Thursday 21 February

Rain and wind this morning, with angry white riders on the waters of the bay outside. The near-gale force westerly winds are playing havoc with the ferry sailings. Our freight ferry did not sail overnight, and the scheduled passenger service is subject to disruption. Heavy rain is shown on the weather radar over mainland Scotland, with only light patches here.

Hurricane Ivan is now known to have claimed 22 lives across Madagascar. The latest edition of L'Express de Madagascar makes for pitiful reading, and the toll of this devastating cyclone is likely to rise over days to come. I think I'll put the articles in a special journal, will give the link later, once I've set it up.

The US Navy have successfully struck a faulty satellite with a missile, but are not yet sure whether the primary aim, destruction of the fueltank of toxic hydrazine, has been achieved. The satellite went out of control shortly after its launch 14 months ago. It is falling back to earth, and the fueltank was expected to survive re-entry into the earth's atmosphere., exposing people on the ground to its lethal fumes.

The international repercussions are already rolling in, with China and Russia accusing the US of mounting this operation as a covert attempt at trying out a missile defence system. I thought we'd left the Cold War behind 20 years ago. Nope.