Tuesday 13/12/05

Another dark and dreich morning, with drizzle sweeping across the town. Reports of crass lapses in safety in the oil depot on fire in Hemel Hampstead. Devastating images of the destruction in the adjacent industrial estate. One building was only taken into use 2 months ago. Three of the 20 tanks that were originally on fire remain ablaze, which are the toughest ones to tackle. The Coastguard tug and the SFPA boat come into port at 9 a.m.. The afternoon stays misty. Ferry leaves on time at 1.45. Calmac publishes the result of the inquiry into the voyage of MV Muirneag on 11 November, which took 16 hours, caused a lot of damage and gave the passengers the scare of their lives. Calmac says there is no case to answer. It was a commendation for the professionalism of master and crew that the boat managed to reach Stornoway in the first place. There was another meeting about the NHS reforms this evening, but it was a rerun of December 1st. Did not attend. Mrs B provides dinner tonight, pork chops with tatatouille and rice. At 5pm, the Border Heather comes in, so that's all the regular boats in and out today. Received the book I ordered, containing old pictures from the Isle of Eigg.