Thursday 20/01/05

Gales are sweeping the country and temperatures are set to go down again. It is getting lighter, gaining 40 minutes on the sunset time and 20 on the sunrise side. Jumped on bus at 10 am. Driver didn’t have change, but now I would be able to pay him on return at 3pm. Weather today is chilly with frequent wintry showers. In S’way found the library still without Internet so had to go to Point1. Shopping at the big Co-op and lunch at the Coffeepot, as HS1 was full at 1 o’clock. Read a book in the library. On return south, The sun is low in the sky, and the Harris bus driver stops at Leurbost to pop his sunglasses on. A layer of hail lay thick in the verges, making the road treacherous on the bends before Keose. We arrived safe in Balallan at 2.50, as per timetable. returned to Kershader in the company of Margaret the manager, Paul the driver and the male half of the Gravir couple I keep encountering on the bus.

WHFP full of reviews about last week’s hurricane. And a poignant, close-up article from a Uisteach, who I recognize as the Scotland correspondent for the BBC. The funeral of the five fatalities took place in Benbecula today. Attendance 1,500. The church and the nearby hall could hold one thousand, the rest stood outside. The total population of Benbecula and South Uist is 5,000, just to put it in perspective. Many felt they just had to be there. The service was multi-denominational Roman Catholic. Emergency services were thanked in the service. Heating working faultlessly now, it’s slowly getting warm in the hostel. Wintry showers keep passing through, but the weather is set to quieten down for the weekend, with high pressure to the west. Phew, can’t wait! Saturday’s maximum will be +4, but that’s nothing new. It was freezing today as well.

Watched Tir is Teanga, the program about Gaelic placenames in Western Scotland. Schiehallion means the hill of the Caledonians.

Heard that the family who had won a competition in 2001 to join the population of Muck is now leaving. They could not stick the winter, waking up to hail and sleet. Husband and wife didn’t quite hit it off with the locals either. Reading between the lines, this should read: the husband was a snooty bugger and the wife a stuck-up cow. They had been welcomed with open arms in order to boost the school roll, which had gone down to the dangerous level of one. I have found out myself that island life in the depths of winter is no joke. If you fall out in a small community like Muck, life can get fraught. It’s all about give and take. The family will be moving to Mallaig.