Saturday 20/01/07

Carry out some on-line research into the sinking of the fishery protection cruiser Vaila, the results of which feature on a separate entry. Showers pass through, leaving some great cloudscapes. One person died in the Cairngorms yesterday, the fifth to die on Coire an t-Sneachda [as reported separately]. One chap falls 1,000 feet on a mountain near Loch Treig and survives. Sends you wondering whether people are prepared or equipped for the mountains or the conditions on them at all. Today is cold: 4C. Have a microwaveable meal for supper. The lottery yields no gain.

Friday 19/01/07

Weather has turned grey and drizzly. The big storm is now causing havoc in Poland and the Czech Republic. The Big Brother row leads to its inevitable conclusion, with prime culprit Jade Goody booted out. She was met by a deafening silence, and is now fighting for her career. Davina McCall has grown decidedly gaunt and unattractive, in the 3 years that I did not watch Big Brother. I cannot sit out the program, as Jade Goody's voice and utterances grate on my nerves. The forecast for next week is wintery, with a cold northerly blast. All the weekend's shopping is in now, so I just need to nip out to get the papers and lottery tickets. Hop into town for a haircut and some other bits and pieces. Catch up with the week's puzzles from the papers. A new edition is out of Back in the Day, featuring quite a few interesting historical pictures and stories.

Thursday 18/01/07

A major storm is lashing England and Wales, with sustained winds of 45 mph and gusts up to 99 mph at the Needles, Isle of Wight. In total, 13 people lose their lives through the day. The first perished in Shropshire, when a branch fell through his windscreen. A young child is crushed by a 20 ft wall in Manchester. Others are killed by flying debris. A container ship, measuring 62,000 tonnes, gets into difficulties in the Channel when a plate works loose on its hull. The 26 crew abandon ship, and are rescued by the Coastguard. Fifteen lorries are blown over on the country's roads, with one driver being killed. When the storms move across the North Sea, they leave 140,000 people without power. In Holland, winds increase to 55 mph, blowing over a building crane at Utrecht and shutting down the rail network. Six die in the Netherlands; eleven die in Germany, which also sees its railways closed for the first time in their history.
Here in the islands, it's a bright day with only light winds. Went for a walk to the Battery, where I found the new tanks positioned behind the powerstation. Hobble down to Somerfields for the papers. It's not warm at all. Meet Mrs B at the supermarket and carry her shopping home.

Wednesday 17/01/07

Today, the new webcam arrives. Ordered it through Amazon last Thursday, and spend a few hours jiggling about with it. A huge row erupts over Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother. Ignorance and a loud mouth make a poor mixture. It prompts questions in Parliament, and almost a diplomatic incident. The wide load is taken down the street at lunchtime, in the shape of two oil tanks on low loaders. These are so wide that all parked cars have to be removed. The tanks stand more than 20 feet tall. Molly Campbell will be staying with her daddy in Pakistan, after mum gives up the custody fight. Something morally wrong there. Go out shopping at 3.30, and return at 4pm, just before a major downpour. Chat to our guest, who is here on a course at Lews Castle College, related to his job as a marine engineer.

Tuesday 16/01/07

Sunny interlude with a few showers today. It's cold this morning, but at least we have the sun. Ferry came in early this morning, and departed at 8.30. It returns late, at 2pm. During the afternoon, cloud gradually increases on the approach of yet another depression. Winter is promised for next week. The Scot Isles is now unloading its cargo of a large tank onto a trailer. It is a slow process, which would have been impossible yesterday. The lifeboat is hauled up onto the slipway all day. Residents are once again requested to clear the street, but the wide load does not come through. Later in the evening, I go for a walk to the Coastguard Station. As I look around for a place to take a pic, I hear a cat miaow below me, and presently a familiar looking tabby jumps up from the boulders lining the basin. I fuss over it for about 10 minutes, then return.

Monday 15/01/07

Dreadful day, lashing rain, howling gale. The wide load that is due down the street today does not come, too much wind. The new webcam is being despatched today, and it should come within the next few days. Ferry crosses to Ullapool at 7.15, but does not return until 8pm. All services to and within the Outer Hebrides are off. When I go to the shop at 3pm, the winds and rain are abating. One guest was due up from the Berneray ferry, but no such luck. She'll come tomorrow morning. Mrs B gets an acquaintance in to do a few jobs around the house. The ferry leaves port at midnight, taking over from the Muirneag, whose captain is off sick in hospital.

