Change in the weather

As you may know, I'm a weather buff. So, I was quite astonished to find the complete turn around in the weather this evening. In my previous entry, I mentioned it was freezing cold and little wind. Well, six hours later, the wind has picked up to force 7 and temperatures have jumped to 8C. The list below shows what happened here since midday (list runs in reverse order, most recent first). Accessible from this list.

Current Weather Conditions: Stornoway, United Kingdom
(EGPO) 58-13N 006-19W 13M
Conditions at	2006.12.09 2320 UTC
Wind	from the S (190 degrees) at 29 MPH (25 KT)
Visibility	greater than 7 mile(s)
Sky conditions	mostly cloudy
Temperature	46 F (8 C)
Dew Point	41 F (5 C)
Relative Humidity	81%
Pressure (altimeter)	29.71 in. Hg (1006 hPa)

	Time	Temperature   C	Pressure mbar	Wind MPH	Weather
	10 PM	46 (8)	1007	SSW 23
	9 PM	44 (7)	1009	SSW 20
	8 PM	41 (5)	1010	SSW 15
	7 PM	33 (1)	1010	S 8
	6 PM	35 (2)	1011	WSW 13
	5PM	33 (1)	1011	WSW 7
	4 PM	35 (2)	1010	WSW 8
	3 PM	39 (4)	1009	WNW 12	showers in the vicinity
	2 PM	39 (4)	1008	WNW 10	showers in the vicinity
	1 PM	41 (5)	1007	NW 13	light rain showers
	12 NOON	41 (5)	1006	NW 20	showers in the vicinity

Christmas Decorations

Last Thursday, the Christmas Illuminations were lit here in Stornoway. The ceremony was unfortunately not blessed with favourable weather. It was raining and it was cold and windy. I decided to stay in. This evening, it was very cold (0C / 32F at 6pm), but it was dry and not windy. So, out I went to take a series of snaps.

Funfair

Just wanted to share this 32 seconds clip that I shot of the fairground in Stornoway's Percival Square, this evening at around 5.30pm. It's noisy, it's flashy - everything you DO NOT associate with this part of the world.

Canna decide!

Applicants will be invited to visit Canna

Copied from BBC Online
A shortlist of 18 families who could eventually be offered a new life on the island of Canna has been drawn up.

Its owners the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) received about 350 applications for two rented properties.

The officer co-ordinating the selection process says the successful and unsuccessful applicants will be notified by letter.

Those shortlisted will be invited to submit a more detailed application and later visit the island.

The chance to move to Canna, south west of Skye, attracted interest from people from across the UK as well as Dubai, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Australia and the US.

It currently has just 15 inhabitants.

The trust is hoping that the new families, with the right kind of skills, will be able to secure the long-term survival of Canna.

Aspirin - wonderdrug?

Another beneficial effect of aspirin was discovered recently. It is thought to block the enlargement of the prostate in men. This affects roughly half of all men above the age of 70, and leads to problems urinating, or a frequent urge to pass water.

Aspirin is associated with side-effects, such as an increased risk of stomach ulcers, disruption of the blood clotting system and asthma attacks in susceptible people. More information in this article on BBC Online.

Post Office closures

Next Thursday, the UK government will announce the closure of 2,500 to 3,000 post offices across the country, This means a reduction of about 20% of the current stock of 14,000 POs. The axe is likely to fall in rural areas (like the Western Isles, and the Highlands of Scotland, to name but a few). Rural Post Offices were subsidised to the tune of £150 million, but still sustained a £111 million loss.

A 4 million strong petition was handed in to 10 Downing Street this autumn, but to no avail. The BBC's Action Network has advice on what can be done, and also how to set up your own Community Post Office. I would like to post the link here:

Post Office Action Network

Friday 08/12/06

Reasonably sunny start to the day, with a multitude of showers within sight. One glance out of the window shows 3 anvil clouds and one wall of dark grey. This provides an ever-changing panorama, both north and south. Have to assist a person with a nosebleed to the A&E department in the hospital, which sorts the problem out. Go into town for some shopping, and for a look at the newly lit Christmas decorations. A guest arrives on the 8pm ferry, and is duly received. Hail and snow falls late in the evening. The Philippines is bracing itself for the arrival of Typhoon Utor tomorrow.

Thursday 07/12/06

Grey and uninteresting weather today - up here that is. The district of Kensal Rise in NW London was hit by a tornado at 11 am, which carried winds of 136 mph. These ripped tiles off roofs, broke trees in half and blew windows out. Worst affected were properties that lost whole roofs and walls. One wall lay across a parked car, in a pile of rubble. Miraculously, only 6 people were hurt, 1 of whom required hospital treatment. 100 to 150 houses are damaged, several of these are now uninhabitable and may have to be pulled down. Here in the islands, the barometer stands at a very low 964 mbar, indicating we are at the heart of the causative depression. Go to the shop for a few bits, not much doing otherwise.

Wednesday 06/12/06

Sunny start to the day, after a clear night showed Orion in the southern skies. Showers abound, but not in the town. White smoke rises from behind a hill on Arnish Point, pinpointing the seaweed factory. Highlands & Islands Enterprise HIE will pump more money into the Arnish Yard, for diversification of activities over there. Not just renewables, which just went belly-up again. A public inquiry is ordered into a 6-turbine windfarm development off the Pentland Road, 5 miles west of Stornoway. These are close to the projected major Amec windfarm. Both projects are now on hold until at least 2008. This also applies to the Eishken Windfarm, 25 miles to the south. Had a comment on the blog from someone who had worked in the Eishken Estate in summer 2005, and had come to know every hill and every valley in that district. Nobody lives there permanently, although there used to be about 35 villages there until early 19th century. Have breakfast earlier than usual today. It is quite cold outside, 6C. Catch up with papers and magazines. By 6pm, the mercury has sunk to 1C, but rises again afterwards. Clouds and heavy rain move in during the evening.

