Thursday 12/01/06

Awake to a gale thundering through the town, but at least it's dry. The German guest heads down to Harris to conduct more interviews. Yesterday, he parked his car in Port Nis at 11.30. Six hours later, a villager rang mrs B because he was concerned. It was dark and the car was still where it had been left. He was about to call the police. I advised mrs B to tell the chap to wait until 7, by which time Holger did rematerialize. I was amazed how people had found out where he was staying. But then, he'll be the only German visitor to the island at this time. Mrs B spoke to me about Robert Burns, whose 'night' it'll be on the 25th. He wrote poems about mice, his bed, holy men, anything. He wrote in English as well as Scots. His works were translated into Japanese, Chinese and Russian. In the weather reports for 9 o'clock, the wind is blowing at gale force 8, with gusts up to force 10 or 11. North Rona has winds of 61 knots (70 mph), gusting at 80 knots (90 mph). Buoy K5 in the Atlantic has waves of 10.5m or 35 feet. The ferry has been cancelled for today. Spray blows over the causeway. It gets blown onto the windows, so I go out twice to clean off the salt. Very windy outside, but strangely enough it is a fairly steady wind. It is this windy all over the northwest. Drizzle commences at 1pm. An hour later, I go into town, with the rain increasing in intensity. It's very difficult to walk. Find seaweed lying behind the fences facing Somerfields.
Very strong gusts along South Beach nearly blow me off my feet, also on the Amity House quay. Hand in a roll of film for processing, pictures available tomorrow, Friday. On the way to Somerfields, I had big trouble walking into the wind in Kenneth Street. Newton Street has a headwind for the first part, and a tailwind in the further bit. Both make walking very difficult. Glad to be back inside, conditions are hard. The latest readings show gusts of upto 60 or 64 knots (68 to 72 mph), which is about force 12. Most ferries on the west coast are off, because everywhere is having gales. At 14.20, a gust of 67 knots was recorded, which is more than 75 mph. A very serious squall passes through at 3.20, which pours waterover the window, with extremely strong gusts. Viewers on the webcam have a front row position. After the squall passes, the wind drops to force 6. The white horses in the Basin disappear, and the rain stops. Schools in the north of the island are closed tomorrow because of a power supply problem. Supper is a concoction of macaroni, ratatouille, left-over chicken (from lunch), cranberries + custard. It's a very quiet evening, not much wind and even some moon. Watch some TV with mrs B.