Sunday 14/01/07

Weather not much better than yesterday. A heavy hailshower passes just after midnight, with stones measuring up to 8 mm, 1/3 inch. They take 2 hours to melt. Our guest does not show up until well into the afternoon. Keep a quiet day myself. Things begin to liven up on the weatherfront after nightfall. A gale blows up, with gusts in exccess of 60 mph; up at Eoropie they go at 70 mph. North Rona has sustained winds of 70 mph. Mrs B's son & family call round for their showers in the evening. Supper is a very creditable goulash with rice. Will the ferry be going tomorrow? I have my doubts.

Saturday 13/01/07

Cold, wet and grey today. Do not show my face outside, partially because mrs B has gone out to get my lottery ticket alongside with her own shopping. My paper, the Press & Journal, has not come today. A note is being left in the neighbourhood, advising people to remove their cars from the street on Monday, to allow a wide load to pass to the power station. Sends me wondering how they are going to squeeze through the turn from Seaview Terrace into the Battery, which is an awkward passage. Our guest goes out for the night at 6pm, only to return much the worse for wear after midnight. Weather deteriorates through the evening. Dinner is a microwaveable meal.

Friday 12/01/07

Heavy showers and strong winds, bordering on galeforce. It's binday as well, with the bins all going walkabout in the street. After the binlorry has emptied them, the bins take off. Today is the day that the management of the Galson Estate is taken over by the Galson Trust, a community run body. More than half the landmass of the Western Isles is now in community ownership. AIS shows about 10 fishermen in the Minch. The Jan Maria is discernible off Arnish just after midday, as does the Dirk Diederik. Between 11 and 1, there is a bit of a clearance. The tiling is being finished off today. This week's guest from Skye returns home - via Inverness strangely enough. The Lochmaddy to Uig ferry couldn't dock in Skye, so she ends up sheltering in Tarbert, Harris. Two days ago, our long term guest returned after the Christmas break. At 3.45, we have a powercut, which brings out candles and paraffin lamps. Electricity is restored after 10 or 15 minutes. Candles are not easily obtained, as they were sold out before the winter, when people were preparing for precisely this sort of eventuality. The Stornoway Gazette, only in today, contains a letter from a resident complaining bitterly about people racing the streets in their souped-up cars. His daughter's cat was knocked down and killed, leaving kids in the street to discover the mess left behind. The powercut leaves Isles FM off air for more than an hour. The powerstation at the Battery is fired up, and our supplies continue uninterrupted.

Canna mice and men

Over the past 15 months, I have reported a few times on the eradication of rats on the island of Canna, already mentioned in previous post. The full report can be read on the website of regional monthly newspaper West Word. It is contained in the January 2007 edition, under the heading The Canna Seabird Recovery Programme, headed by a map of Canna showing where all the baitstations for the rat poison were located, as shown below.

 

Monday jottings

Fairly bright but pretty cold up here today. Occasional showers of sleet, interspersed with nice sunny intervals. You only experience the warmth of the sun behind glass.

Down in Devon, people think they are having a field day beach combing on Branscombe Bay, near Sidmouth. It is there that the stricken container ship Napoli lies stranded, and some 200 of its containers have floated ashore. Its contents now lie strewn along the coastline, varying from BMW motorbikes to clothes to battery acid. The Receiver of Wrecks reminds people that anything washed ashore is the property of those that lost it, and he who collects items from the beaches should report it or face prosecution.
Fuel oil from the vessel is leaking into the sea and is affecting wildlife.

The 18 people shortlisted for life in Canna have until today to submit their business plan for making a living there. The thing is that the small island has no roads and no mains infrastructure of any description. You have to do it all yourself.

In the Cairngorms, two men were helped down from the mountain Lochnagar, near Braemar, after spending the night on the summit in freezing conditions. They had become disoriented and had shared a bivvy bag to keep out the cold. The two, aged 26 and 37, were otherwise unhurt.