Evening

Had to escort somebody to hospital this evening with a persistent nosebleed. Fortunately, the patient didn't need to stay in, and was allowed home after the bleeding stopped. Had it failed to stop, the nose would have had to be packed with gauze (not nice) and overnight hospitalisation would have been necessary.

I've added two things to my sidebar: the Christmas bells are courtesy Donna and the thingy "Behind every monitor is a person with feelings very much like your own - THINK BEFORE YOU TYPE" I snagged from Lisa Jo.

A minute ago, hail, snow and rain were coming down, in temperatures of 3C / 37F. It's very cold. Although not as severe as some J-landers are experiencing in the USA with temperatures anywhere between -10C and -15C. Storms are forecast for Sunday. Of course, the focus is on rain, but I wouldn't be surprised to see winds of force 9 or higher.

Funnies

Positive proof of global warming

Queen of the Blondes

Mirror image

Fridge Magnet

Mona Lisa before and after a week in the USA

Hebridean Celtic Festival

Each year, since 1996, a festival of music and art, associated with the Celtic world, has been held in Stornoway. It's called the Hebridean Celtic Festival. There are usually some interesting bands and events, spread throughout the compact centre of Stornoway. The website has information on past and future events. The line-up is usually announced in March or April, and ticket sales commence on the first Monday in May.


For the moment, the Celtic arts scene is working up towards Celtic Connections, an even bigger event that is held during the 3rd and 4th weeks of January across the city of Glasgow. They too have their own website.

Molly Campbell saga - update

The Supreme Court in Lahore, Pakistan, has ruled that Misbah Rana (Molly Campbell) is to stay in Pakistan until the hearing of the appeal by her father in January 2007. The High Court had ordained that Misbah had to be handed over to the British High Commission within 7 days. This has now been suspended, until the appeal is heard.

Hurricane update - 8 December

Tropical storm UTOR is heading for the Central Philippines, with borderline hurricane force winds of 70 mph. As a result, the Philippine government has postponed the ASEAN summit of Southeast Asian nations which was due to be held in the city of Cebu this weekend. Utor is due to strike tomorrow, Saturday.

The Philippines have been struck by 4 typhoons this season. Durian, the last one, claimed 1,200 lives in the Philippines and sank hundreds of fishing boats off Vietnam.

Flood Warnings

The Met Office is forecasting a spell of persistent and often heavy rain to affect much of the UK on Sunday and into Monday as a band of rain becomes slow moving for a time over western parts of Scotland, Wales and Northern England. Totals of over 25 mm are likely quite widely, but with accumulations of around 80mm over western Scotland, 70 mm over Cumbria and 60 mm in north and west Wales. Given the already very wet ground, further flooding is expected. For more information on the current flooding situation the public should refer to the Environment Agency in England and Wales, and to Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in Scotland. This warning will be updated at around 1000 Saturday 9th December.

Commemorations

Today, 7 December, is Pearl Harbor Day over in the USA. It is the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the American bases in Hawaii, in which hundreds of military and civilians perished. Although I'm within 15 minutes of the end of December 7, 2006, I would like to dedicate this entry to the memory of those that lost their lives on that day in 1941. Picture courtesy Naval Historical Center.

Technical problems resolved

Stephanie has advised that the missing graphics from AOL Pictures are now restored (this appears to have affected 1% of us) and that File Manager is now also back for each and every screenname.

London Tornado

The BBC have a report on this morning's tornado in northwest London, and also a small selection of pictures. An explanation is also provided.

Tornadoes in the UK are infrequent, about 35 a year are reported. As I said in my earlier posting, relative to its landmass, Great Britain has more tornadoes than the USA. These phenomena occur in severe thunderstorms, but also on the boundary of different airmasses, as happened today. Out at sea, they are known as waterspouts. The last time a tornado hit an urban area was in 2005, when a street in Birmingham was hit, with equally devastating effect.

Farts abort flight

An American Airways flight made an emergency landing at Nashville, Tennessee, after passengers reported the smell of sulphur. It was found that a match had been struck by a woman who was trying to conceal the smell of her flatulence.

The FBI interrogated the guilty party, but pressed no charges when it was found that there had been no evil intent. The safety matches, carried by the female passenger, are allowed on board flights, but may not be struck.


Above image courtesy Urbandictionary

Extreme weather

Typhoon Durian is in the process of slipping off the weather charts, west of Thailand, but its gruesome aftermath continues in the Philippines. Dead bodies continue to wash ashore in the affected area, recovery operations are still in full flow. At least 1,300 people are confirmed to have lost their lives in the disaster. And another typhoon is in the offing, this time forecast on time by the weatherservice PAGASA.

Meanwhile, a tornado has ripped through a London suburb, leaving damage and injured people behind. Tornadoes in the UK are not the huge destructive features that those in the USA are used to, but there are more tornadoes in this country, relative to its size, than in the US on an annual basis. They form in thunderstorms, or on fronts with a large temperature difference. There was reported to be sleet and rain, when a funnel suddenly formed at the base of a cloud, which touched the earth. Houses were damaged, one was reported to have lost its roof; cars were also damaged, and people were hurt through flying debris.

Earlier this week, I was surprised to hear a peal of thunder at 8.30pm. Thunder is uncommon in the islands, and usually occurs in winter. One of the worst thunderstorms I have experienced in Lewis happened as part of a blizzard, in which hail, freezing rain and snow turned the main A859 Stornoway to Tarbert road into an icerink. The bus I was travelling on reduced speed to a 10 mph crawl between Leurbost and Keose, which is a treacherous and winding stretch of road.

Another typhoon for the Philippines

Tropical depression 25W is intensifying to the east of the Philippines, and will turn into a typhoon, Utor, on Friday. This is forecast to impact the central islands of the Philippines, between Luzon and Mindanao, on Saturday with winds of 95 mph. Further information from the JTWC.

Please relay

Hometown Manager

We now have a Product Manager within AOL who looks after various things, including Hometown. And the infamous File Manager. I have already advised him that this is giving us grief, but please give Will a warm welcome.

