Tuesday 27/09/05

Although the wind has dropped from force 7-9 to force 5-8, it's still very blustery. Showers continue to rattle through from the southwest, and they're big ones. Behind glass, it's warm in the sun. Kids are taken to school at 8.40, in the taxi driven by their maternal grandmother. One minute later, I go downstairs for breakfast. I've recently asked mrs B to omit sausages from the menu, because I'm not walking (that much). The ferry is very late in leaving for Ullapool, at 3 pm. She goes way south, before veering east to make for Ullapool. Went into town shortly afterwards to get papers and a small pencilcase. As mrs B is making supper tonight, I can leave Somerfields to one side. At 3.50, Border Heather, our tanker, calls in to deliver liquid fuels. Natural gas is brought in on a different vessel. All fuels are held in a small depot at the corner of Shell Street and James Street. Large pipes take it through to the powerstation on Battery Point. Road tankers deliver oil to individual householders. Many houses are heated by kerosine; in the town there is piped gas. In outlying areas, people use propane (Calorgas) for cooking. The orange gasbottles are a familiar sight around rural Scotland. Kerosine is stored around houses in large plastic drums, which hold 250 litres. Fuel is piped into the house through a fixed line. These tanks are a target for fuel thieves. Discover that there are also 16x16 Sudoku puzzles, in which the numbers 0 to 9 and the letters A to F only feature once in each row, column and 4x4 square.