Sunday 31/12/06 - New Year's Eve

Rain and wind dominate today's weather and force the cancellation of New Year's Eve celebrations in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Liverpool and Belfast. By evening, winds gust up to 85 mph across the Central Belt, which also leads to powercuts. On the hurricane front, tropical cyclone Clovis forms in the Indian Ocean, and another system is about to materialize south of Java. A ferry has overturned to the north of that island, leaving hundreds dead. At 1pm, I join in the New Year celebrations from Sydney, by listening to a radiostation from that city and help an AOL buddy to bring in the New Year. I came across Petar [PVodogaz] as a result of my interest in tropical hurricanes. Saddam Hussein is buried, end of chapter. The last supper of 2006 consisted of steaks with chips and beans, as well as some vino. I scour the Net looking for a decent free video-editor, but don't have much luck. Our guests, a Scottish/German couple, resident in Spain, visited Leverburgh today. We quietly await the Bells, which herald the New Year.