Orion

It is December now, and my favourite time of the year for stargazing. Later in the evening, the constellation of Orion proudly stands watch over the southern horizon. He is accompanied by his faithful dogs, both headed by very bright star. Canis Major has the brightest fixed star in the night-sky: Sirius. Canis Minor, higher up to the left of its large companion boasts Procyon, also very bright. The line linking the two leads to the constellation of Gemini. Orion is chasing Taurus the Bull, its red eye (Aldebaran) surrounded by the haze of the Hyades starcloud, and its horn crowned by the Seven Sisters or Pleiades, a hazy cluster of stars to the right of Aldebaran.

Orion is the Huntsman, wielding a sword and holding a shield. He was killed by a scorpion, which is why the constellation of Scorpio is never visible when Orion is in the sky, and vice versa. I have copied the below stories from this site, which I acknowledge gratefully.

The story behind the name: The pattern in the constellation Orion was recognized as a human figure by many ancient cultures. Orion's position on the Celestial Equator makes it visible all over our planet.

Ancient Indians saw the figure as a king who had been shot by an arrow (represented by the stars in Orion's belt). Ancient Egyptians thought the stars in the belt represented the resting place of the soul of the god Osiris. The Arabs saw the constellation as the figure of a giant.

The constellation takes its name from the Greek stories about Orion, a legendary hunter. The stories about Orion are only loosely connected and exist in several variants. Some are thought to be derived from earlier stories from more ancient cultures. One myth says that Orion was banished to the sky for boasting about how many animals he would kill (to impress Eos). He and his hunting dogs, Canis Major and Minor, chase the constellations representing animals, but can never catch them.

There are two legends about Orion's birth, both relating him to water. In one, he is the son of Poseidon and Eurayle, one of the three daughters of Ceto and Phorcys. In the other, he is the son of the widowed bee-keeper Hyrieus, conceived from a sacrifice to the gods that may be related to an ancient African rain-making charm. In this story he was named Urion, "maker of water". His birth legends may be connected to the seasonal rains that come near the rising and setting of the constellation.

The Greek myths of Orion's death and subsequent placement in the sky may also be connected to legends from other ancient cultures. In one myth, Artemis fell in love with him and was tricked by her brother Apollo into killing Orion with an arrow. Artemis begged Ascelpius to save Orion, but Zeus killed Ascelpius as he was trying. Artemis set Orion's image in the stars. This story may be related to the Hittite legend of Anat, the battle-goddess who falls in love with a hunter but accidentally causes his death when he refuses to give her his bow.

There are several stories of Orion being stung to death by a scorpion. These may be related to an Egyptian myth about Horus, the child of Isis and Osiris who met a similar fate, or to the Babylonian story of the attack on Gilgamesh by the scorpion men. Another version of the scorpion story has Artemis unleashing the scorpion to punish Orion for having pursued the seven Pleiades. All of these stories seem to recognize the astronomical phenomenon that Orion and the constellation Scorpio each rise as the other sets. In one version he is chasing the scorpion to try finally to kill it. In another he is forever running away or hiding from it.

Tuesday 05/12/06

Dreich and drab again today, with occasional rain. It feels cold in the 6C out there. Mrs B takes in a new guest, who will be here until March. He is attending a course at the Castle College. Tropical storm Durian leaves a trail of flooding across southern Vietnam, before petering out off Malaya. This system claimed the lives of more than 1,000 in the Philippines, and nearly 100 died in Vietnam. Durian has become the deadliest storm this year. In the afternoon, I head into town to have my mugshot taken. First of all, buy the papers, photo albums to put 450 pictures into (a job that I complete later in the evening) and a magazine. I dive into the library to avoid the rain, and read the latest book by South Uist native Christina Hall, who has moved to Roy Bridge. The book is appropriately called the Road to Glen Spean (Roy Bridge is in Glen Spean). Incidentally, the railway at that village was blocked by flooding today. Supper was pork fillets with ratatouille.

Monday 04/12/06

Awoke to a very drab and drizzly day. The ferry didn't sail this morning, and Calmac's services are disrupted up and down the West Coasst. Flooding is reported from the Highlands. The barometer has risen to 976 mbar, still quite low. The clouds break - in time for sunset. In the supermarket, the shelves are bare, as there was no ferry in this morning. The P&J is sold out early. And Sandwick Road is flooded off the industrial estate. Supper is chicken korma. Finally watch a team of army climbers tackle Mount Everest on TV.

Sunday 03/12/06

Sunday dawns calm and fairly sunny. The barometer is right down, at 959 mbar. The low pressure system is sitting directly overhead - we're in the eye of the storm. Strong winds cause problems for our tanker, the Border Heather, when she loses engine power off Wick. She is later towed to safety. Wales gets wind gusts of 100 mph and powerlines are downed. Torrential rain falls in the Highlands. Here? Cool and occasional sun. Like yesterday, I'm not showing my face out of doors, bar for taking piccies. Supper is pastabake. Typhoon Durian is now making Vietnam, after battering the Philippines. Rain and stronger winds commence later in the evening.

Saturday 02/12/06

After a nice, late start, the first half of the afternoon is nice and sunny. Mrs B goes into town for a bit, whilst I catch up on things on here. The sun sets at 3.40pm. It's colder now, only 7C. The huge snowfalls over in the USA are worse in terms of winter weather though. The wind picks up in anticipation of tomorrow's storms. Northern England will be catching it in the teeth. Supper at 9.10pm is a nice stirfry from MacDonald's the butchers. Wind blows a gale by midnight.

AOL Pictures

From the AOL Pictures team:

AOL Pictures is back up and running!

I first want to say sorry for the inconvenience this has caused all of you, really. We obviously take these sort of glitches on our side very seriously and we had a team working around the clock, especially our Operations team, to resolve it.

I want to specifically thank the Operations team for all their hard work. It's been a long night for them. We are thoroughly investigating what happened to do our best to ensure this sort of issue does not arise in the future.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the outage, please post a comment in the blog http://journals.aol.com/aolpictures/aolpictures/ or send an email to shareyourphotos@aim.com.

