Thursday 07/09/06

The English couple depart for the Uists and their place is taken by a chap who'll be here until Monday. He was under the impression that it was Friday - nope. Nice day, not warm. Spend the afternoon writing a tribute to Norberto Hernandez. It is very sad work, and you can't begin to fathom the depth of grief, felt by his family. Go out at 4pm to get a huge wad of papers. On the way to the shop, I meet my acquaintance from Lochs, who is trying to sell her house. No luck - only 1 person has shown an interest over the past few months. I know the location - it is very exposed, situated at the very end of the 2.5 mile long village. I turn up Cromwell Street and go as far up Bayhead as the YM, which is being taken down. At least, the cladding has gone. Head up MacKenzie Street to Matheson Road, then down Goathill Road and Smith Avenue towards Newton. Those are the leafiest streets in town. Youngsters play a ballgame on the sports pitch behind the Nicolson. Supper is pie and cabbage and beans. The guga hunters went out for their annual cull of young gannets on Sula Sgeir two weeks ago. They'll be back within a week or so. The chap who is here until Monday is taking a leisurely trip round the Highlands and Islands, glad to be far from the madding crowd of the West Midlands

Guga is dried young gannet, it looks like a bicycle saddle, and is despatched round the world to Lewis exiles. I don't want to know what it tastes like - oily, fishy, yuk. Although gannets are a protected species, there is a tradition going back to at least the 15th century for the men of Ness to go out to Sula Sgeir to take the birds, and a special dispensation was made for them.