Monday 17th January 2005

Another cold night, followed by a day of frequent and heavy wintry showers. Hail, snow, sleet all day, interspersed with sunny intervals. Temperature is right down at only +4. Went to Stornoway for shopping, and a 45 minute Internet session at point1, since the library computer is down. Bought a book with Harris stories. A walk down Bells Road, after lunch at HS1, concluded proceedings in town. On return to Ravenspoint, the central heating really doesn't want to work for more than a few minutes at a stretch. Great image of the Harris and Eishken hills, clad in snow, set against the dark cloud of a shower further south. It's not very nice outside. One Dutch car on the road, must have come off the lunchtime ferry. This was quite late, at 2pm. One passenger on the bus shouted stop, so the driver slammed on the brakes, and backed up to the desired alighting point for the passenger concerned. This was at the far end of Laxay. Chappie had rung his mum at the east end of the village to say he was nearly there. The Stornoway Gazette finally appeared in Kershader, courtesy of MacDonald coaches and myself. Well, after 40 minutes of faffing about the central heating finally works at 3.50. The Claitair Hotel, just off Balallan is closed. It has sustained storm damage in the shape of 2 windows blown in and a lot of tiles off the roof. The island of Sanda, between Kintyre and Ulster, had it first boat since December 19th on January 13th! Weather too poor. At 4.20 just after sunset, a thick layer of ice is on the ground. Many facilities, such as schools, will be closed tomorrow due to atrocious weather conditions. Snow is expected with a layer of 5 - 10 cms. It starts at 10 o'clock, when a nice layer lies across the road. An hour later, a group of 5 sheep crosses the road and vanishes in the darkness beyond.