New journal

Just want to recommend Andy's journal Life which is an interesting read for those who use (or suffer on) the railways. Even if you're not, Andy gives an insight into his private life, and is longingly looking forward to his retirement - in 2016.

Privatisation

(1) If you decide to go private, this means that people who have you on alerts, will be notified of this through a special alert. Once you allow readers onto your blog, their alert is NOT automatically resumed.

(2) Are you a reader of someone who has recently gone private and has allowed you to read their journal? You have to click Alert me when entries are posted again, even if you had that journal on alerts before.

St Nicholas

Tonight, a knock on the door will announce the arrival of St Nicholas and his Black Peter(s) in many homes in Holland, Belgium and western Germany. Sometimes, St Nicholas will have attended primary schools in many areas during the day.

A large basket of pressies, covered by the most excruciating poetry and wrapped in the most ingenious way possible, will be taken inside. A present will be taken out of the basket and the recipient will have to read the poem (usually a rundown of the past year's misdeeds and mishaps). Then it's down to unwrapping the presents.
A large collection of songs are available to be sung, and every child in those areas of Europe will know them off by heart. They have to be sung in front of the fireplace - small problem, what if you don't have a fireplace in the home? Never mind, small detail. Having unwrapped the presents, you're supposed to shout "thank you St Nicholas" up the chimney. The idea is that St Nicholas has dropped the presents down the chimney and is lurking on the rooftops to await your appreciative shouts.

St Nicholas will leave like a shadow in the night. His alter ego will be ready to take over by the morning. Who? Father Christmas. He who spends most of his time in a field. Hoe hoe hoe.

Read more here. This site includes links to songs, with musicfiles and all.

Enjoy!

Technical glitch

Two glitches. AOL Pictures is being "improved" so it isn't there. Sounds like the library that is closed for opening. Sigh. I added below graphic through Photobucket.

Anyway, the main problem I have is with the Unread Mail counter. Below is a doctored screendump of my AOL Webmail inbox. Although it says Empty, and 0 messages, the Inbox icon on the left of the screen still says (2). I'm bringing this to the attention of the relevant techies.

Weatherforecast

Day	Time	Temp	Rain	Intensity	Cloud	Dir	Speed	Pressure	Weather
Wed	0:00	8 °c	2.6 mm	V Light	97 %		27 mph	980 mb
Wed	3:00	8 °c	0.5 mm	V Light	85 %		26 mph	983 mb
Wed	6:00	8 °c	1 mm	V Light	92 %		23 mph	987 mb
Wed	9:00	8 °c	0.5 mm	V Light	98 %		20 mph	989 mb
Wed	12:00	47 °c	0.6 mm	320 %		20 mph	3 mb
Wed	15:00	7 °c	0.6 mm	V Light	99 %		10 mph	991 mb
Wed	18:00	7 °c	0.1 mm	V Light	90 %		3 mph	990 mb
Wed	21:00	7 °c	0.6 mm	V Light	100 %		9 mph	987 mb

This is the forecast from the Metcheck.com website for my neck of the woods. As you can see, at 12.00 tomorrow it will be snowing with a temperature of 47°C, humidity of 320% and an atmospheric pressure of 3 mbar. Is this for the planet Zog?

Tropical storm Durian

Durian has wreaked havoc across southern Vietnam overnight (GMT). Although the system no longer carries excessive windforce, it still packed a punch with force 10 winds on the Beaufort scale. The worst problem though was flooding. The Mekong delta is very susceptible to flooding, and the Vietnamese authorities ordered (as in: forcibly) the evacuation of low-lying areas. Local residents found this very difficult to take, as Monday had been a very nice day. Communication with an off-shore island have been lost.

There is likely to be a considerable death toll, making Durian the worst tropical cyclone of the 2006 season worldwide. Its death tally in the Philippines continues to shoot through the roof (latest figures: 520 confirmed dead, 750 missing).

Durian is not done with southeast Asia. It is continuing westwards and will traverse the Malay Peninsula tomorrow (on the border between Malaysia and Thailand), to emerge into the Bay of Bengal. Although the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre is slightly contradictory in its assessment, India and Bangladesh should be on the look-out as well. Durian could reintensify.

This one stinks and stings - like the fruit it is named after.

Picture problems

Had a message from the AOL Pictures Blog:
(22.45 GMT / 17.45 EST)

We currently have a partial outage of AOL Pictures - which affects some users of AOL Pictures, plus applications like Journals and AIMPages that use pictures. We are working on this now, and will provide an update soon. 

Journalseditor Jeff adds:
From what I understand at the moment, YGP is going through an upgrade and will be down until everything is installed. Because Journals is dependent on YGP for photos, your Journals are affected. However, once YGP is upgraded and up and running again, your photos should come back.

AFY - background information

I realise that my previous post may not ring bells with some of my newer readers. The Arnish Fabrication Yard, a site of heavy engineering industry, is located south of Stornoway, within sight of my current location. It started life in 1975 as a place where oil-rigs were assembled for the North Sea. Following a down-turn in the oil industry, the yard was mothballed, until last year.

A subsidy of £20 million ($10 million) was handed to the operators, Camcal (an offshoot of a previous occupant, Cambrian Engineering), to set up a site where units for renewable energy projects would be manufactured. I am talking about windturbine towers and wave power energy modules. One hundred workers were taken on, and things were looking good by July 2006, when three orders were on the book.

Arnish was said to have a brilliant future. Two windfarms are in the pipeline for the island of Lewis, one with 190 turbines (spread linearly over a distance of 40 miles, that's one 450 ft tower every 200 yards), another with 53 in the distant southeast of Lewis.
Well, it was not to last.

Camcal suddenly announced it had encountered 'cashflow' problems, and was laying off its entire 100 strong workforce. The work that was still being done would be shipped overseas for completion, and the Yard was to be put on a care-and-maintenance basis, pending a take-over by a third party.

Today's announcement is the next stage in this drama, which will leave local traders licking their wounds. Again.