A few lines for bedtime

I dialed a number and got the following recording:  
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
"I am not available right now, but  
Thank you for caring enough to call.  
I am making some changes in my life.   
Please leave a message after the   Beep. 
If I do not return your call,  
You are one of the changes."  
~~~~~   
Aspire to inspire before you expire.
~~~~~  
My wife and I had words,
But I didn't get to use mine.
~~~~~  
Frustration is trying to find your glasses without your glasses.
~~~~~  
Blessed are those who can give without remembering
And take without forgetting.  
~~~~~   
The irony of life is that, by the time  
You're old enough to know your way  
Around, you're not going anywhere. 
~~~~~  
God made man before woman so as to give him time to think
Of an answer for her first question.  
~~~~~  
I was always taught to respect my elders,
But it keeps getting harder to find one. 
~~~~~  
Every morning is the dawn  
Of a new error.

Snow

Not much, this snow, but this is the best I could do

Winter

Winter has sort-of arrived here tonight. Wet snow was falling for a while earlier on, and hail has been clattering against the windows all evening. Although the mercury isn't noticeably lower than it was last week, it does feel bitterly cold outside.

Yes, I know, +4C is higher than it is in certain areas of the USA. Nonetheless, it's very chilly. Winter should now feed down the length of the UK (I'm at the northern end), and snow is expected to affect many parts of England and Wales over the next few days, causing disruption to travel.

Alfred Wainwright

This month is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alfred Wainwright in Blackburn, Lancashire. He is famous for writing a set of guidebooks on the Lakeland Fells, in which Wainwright himself drew very accurate pictures of the views at key points. He is also credited with the Coast-to-Coast Way, from St Bees Head, Cumbria, to Robin Hoods Bay, North Yorkshire, 199 miles long.

Alfred moved to Kendal in order to indulge his love of the hills of the Lake District, and has managed to convey his love to thousands of ramblers and long distance walkers. Wainwright died in 1991.

Further information on his work can be found on this website, from which I have also linked this portrait of AW.

Earthquake - Indonesia

An earthquake measuring 7.3 has struck near the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, the US Geological Survey has said. The quake struck in the Molucca Sea at 1927 (1127 GMT), some 160km (100 miles) south-east of the city of Manado. Indonesian officials put the quake strength at 6.5 and said it could pose a tsunami risk. A spokesman for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there were dangers of a "localised" tsunami, stretching from 100-200km (60-125 miles) from the epicentre. The Associated Press news agency reported a witness on Sulawesi as saying that at least three residents were injured by the quake. The earthquake was centred some 51km (32 miles) under the seabed.

Source: BBC

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has updated the bulletin at 12.16 GMT, stating the magnitude at 7.6 on the Richter scale.

Sunday notes

Quiet Sunday here in the Isles, as per usual. The odd hail shower passes through, indicating it is quite cold today. Latest report mentions 5C; our weather will be coming from the far north this week.

Molly Campbell's mother has spoken about the anguish over having to abandon the custody battle for her daughter. She has had to come to terms with the fact that Molly / Misbah wanted to be with her dad, rather than with her. Molly was fairly happy in Lewis though. Mrs Campbell has said that a visit to Pakistan is not on the cards in the near future. Louise adopted the Muslim faith during her marriage to Molly's father Sajed, but reverted to Christianity. She has received death threats over this, and claims she needs 24/7 police protection if she goes to Pakistan. The other consideration is that she will not leave her young baby daughter behind.

A casualty of last week's storm, the container carrier Napoli, was deliberately beached off the Devon coast in southwestern England on Friday. The ship has developed a 25 to 30 degree list, and is in danger of capsizing. 150 of her container cargo have already washed overboard, some of which pose a danger in terms of marine pollution.

Closer to home, a fishing boat put out a Mayday at 6.40 this morning, saying they were taking on water off the Isle of Soay, just south of Skye and west of the village of Elgol. Stornoway Coastguard scrambled the helicopter, which flew pumps to the FV Our Heritage. Meanwhile, the Mallaig lifeboat was launched and took just 40 minutes to reach the casualty. The pumps helped to bring the situation quickly under control, and the lifeboat towed the stricken vessel back to Mallaig. Stornoway Coastguard stated that the relatively calm conditions had been helpful in the situation.

Mountain casualties

Within the last 48 hours, two accidents in the Scottish mountains have claimed one life, and required one man to be airlifted off a mountain.

