Wednesday 15/11/06

Today, Muirneag is on time: arriving in port at 8 am. News comes through that £2m has been awarded by the National Lottery Fund to Storas Uibhist, a body which is committed to buying the South Uist Estate from its current owners. They need £4m for the whole venture, and are currently "only" £500,000 short. The South Uist Estate encompasses the islands of Eriskay, South Uist and parts of Benbecula. Read more here. The day starts bright, but high level cloud rolls in. It does not lead to rain, although heavy rain did fall further south. The Norwegian boat Frøyhavn is back in port again. The Discovery remains tied up alongside pier number 3. People are going on and off as I go round to the ferry terminal (which is situated on pier 3) to have a look at 4pm. When it's still light of course! The sun sets in glorious colours. A Swedish lady calls round with her young son to enquire about vacancies, but mrs B hasn't got one. A Polish man is the next customer. He has just arrived in the UK and in Stornoway to work in a fish factory. He is looking for a place to stay for a longer period of time. Mrs B and myself advise him to the best of our abilities. Supper is chicken korma. Hurricane Sergio blows up, with winds estimated close on 100 mph. He is the 10th named hurricane of the busy East Pacific season this year. An earthquake in the Kurill Islands, between Japan and the Russian island of Sachalin measures 8.1 on the Richter scale. The Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii issues a warning for all nations along the Pacific seaboard against a tidal surge, but in the end it's only a 30 cm high wave that laps the shores of Japan and only 8 cm at Alaska. The warning is cancelled 4 hours after the quake. Watch a nice performance of Ravel's celebrated Bolero and Beethoven's Coriolan Ouverture.