Arnish Fabrication Yard

I'm sitting here, fuming quietly, following the regional news bulletin at 4.54pm. The Arnish Fabrication Yard (the big building, which frequently features in my pictures) is to go into administration. The Yard, operated by a company called Camcal, ran into financial difficulties over the summer, in spite of having a healthy order book and going on a £20 million subsidy. The 100-strong workforce were laid off, the outstanding work was shipped overseas to be completed. (Only for the completed turbines to be washed overboard into the North Sea during a gale). Every week, the Stornoway Gazette blissfully announced that promising talks with prospective buyers were on-going and an announcement could be expected within 14 days. This has been going on since the summer.

The site is now going into administration, which means that creditors are not likely to be paid. The Yard has attracted much work from local businesses, which are going to be hit hard by this decision, as they are owed thousands. One has already gone under earlier this year. Very cynically, operators Camcal calmly announced that going into administration would make the Yard a much more attractive proposition for prospective buyers, as there would be no debts to pay off.

Plugging holes

People may have heard of the RAF Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft that crashed in Afghanistan this summer. Its 14 man crew died. The incident is not thought to have been related to hostile action, rather due to poor maintenance. Stories about poor maintenance in the RAF are filtering out of the Nimrod base in the district of Moray, east of Inverness. Fuel leaks - and one aircraft had a hole in its fuselage plugged with a teapot.

Aye.
A teapot.

Apparently, something had to dropped from the aircraft, and the hatch had not closed properly. In order to keep out the drafts (it does get a wee bit drafty if you're going along at 400 mph with a hole in your aircraft) they shoved a teapot into the aperture. Like you do.

Hurricane update - 4 December

Typhoon Durian has weakened considerably since its destructive passage over the Philippines. The storm is now veering southwest, past the coast of southeastern Vietnam. Those on the coast near Nha Trang should beware of heavy rains. Durian is likely to pass over the far south of Thailand, but only marginally above the lower threshold of a tropical storm. Atmospheric conditions are increasingly unfavourable for the cyclone, and not much more is expected of it. Nonetheless, typhoons are notoriously unpredictable, so if you know people in that area, please tell them to keep an eye open. Click here for a map, showing the projected path of Durian.

Drab Monday

Totally uninspiring weather here in the Western Isles of Scotland today, so drab that I'm not even going to merit it with a picture. It's raining intermittently. The early morning ferry got cancelled due to high winds, and a lot of ferries up and down the West Coast suffered the same fate. There is flooding in Stornoway, after the weekend's heavy rain, with Sandwick Road, which links the town to the airport, under water between the filling station and the industrial estate.

The Molly Campbell saga has moved into its next stage. Daddy has lodged an appeal, and pending the appeal hearing on Wednesday, Misbah / Molly will be allowed to stay with her father in Lahore. She wants to stay with an aunt and/or uncle in Glasgow, by the sound of it if she is forced to return to Scotland.

I was not sorry to hear that Augusto Pinochet, Chile's murderous dictator of the 1970s and 80s, suffered a severe heart attack on Sunday. He is now 91, and has been of frail health for a while. Pinochet came to power in an infamous coup in 1973, in which the sitting president, left-wing politician Salvador Allende, was murdered. Several dissident Chileans disappeared without trace under his rule, which was characterised by cruel suppression of dissent. I was disgusted to see Margaret Thatcher welcoming this monster for his support to Great Britain in the 1982 Falklands War.

The 'desapparacidos' [the disappeared] were a Latin American phenomenon of the various juntas in the 70s and 80s. In Argentina, there was until recently (and may still be on-going) a daily silent demonstration in the Plaza de Mayo in the capital Buenos Aires by relatives of disappeared people. Nobody has ever been called to account for this. The Argentinian military government fell down after its defeat in the Falklands War.

North of the town of Lewes, Sussex (in southern England), a fireworks factory blew up in spectacular fashion on Sunday. Two firefighters were killed and 12 others injured. A few remain in hospital. Memories came back of an even more devastating explosion at a similar factory in the Netherlands in May 2000. An entire estate in the city of Enschede was severely damaged after an explosion ripped through a fireworks plant, which was situated in a built-up area.

Organisation

Decided to clear up my email today. AOL sees fit to delete all emails after 7 days, but bearing in mind the volume of alerts, my Inbox was still stuffed to the rafters. 546 emails until this morning, the vast majority alerts.

I made up some folders and organised. Now the sum total of emails in my Inbox is a big round zero. I've had problems that the email program (I use webmail, not the AOL client) would tell me I had 3 emails unopened, which I couldn't find. This afternoon, before clean-up, it told me I had 63 emails. Right. Checked through the comments, had 44 left. Then, it suddenly jumped to 75, before I cleared through the remaining 25.

At least now I can check if I didn't overlook.

It's started to blow and rain, and the barometer has sunk a little further: 957 mbar. The tanker has been towed to safety by the way. Let's hope we get our fuel this week though...

Russian weather

Discovered this website with all sorts of information about weather in Russia. At the end of the day, Russia is only 45 miles west of Alaska. And stretches for a couple of thousand miles across to Moscow and eastern Europe.

Now, earlier this year, there was this intrepid hiker who got pulled up in Siberia for illegal entry. Karl Bushby started walking around the world in 12 years in 1998. He commenced his travails down in the far south of Chile / Argentina and, wearing through pair after pair of hiking boots, made it to Nome, Alaska, late in 2005. He prepared for the 45 mile hike across the Bering Strait to Russia in March. Karl, and a companion, managed to pull it off. With all the excitement of the new stage in the journey, the Eurasian continent, they had forgotten a tiny detail.

A visa for Russia.

Now, the Russians admire intrepid explorers, and have relaxed greatly in terms of bureaucracy and officialdom since the fall of communism in the 1990s. But, you can't just walk across the backyard unannounced. So, Karl got pulled over and told he was a naughty boy. Fortunately, he would be welcome to resume his journey in March 2007.

