Friday 07/10/05

Sunny start to a very, very windy day. The southerly wind is continuing at force 7 to 8. Yesterday, a fueltanker overturned on the road to Grimshader. Don't think anything was spilt, and its contents were decanted into another tanker once it was righted. Keep monitoring the weatherreports through the day on the internet. Winds varying between 30 and 40 mph, with gusts in excess of 50 mph (force 6 to 8, gusts to force 10). Malin Head tops the league with a force 11 gust, 58 mph. Couple of other news items today. The man who had gone missing in Skye since September 24th has been found at last - unfortunately, dead - at the head of Loch Coruisk. At midday, we suffer a powercut, because the roadworkers out the back cut our powercable. Foam flies around the Newton basin (and against the windows) until 4 o'clock, when the rain starts. Gulls hunker down in sheltered positions, as the wind is too strong for them. At 4.15 the wind decreases with the onset of the rain. The ferries in the Western Isles are disrupted. No ferries between Berneray and Leverburgh, or between Uig and Lochmaddy or Tarbert; the ferry that left SY at 7.15 this morning has remained in Ullapool all day. You need to ring Calmac for that, no info on that in the media at all. A Royal Navy vessel has come into the bay at Arnish for shelter at 3 o'clock. At 6.30pm, mrs B and myself went to An Lanntair, the arts centre, to see the play I was a beautiful day by Iain F MacLeod. On the way there, it's blowing and raining hard, and it's quite a struggle to get into town. Hardly anyone on the streets. Before the play commences, at 8 o'clock, we intend to have supper in the restaurant, which is situated adjacent to the auditorium. We both order monkfish, which is fairly prompt in coming. However, the sweet just does not come, and by 7.50 we really have to start going into the auditorium. So, I cancel the sweets and we head downstairs. Restaurant staff none too happy, because it's of course a slight on their service. Which they themselves admit is slow. Salutory lesson: go there in plenty of time. You have a nice view from the restaurant windows - when it's light. The ferry terminal looks as if they're expecting a boat. The play is billed as 'a deeply moving but hilarious tale of resilience, survival and cartography' (quote from the Traverse Theatre website http://www.traverse.co.uk/. I am afraid I found it a disjointed and confused story that I'm not even going to try to summarise. Didn't like it, full stop. There was an interval around the 9.15 mark. As the theatre was nearly filled to capacity (which is 239), there was not enough time to buy drinks. The plague of all theatres. The performance ended at 10.15. When we went outside, the wind had almost dropped away, and only a light rain was left. This was in sharp contrast to earlier in the day.