The fatality occurred in the Coire an t-Sneachda area of the Cairngorms (pictured left, image courtesy BBC), and yes I have unfortunately have had to mention that name before. The Snow Corrie has now claimed 5 lives since November. The Cairngorm Mountain Rescue team have stated that snow conditions are such that there is less deep snow about, and more rock protruding through it. Any falls are not cushioned by snow, and a fall on ice will at least cause injury. CMR have described this year as one of the worst ever encountered. Coire an t-Sneachda is located within an hour's walk of the carpark, and apart from poor climbing conditions, relative inexperience may also have played a role, and any mistakes will have dire consequences. The man who died on Friday has not (yet) been named. The sad roll call includes: Aberdeen University student Richard Hardy, 18, from Milton in Hampshire, and graduate Graeme Cooper, 23, from Aberdeen, who died in November. In December, Neil Batchelor, 26, from Inverness, perished in a climbing accident. Bristol University mechanical engineering student Hugh Pitcairn, 20, died on 10 January, while climbing Crotched Gully in Coire an t-Sneachda.

The injured climber was on a mountain called Stob Coire Easain, about 15 miles east of Fort William. For those familiar with the area, the mountain is located due north of Creaguaineach Lodge on Loch Treig, to the north of Corrour. A picture gallery can be viewed here.

Call for support

Some people's bad luck is just beyond comprehension.

As I indicated in an entry, now deleted, Gina (whose brother is terminally ill with cancer) had opened a new, private journal. She did not get round to adding screennames to the journal because of yet another family emergency.

Gina asked me to relay with a request for prayers. I do not think she is currently monitoring journals, but I suggest to leave any messages in her public journal.

at three in morning friday... my mom called...she throwing up a great deal of blood... i rushed her to the hospital... she was beeding out... they took her to surgery...where they removed a very large tumor from her lung that was cancer.... she had a cyst inside if the tumor that was bleeding.... she also has a tumor on her other lung.. but they didn't want to even look at that one... my mom is in critical condition.... i just came home to shower and go back.... please pray for her.... they have her hooked up to every machine imaginable.... she is completely sedated....... i dont understand any of this......joey passed out when we saw her in the recovery room... please ask for everyones prayers....... please......gina

Vaila

The Vaila was a fishery protection cruiser, built in 1940 at Ardrossan, west of Glasgow. She started life as HMS Acacia, a minesweeper. In 1944, she took part in the Normandy landings, as a unit of the 15 MS Flotilla off Sword Beach. After the war, in 1948, she became the Scottish Fisheries Protection cruiser Vaila. Vaila is an island in Shetland.

At 5.30 on the morning of 6th January 1957, Vaila was in waters off Lewis when she ran aground on Eilean Iubhard, a small island just south of the village of Lemreway. By road this is 32 miles from Stornoway; by sea it's about 15 miles. As she became stuck fast on rocks, the captain ordered abandon ship. Three lifeboats were launched, but one became fouled and sank, leaving its occupants in the water. Of these, only the captain was saved. Five men drowned in Loch Shell. A mayday call had been sent out, picked up by the Coastguard in Stornoway, and a lifeboat and "l.s.a." (sic) were sent to the scene.


The authorities were unaware of the mishap with the lifeboat, assuming at 8 am, when the Vaila sank, that all were safe and well, as they were in fairly calm waters.

Survivors were brought to Stornoway and clothed and fed. They later left for home on the ferry, together with their comrades who had drowned. Mrs B takes up the story, as she was travelling down to Glasgow a few days after the incident. At the time, the mast of the Vaila was the only thing left visible above water, looking like a cross over a grave. The crew looked dejected and demoralized, small wonder when you remember that five of their crewmates were down below in coffins. They were all wearing the same type of boilersuits. The weather was foul that day, and you have to remember that until 1975, the Stornoway ferry sailed to Kyle of Lochalsh and Mallaig. Normally, the crossing would take about 8 hours to Mallaig, but that day it took 12 hours. On arrival at Mallaig, the train had long gone. Another train was organised, which transported the ferry passengers and their mournful cargo to Fort William, 45 miles to the east. A bevvy of reporters mobbed the poor sailors, eager for the shot and the quote. The photographers showed more concern over the quality of their pictures, and whether they had survived radiographing to their office in Glasgow.

As a result of this accident, an inquest was held at Stornoway Sheriff Court. None of the crew were found to have been at fault. Questions were asked in the House of Commons about the provision of inflatable rubber liferaft on board Royal Navy ships, which were
later introduced on board all vessels.

Acknowledgements:
Top image courtesy clydesite.co.uk, image taken by John Bell
Facsimile of notes: National Archives of Scotland

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