Want to know what the weather is like at Lavrentiya, where Karl will resume his hike? At the moment, it's cloudy with a daytime maximum of -2C / 28F, and a nighttime low of -6C / 20F. There is barely daylight. The region's capital, Anadyr', 500 miles further west, is going to see a dip in temperatures. They are also just below freezing, but by next weekend the mercury will stick at -20C / -4F in the daytime, and at -26C / -15F at night. Och, it could be worse. A little further west, at Verchoyansk, it's a little nippy with daytime maxima of -28 to -38 C [-18 to -36F] and nighttime lows of -31 to -40C [-24 to -40F]. Mercury freezes solid at -38C.

Anyone for an icecream?

Before I forget, I also found this website with images of life in that region, called Chukhotka and (in the case of Verchoyansk) Yakutsk. Fascinating.
The map below shows the far east of Russian, with Alaska just visible on the far right.


(Map drawn from this site)

Typhoon Durian

Remember this typhoon? A few days ago, it rampaged across the Philippines. Mudslides are now known to have killed up to a thousand, if not more. All the water and strong winds dislodged unstable earthmasses on Mount Mayon in the east of the country, and 2 to 5 villages are thought to be buried underneath the mud.

Durian, which is actually a stinking fruit, is not done with southeast Asia. It is currently making for southeastern Vietnam, to be more precise: the resort of Nha Trang and coastlines to its south.

Please relay this warning, as the typhoon may yet pack winds of 80 mph, and as with all tropical systems, carry huge amounts of rainfall.

Caring community

Without naming names, I found J-land coming into its own today.
A member of our community sent an email round earlier today, wishing the recipients Season's Greetings and that there was no more hope for self and partner.

One recipient happened to live nearby, and rang the local police station. They telephoned the hospital before calling round at the home, and found that the person concerned had been admitted into hospital, and was safe and well, although no word on condition or anything was given. Further updates will follow, if news there be.

I would like to commend the email recipient who cared enough to call the police, as the email very much read like a final good-bye. I think it says enough about J-land and its members, active or passive.

Heavy weather

Yes you read that correctly. 959 mbar or 28.26 inches or pressure. Net result in terms of weather:


Not too bad actually. Wind is at force 4, occasional showers. Why? Because the low pressure system is moving right overhead. Am expecting the lowest pressure readings at midnight tonight, at 954 mbar, a notch down. Mind you, there were some very strong winds around in the UK last night. A gust of 100 mph was noted in the west, and as I type our oil tanker, the Border Heather, is in trouble off Wick, in northeast Scotland. She lost engine power in force 7 southeasterly winds and high seas. As soon as the 10 man crew have restarted the engine, the vessel will make for port at Scrabster.
The main trouble caused by the high winds has been power cuts, particularly in the southwest and in Northern Ireland, where 1,000 are without power.

Diary entries

That's me up to date until yesterday with all the diary entries. Incidentally, I reached page 1400 in the handwritten diary yesterday. Oh wow.

Friday 01/12/06

Bright and quiet start to the day. I receive a cheque in the post from the Co-op, for £1.01 in exchange for doing my shopping there during the first two months of 2005. Lunch was sausage rolls and mince pies. By then, the winds starts to pick up, cloud increases from the south and it gets colder. Go into the town centre, which is packed. Apparently, Thanksgiving was celebrated yesterday, not last week. Today is also the day that pensioners were paid their winter fuel allowance for Christmas goodies. Lots of kids throng Woolworths. A woman jumps the queue in the supermarket, nice one, lady. Mrs B returns after me from her own shopping trip from hell. Heavy rain commences after 6pm. Supper tonight is soup with rolls. Typhoon Durian has hammered the Philippines, leaving devastation in its wake. Winds reached 165 mph, and hundreds have died in mudslides. Strong winds accompany a thunderclap at 8.30pm, a rare occurrence here. Yesterday, a lightning storm in Sutherland (mainland Scotland) knocked out communications around Lochinver. One person's phone was struck by lightning.

Thursday 30/11/06

St Andrew's Day today, but with some pretty awful weather. A force 9 gale blows up overnight, with lashing rain. The wind does 40 to 50 mph, gusting up to 65. On North Rona, it's a sustained 71 mph. Still, it's better than the 150 mph over in the Philippines. Flooding is said to be a problem, as is the cancellation of virtually all ferry services up and down the west coast. By midday, I venture out to the Coastguard Station to take pictures of the conditions. The water on the wind tasts salty, and seaweed can be seen floating on the waves. Huge banks of spray fly over the causeway and I manage to capture some nice images. Rain and wind subside just after 3pm, and it brightens up. The angry crests disappear off the waves in the basin. It's not flat calm, but the gale has stopped. Nip down to Somerfields and apart from the slightly bare shelves in the perishables department, the beer department is also suffering from depletion. No, I don't regularly drink beer, just notice. The Gazette is not in the shop, as this comes on the ferry which didn't run. The regular Isle of Lewis ferry was stormbound at Ullapool overnight, but now returns at 8pm. Chicken tikka massala for supper tonight.

Cloud formations

As regular readers of my journal know I am fascinated by unusual cloud formations. The vast majority of my 5,000+ pictures are of clouds. My current location offers a great view of the open sky, and I can't get enough of it.

On Wednesday, this sequence of so-called mammatus clouds passed over. It looked very threatening. Mammatus refers to the fact that they look like a woman's breasts. I learned later that day that a tornado had ripped through a village in West Wales, indicative of the very unstable weather we're having this week.

Wednesday 29/11/06

It's a wild night with lashing rain and howling winds. Only by morning do things improve. Isles FM reports on yesterday's proceedings at Stornoway Sheriff Court. The workmen go home on the lunchtime ferry; mrs B's next guest was expected off the plane early this morning, but he does not appear until 5pm. By midday, the sun is out. A typhoon is making for the Philippines with winds up to 150 mph. Molly Campbell is ordered to surrender to the British High Commission in Lahore, much to her and her daddy's chagrin. Misbah's custody is to be sorted out in Scotland. The national news is full of it. Don't manage to get to the shop until 5.30, by which time the Glasgow Herald is sold out. Another trip to the filling station is required, up the Newton backstreets. Dinner is chili con carne with sliced peaches. Watch cops chase crooks on TV. Again?! Tomorrow will see more - gales!

