Friday 21/01/05

Overslept after waking very early. Heard on the news that an earthquake had shaken the Central Highlands. It measured 2.7 on the Richter scale, and had its epicentre 3 miles northwest of Killin. A fishing boat had sunk off North Uist. The weather is quite benign, just a wintry shower at 1pm, and not a lot of wind. The mainland can look forward to overnight lows of –10C tonight. At dusk, the anvil cloud of an Atlantic shower looms on the western horizon. It was cold but sunny this afternoon. The Stornoway Gazette is full of accounts from up and down the island chain of last week’s hurricane. Damage to homes and infrastructure will run into millions. The lives lost cannot be brought back by any money