Thursday 23/03/06

Helen and Peter leave for Inverness on the 7.15 ferry. Tomorrow, they aim to visit Peter's ancestral village of Arday in Sutherland, having visited Helen's ancestral village in Skye. Mrs B and I rise rather later, at 10.30, with the after effects of too much wine still very much in evidence. The snow is still lying in the backyard and on the higher reaches of the Arnish hills (upwards of 50 m), but melts during the day. The morning starts grey, but brightens up nicely through the afternoon. On BBC Island Blogging, the spoof dating extravaganza at Dell Fank gathers momentum - it's due on April 1st. By late morning, the unfamiliar outline of the Isle of Arran pulls into port, apparently on its way through from refit at Aberdeen. It's not clear what it's doing in Stornoway. The Isle of Lewis is running as per timetable, if not 20 minutes early. After lunch, I go into town for a snapping spree of boats. The Hordafur has been rusting away at no 2 pier for nearly 2 years now. The pilot boat and a very delapidated fishing vessel are dwarfed by the Muirneag on no 1 pier. I find a cargovessel, Ronez, moored along the King Edward wharf, as well as the Isle of Arran. Find Lazy Corner empty, all the boats will be out to catch up with lost time due to bad weather. Buy food in the little Coop up Cromwell Street, as well as papers in two shops. It's a pleassantly sunny afternoon, with a temperature of 6C and little wind. Read in the Press and Journal that the snow caused a lot of disruption to schools yesterday. In Harris, the buses could not take pupils home from the secondary school in Tarbert (the Sir E Scott school), so the local hotel had to provide food for the youngsters while they waited for transport home. The road over the Clisham foothills was closed, and buses were stranded in drifts. Fortunately, no passengers were on board. The stowaway I mentioned last Friday should have been removed from Lewis yesterday. And the infamous Morsgail estate in West Lewis has changed hands. Its previous owner conducted an alleged campaign of harassment against a tenant crofter to force him off the land - unsuccessfully. See my entry of March 9, 2005. Keep a quiet evening.