Tuesday 28/11/06

Very disturbed night, with strong winds and heavy rain. By dawn, things die down and a clearance develops. Mrs B has to get up early to give the workmen their breakfast at 7 am. They leave for their job at Carloway at 7.30, and I briefly nip downstairs for a cuppa at 7.40. Isles FM reports that the stepfather of Molly Campbell has been committed for trial on a charge of breach of the peace at his own home. He swore, shouted and denied his wife and baby daughter access to the house. Meanwhile in Lahore, judgment on Molly Campbell's custody row is to be passed on Wednesday. Although the morning passes reasonably sunny, the weather deteriorates sharply after 12 noon. Winds reach galeforce and the rain lashes down. Mrs B has to go out and post a letter, just round the corner, at 1.30. Now, when it rains and blows here, you don't use an umbrella, you use a mac. Mrs B used both. As a result, she nearly took off up Island Road. Weather improves after the ferry departs late (2.30), although a few downpours pass over before sunset at 3.40. I get caught in one on returning from Somerfields. As the P&J is sold out, I go to the filling station. Dinner is sweet & sour chicken, and I spend the evening watching cops chasing crooks.

Monday 27/11/06

Sunny but windy start to the day. At midday, the wind reaches force 7. The ferry is running on time. After lunch, I go round to the Coastguard Station to take pictures of the waves, as their plumes are blown over the causeway. Return to the town centre to buy a bulb for mrs B and some food for myself. Manage to get the CD burner to work again on the PC, which gave me some bother last night. I downloaded a program, but it's a bit DIY what the program should be doing. Rain starts to lash down after sunset (currently at 3.45pm), and it turns nasty. The ferry is not coming back from Ullapool. Isles FM doesn't find that terribly important, and fails to mention it on their early evening news bulletins. The evening stays wild, but the moon appears from behind the clouds. Winds here are at 35 knots, gale force 8, but up at North Rona, out in the open Atlantic, it's at 56 knots, force 11. This wind occurs up and down the west coast.

Winter

It would appear that winter has struck the USA with its first blast of the season. Linda over in Washington State had the first bout of it, and it is now transferring into the Mid West. By the laws of meteorology, it will move east. The NWS website has this excellent table which shows conversion of windchill factors. Wrap up warm!

Call for support

Please call round at Valerie, who is having a s.a.d. day (quoted), and needs a bit of moral support. Thanks.

Storms imminent

It's all over the news here in the UK: expect high winds as of tonight.

The Met Office is still predicting very windy weather to affect many parts of the UK this weekend, as a deep depression moves in from the Atlantic. Heavy rain will be an additional hazard, especially in the west. Strong winds will come in two spells. The first, on Saturday evening and night, will affect almost all parts, but more especially the west and southwest. Over exposed coasts and hills, gusts of 70 to 80mph are likely. Inland, gusts will attain 60mph quite widely, though isolated gusts of 70mph are also possible here, between about midnight and 6am, when the rain is at its most intense. These winds will be from a southerly direction The second period of strong winds will come during Sunday afternoon and evening. There is more uncertainty surrounding this event, though an east-west oriented band across central parts of the UK, including the central lowlands of Scotland, is currently at greatest risk. Gusts are expected to reach about 80 mph on exposed coasts and hills, and about 70mph inland. These winds will be from a westerly or southwesterly direction. The events described above bring a significant risk of disruption and are also likely to cause some structural damage.

Hope that anyone caught up in that vicious winter storm in the central US is OK, the reports do not sound very good at all.

New Journal

I would like to introduce proudmrsk, who has started a journal (I will...) only a day or so ago, and it's worth a read. Pop along, and give her a warm J-land welcome.

12 daze of Christmas @ AOL

12 Daze of Christmas at AOL (with thanks to Rosie)

On the 1st day of Christmas AOL gave to me........
unlimited hours with a flat fee.


On the 2nd day of Christmas AOL gave to me......
2 buddy lists and unlimited hours with a flat fee.


On the 3rd day of Christmas AOL gave to me......
3 Emails, 2 buddy lists and unlimited hours
 with a flat fee.


On the 4th day of Christmas AOL gave to me.......
4 frozen screens, 3 E~mails, 2 buddy lists
and unlimited hours with a flat fee.


On the 5th day of Christmas AOL gave to me......
5 Chat Room brawls!!! 4 frozen screens,
3 E~mails, 2 buddy lists and unlimited hours
 with a flat fee.


On the 6th day of Christmas AOL gave to me......
6 pervs annoying, 5 Chat Room brawls!!!
 4 frozen screens, 3 E~mails, 2 buddy lists
 and unlimited hours with a flat fee.


On the 7th day of Christmas AOL gave
 to me......7 hackers hacking, 6 prats annoying,
 5 Chat Room brawls!!! 4 frozen screens, 3
E~mails, 2 buddy lists and unlimited
hours with a flat fee.


On the 8th day of Christmas AOL gave
to me........8 wavs playing, 7 hackers
 hacking, 6 prats annoying, 5 Chat Room
brawls!!! 4 frozen screens, 3 E~mails, 2
 buddy lists and unlimited hours
with a flat fee.


On the 9th day of Christmas AOL gave
 to me.......9 creeps IMing, 8 wavs playing,
 7 hackers hacking, 6 prats annoying, 5 Chat
 Room brawls!!! 4 frozen screens, 3 E~mails,
 2 buddy lists and unlimited hours with
 a flat fee.


On the 10th day of Christmas AOL gave
 to me.....10 fingers cramping, 9 creeps IMing,
 8 wavs playing, 7 hackers hacking, 6 prats
annoying, 5 ChatRoom brawls!!! 4 frozen
 screens, 3 E~mails, 2 buddy lists and
unlimited hours with a flat fee.
 
