Took myself off to the West Side once more, this time to Arnol. Fair few people with shopping on the midday bus. Alighted at the phonebox and hobbled up the road to the famous Arnol Black House. You’ve got to pay £4.00 as entrance fee, a wee bit on the steep side. Central in those old blackhouses was the peatfire, which was glowing away in a firepit on the floor. It kept the room at that side of the building quite warm. But, there is no chimney, so it gets extremely smokey. On the other side of the building was the byre, where the cattle would be kept. Cows do also contribute towards keeping the place warm, they give off a tremendous amount of heat. Across the house was a ‘white house’ [taigh geal], which looks more like a conventional house. It has walls of only one layer of bricks (modern houses have two walls with a space, usually filled with insulating material). The ‘white house’ suffers great damp problems, as can be seen on the blotched and crinkled wallpaper. Next door to that is a roofless ‘tigh dubh’ [blackhouse]. Had a bit of a natter with the mannie in the visitor center. At about 1.30, I set off across the moors towards Bru. Initially, I was fairly close to the coast, but had to veer south of Loch na Muilne. It was pretty wet underfoot. After passing the Loch, I finally came across a swift stream draining off the moors into Loch Èirearaigh. Circled around a fenced-off area, then flopped down at 2.45 for a rather late lunch near the footbridge to Bru. A gentleman comes pottering over to enquire whether I’d had any luck. Luck? In catching fish, he meant. He thought I was fishing. At the Bru road end, I strike out east onto the machair and shinglebank. Pass the ruins of Tolm and find that the bridge to Barvas is no longer cut off by floodwater. The levels in Loch Mòr Barabhais have dropped by about 2 feet since my last visit here, so I can cross the bridge. Slowly, I walk down Lower Barvas and arrive at the busstop at 4pm. The 16.20 bus takes me into town.
Mrs B advises me that the local Mòd is on. At 7.10, I head off to the new Sports Centre off Sandwick Road. The hall is filled with a few hundred youngsters from schools all over Lewis, and a banner hangs over the podium proclaiming Mòd Ionadail Leòdhais 2005. This gives a hint of problems to come. A Mòd is a competition in Gaelic culture. Not just music, but also spoken word. And I have hardly a word of Gaelic to show for myself. It is all I can do to actually follow the program, but I do not understand what is being said. The participants are school children varying in age between 6 and 15. This concert is performed by the prize winners, the competitions in 43 categories has taken place over the past 3 days. We started with precenting or lining out. This is a typical Gaelic way of Psalm singing. The precentor sings out a line, and the congregation picks up in a peculiar way; they are not on tone, but rise up to it through about half an octave. Once the end of the line comes in sight, the precentor starts the next line, even though the congregation has not yet finished singing the previous one. It gives a plaintive, haunting sound. Some people stand outside churches on Sundays to hear it. Other items on the agenda were keyboard playing, single or choir voices, declamation, mini sketches. Schools sweeping the board with prizes are the Nicholson Institute (SY), Bun Sgoil a’Bhac (Back Primary), Sgoil Lional (Lionel School, Ness), Bun Sgoil Lacasdail (Laxdale Primary, SY) and Bun Sgoil Breascleit (Breasclate Primary, West Side, near Callanish). One lad hirpled onto the stage on crutches; he was the sole representative of Sgoil Siabost (Shawbost School). Shawbost and Lional Schools do not just cater for primary school age children, but also have a senior section with secondary school pupils up to age 15. I am amazed at the quality of the performances, and the unfazedness of the youngsters involved. Pity I do not have any more Gaelic – requires learning! It all finished at 10.30, so I went down to Engebret’s Filling station on the Sandwick Road to buy crisps and coke. We also have a Norwegian guest in, who is fast asleep, snoring his head off in front of a TV that’s on quite loud. He is doing a whistlestop tour of Scotland, with a particular interest in whisky. Went to bed at half past midnight. The weather today – mild (13C) but cloudy. Rain came on at 2.30, and it only got worse after that.
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