Thursday 13/07/06

It's a cloudy day to start with. In the Pacific, we now have hurricane Carlotta chasing hurricane Bud. Both will have been downgraded within 5 days. Two lads from Switzerland ask mrs B for permission to camp in her backyard. She says that that is fine. Unusual. There is a high demand for accommodation on account of the Festival. The Health Board row carries on, with the new press officer stating that having a faultless child is a God-given right. Nice for those whose children are born with problems. The Stornoway Gazette publishes the press officer's application statement. It also alleges that a senior board member forged her CV. Go out at 5pm to view the entrance of the fleet, as pictured in a previous entry. Fleet? 8 boats. Sail Hebrides also features a boat building workshop and a mock seabattle. Dinner consisted of fast food in the shape of microwave meals - takes about 5 minutes. At Somerfields, a gaggle of young women (not much more than 16-18) were buying loads of cider. At 9.30, we go into town to overhear some music from the festival tent on the Castle Green. We walk up from An Lanntair along Cromwell Street, with mrs B admiring the shop windows. They are topically decked out. It is very busy in town, with people heading for the main concert venue. The concert starts with the supporting act, with the main act following about 2 hours later. Cross over to the quay, where an indistinct racket suggests a band is playing in the tent on the far side of the harbour. Tide is in, and at 4.9 m it is very high. Slowly meander down the quayside, with lots of terns wheeling above the water. The light slowly fails, as the camera needs longer and longer exposure time. Lazy Corner is full of fishing boats. A large seal swims about in the harbour. At Amity House, the lorries are loaded on board Muirneag, for its overnight crossing to Ullapool. Number 2 pier is the overnight roost for the town's gulls. Outside the Sea Angling Club, mrs B meets a man who used to be an apprentice in her late husband's engineering business. Return to Newton at 11pm.