 
 
On the 11th day of Christmas AOL gave
 to me......11 Hosts T.O.S.ing. 10 fingers
cramping, 9 creeps IMing, 8 wavs playing, 7
hackers hacking, 6 prats annoying, 5 Chat
 Room brawls!!!! 4 frozen screens, 3 E~mails,
 2 buddy lists and unlimited hours with
a flat fee.

(OK....Once more time with feeling....Everybody join in!)

On the 12 th day of Christmas AOL gave to me.......
12 Emoticons smiling :-), 11 Hosts T.O.S. ing,
 10 fingers cramping, 9 creeps IMing, 8 wavs
 playing, 7 hackers hacking, 6 prats annoying,
 5 CHAT ROOM BRAWLS!!!!  4 frozen
screens, 3 E~mails, 2 buddy lists AND
UNLIMITED HOURS WITH A FLAT FEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feedback

Remember my entry "AOL doesn't talk to itself"?
I brought it to the attention of Stephanie (our techie), and she sent me this reply

"Slightly negative!" You compared us to microsoft...that hurts.

But, all of your points are well made, and the arguments very well taken. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to forward  your URL onto the respective product managers for everything you mention (Open Ride, the client, AIM).  They should all read what you had to say.

Sorry for the late reply, btw - I use webmail (mail.aol.com) with this account, and your mail was on "page 2," which I never noticed existed. Oops. :(

 
Thanks for the feedback...negative or not...it's still good to hear.

Ponderisms

With thanks to Lily
 

I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.

 

Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it.  If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

 

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

 

Never take life seriously.  Nobody gets out alive anyway.

 

There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.

 

Life is sexually transmitted.

 

Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

 

The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

 

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

 

All of us could take a lesson from the weather.  It pays no attention to criticism.

  

In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird.  Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

 

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

 

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?"

 

Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken there?  I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes outta its butt."

 

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

 

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Local Radio

Just to give you an idea of our local radio station, Isles FM. I recorded the news bulletin at 5pm yesterday, which starts with a rundown of activities at our local arts centre, An Lanntair. Please bear in mind that yesterday was November 30th. You may have to increase the volume to top level to hear it - sorry about that.

Isles FM

Molly Campbell

Following the court judgment two days ago, some reactions have come out into the open. Misbah Rana, as she prefers to be known, has been absolutely scathing in her comments about the island of Lewis. Alleging racist abuse in the streets and busstation of Stornoway, Misbah has said she would flee again if forced to return to "that horrible, little place". She also said that she no longer loved her mother, as she had made it impossible for Misbah to live in accordance with the stipulations of the Muslim faith, or to see relatives.

The judge has said that Misbah's utterances were clearly made whilst under the influence of her father. Following the break-up of her parents' marriage, Molly Campbell (as she is known in Scotland) was placed in the temporary custody of her mother, Louise Campbell. As Molly was born in Scotland, which is also where her parents got married, she is a Scottish resident, and only an occasional resident of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Louise Campbell's present partner was in court earlier this week on a charge of disorderly conduct and a breach of the peace. He is alleged to have shouted and sworn at his partner and denied her and her baby girl access to the house. The partner pled not guilty, and was bailed to be tried later this month.

Stornoway councillors have expressed surprise at Molly's accusations of racism. The town has a Pakistani community, which has been there for a number of decades. Although nasty comments may well have been passed, this may well have been within a context of girls growing up and bullying.

To me, this is a sad case of a family break-up, with kids being forced to take sides and being manipulated left, right and centre. In making a final decision on custody, the court will take Misbah's / Molly's wishes into consideration, but at the end of the day she is a child of 12. Neither parent deserves a commendation in this case.

Hurricane update - 1 December

The Atlantic and East Pacific hurricane seasons came to a close last night.
Weather updates from the NHC will resume on May 15th, 2007 for the East Pacific and on June 1st, 2007, for the Atlantic basin.

The Atlantic has had a mercifully quiet season, with no hurricanes making landfall on mainland USA. There were 9 named systems (the last being Isaac).

The Eastern Pacific has seen a reasonably active season, with Sergio as the last hurricane only a few weeks ago. The most intense hurricane was Daniel, which roared out in the open Pacific. A number of hurricanes struck the Mexican Pacific coast.

The Central Pacific hurricane season is also closed. They had one major hurricane, Ioke, which lasted for a record 2½ weeks, with almost a week at category 5 strength.

Meanwhile, typhoon Durian has just hammered the Philippines, and the southern ocean is just getting into gear for their summer season. One system is declining west of Madagascar, and another is weakening on moving south from the Solomon Islands.

Storm warning - UK

The Met Office [from where this warning was copied] is expecting a vigorous depression to bring more very wet and windy weather to the UK this weekend. Southerly winds will increase Saturday evening to give gusts of 70 to 80 mph on coasts and hills of Wales, with 60-70 mph for parts of southwest England, southwest Scotland and County Down in Northern Ireland. This belt of very strong winds will continue to spread east across the rest of England and Wales Saturday night giving gusts of 60mph inland and up to 70mph on southern coasts and hills. Although winds will ease down for a time Sunday morning, later in the day another swathe of severe gales will spread across central parts of the UK. Westerly winds will gust to 60-70mph, but up to 80 mph over exposed coasts and hills of Northern Ireland, southern Scotland and northern England. The severe gales this weekend will bring a risk of disruption to electricity supplies and transport, as well as some structural damage.

Typhoon Durian

The fourth typhoon to hit the Philippines in 3 months has left a trail of death and destruction across the country. At least 146 are known to have lost their lives in floods, mudslides or by being hit by flying debris. Winds gusted up to 165 mph and destroyed houses, brought down powerlines. The situation is apparently exacerbated by illegal logging and mining, increasing the risk of floods and mudslides.

The situation around Mount Mayon, a recently active volcano, is particularly desperate, as about 5 villages were engulfed in a torrent of mud. More details in this BBC Report.

Incidentally, durian is a fruit with a particularly pungent and fetid smell, although it is reported to have a very nice taste. Read this CNN report how a box of durian triggered a security alert on board an airliner.