Wednesday 06/12/06

Sunny start to the day, after a clear night showed Orion in the southern skies. Showers abound, but not in the town. White smoke rises from behind a hill on Arnish Point, pinpointing the seaweed factory. Highlands & Islands Enterprise HIE will pump more money into the Arnish Yard, for diversification of activities over there. Not just renewables, which just went belly-up again. A public inquiry is ordered into a 6-turbine windfarm development off the Pentland Road, 5 miles west of Stornoway. These are close to the projected major Amec windfarm. Both projects are now on hold until at least 2008. This also applies to the Eishken Windfarm, 25 miles to the south. Had a comment on the blog from someone who had worked in the Eishken Estate in summer 2005, and had come to know every hill and every valley in that district. Nobody lives there permanently, although there used to be about 35 villages there until early 19th century. Have breakfast earlier than usual today. It is quite cold outside, 6C. Catch up with papers and magazines. By 6pm, the mercury has sunk to 1C, but rises again afterwards. Clouds and heavy rain move in during the