep. That much. The Normand Master is a brandnew ship, only 3 years old, built to the latest specs. She is 82 m long, 20 wide and has a draft of 7.5 m, which is very deep for a ship her size (4,400 tonnes). The tug creeps into port, with a pilot on board. She finally berths at number 3 pier, on the ferry berth. By 8pm she'll have to shift to give way to the ferry. Another vessel, whose name I cannot make out, spends a few hours working on the light beacon off Arnish Point. A short sharp shower passes at 3pm, with another one by 5. I have sent an email to the Mexican weather agency, asking them to confirm the rainfall totals for Acapulco this weekend. Methinks the NOAA (US weather agency) got their units in a twist. I just cannot believe that 1,000 mm of rain would fall in 3 or 6 hours, without washing the place into the sea. The tugboat retreats into Glumag Harbour (which is 42 ft deep) while the ferry berths for the night. Fog comes down after 9. As soon as the worst of the fog lifts, by 9.45, the Hebridean Princess departs for St Kilda. The tug goes alongside no 3 pier. The Princess will be carrying the Queen later this summer, when she comes to Stornoway for her 80th birthday celebrations.