Shark infested waters

Today I read a piece from Hebrides News (more gossip column than serious journalism!) about New Orders front man Bernard Sumner fighting off a shark attack in shark infested waters near Barra – the most southerly of the inhabited Western Isles.
It makes for entertaining reading if nothing else:

Comeback rocker Bernard Sumner – an iconic force of the new wave music movement in the 1980s – was recently rammed by a giant shark in the Western Isles it has emerged.
Sumner revealed to the American music magazine Interview that his yacht with his family onboard was attacked by a “huge shark” five miles off Barra.
It was his “hairiest moment in 25 years” of sailing
He told the publication: “I do like sailing, that’s what I do as my pastime so I bought a yacht and I was sailing up on the west coast of Scotland and was rammed by a giant shark. That actually happened.
“They had to get the helicopter out. The boat nearly sank, I was out in a really rough part of sea called The Minch that’s got all these shipwrecks in it and I had a collision with a 30 foot shark.
He explained: “I was sailing out from an island and I got about five miles out and there was this God almighty crash like I’d hit rocks and the boat was going to sink.
“I looked around and checked the charts and there was no rocks.
“So I called the Coast Guard and he said some of the other boats that had been up there that morning had reported six large sharks in that part of the sea.
“I got to the place I was going to, which is this small Scottish island called Barra and I got a diver to go down to the bottom of the boat .
“He said that there was a big imprint of a huge shark in the paint on the bottom of my boat. 
“At the time I was sailing with my family while my family was in bed so I’m pulling the floorboards up every ten minutes to see if we’d taken on any water.”

 

Wee W

Today the island gets back its Woolworths – well a version of it anyway. Local business people have come together to create the Wee W. It opens today at 12 noon and I am sure there will be much excitement – lets hope it lives up to the legacy of missed Woolworths! It is even in the top Highland & Islands BBC news list!

 

All Change

So i’ve not blogged for ages and I’ve been considering what to do with the blog but Sky has made a temporary decision for me by cutting off my internet!
There is a story – as there always is with my dealings with Sky – I have decided to move to a new home and so dutifully informed Sky so it could all be set up in the new house. It all went very smoothly and for once my conversation with Sky did not end in utter frustration at their incompetence. It was too good to be true!
I got home from 2 weeks holiday to find no internet – when i eventually got round to calling them last night, I was informed that the minute you tell them we are moving they cut off your internet connection whether you are at the old address for 4 weeks or 4 days. Frankly their reasoning was rubbish and made no sense at all, as you can’t even officially tell them you want broadband until you’ve had your new number for 5 days, so it really doesn’t make sense. What was even more frustrating was the customer service person failed to mention this to me!

So I am without internet at home until at least the end of Sept – o joy. Not sure how am I going survive but undoubtedly I will!

So apologies for lack of communication on this blog or commenting on others, and hopefully the break from the internet will give me some fresh inspiration?!

 

Homecoming

Last week was the Outer Hebrides Homecoming week. Scotland has a year of Homecoming – this is an events programme celebrating Scotland’s great contributions to the world. In 2009 we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns birth, Scottish contributions and the rich cultural heritage.

In Stornoway there was a tattoo in the castle grounds on the Friday and on the Saturday a concert with Gaelic choirs. We didn’t go as had nieces and nephews staying with me who probably were a little bit to young to stand 4 hours of piping. And to be honest from what i have heard i think we made the right decision – though the show has received nothing but praise, with 5000 attending, it seems the organisation left a little to be desired.

my friends had decided to attend – one of whom is registered disabled and she had specifically asked if there was disabled parking and whether there would be a seat or did she need to take one. When they arrived there was not a steward/marshal in sight and all the disabled and elderly people were sat in their cars but couldn’t see as crowds were standing in front of them. When they got out of the car they couldn’t find a seat. My friend ended up perching on a flower bed but saw nothing and after an hour of this, gave up and went home a very disappointed customer. I think it made it worse as she had been specifically told she didn’t need to take a chair. There also appeared not to be a disabled toilet on site either?
I hope the organisers learn from this year as to have such a well attended event will be a good thing for Stornoway but they need to rethink accessibility and organisation?

We were glad we decided to just go to the carnival where we saw the pipe bands leading the carnival procession, which was as entertaining and the children enjoyed it, made a change from the beach!

I am off the island on Friday – which i am quite excited about as i feel like i am getting cabin fever a bit having not left the island for 8 months, hoping the break away will reignite my love of this wild place!

 

more new stuff?

well it seems Lewis is going to be dragged (kicking and screaming) into the 21st century whether it wants to or not, because today we have had the Google street view cameras round the island.
I am sure i saw them last month drive through the car park at work but apparently today they are going outside Stornoway to capture some of the village and crofts, though this morning I saw them in the centre of town in Leverhulme Drive – wonder if i will be on  it! I will be intrigued as to what the island will look like on google street view – probably quite empty?

Heb News reports that the pictures are not likely to be available until next year! Just a good job they weren’t taking the pictures on a Sunday (sorry – slapped wrists for being cheeky!)

 

Ness Community Market

Today I popped into Ness Community market in Dell hall, I’ve never been before as I never knew it existed! apparently it ran all last season? It is organised by Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn . I would recommend a visit if you are in the area but not sure when next one is and the adverts seem to be hidden away but it is definitely on Saturdays!

There were a few stalls with home grown produce – all looked delicious and healthy. I picked up some rhubarb, Duke of York Red potatoes and mint.

 

Lewis hits the news again!

Apologies for the delay in this story! too busy having a lovely time with the Goans and the Knit and Natter group to blog!

Stornoway was hit my a mini tornado on Tuesday night. Most of you on the mainland would have known about this before most people on the island, it seems! It was a wild stormy night – winds of 60mph over in Ness and thunder and lighting (which is quite unusual for here), so news of the tornado caused great excitement!
The tornado’s effects were very localised in the town centre but where it did hit, it cause damage – an overturned car, windows blown out in the Sea Angling club and the secondary school. trampolines picked up and thrown across the road, tiles and roof damaged (just like a normal windy day on Lewis then!!)
One poor holidaying family bore the full force of it when it tipped their camper over, luckily they were saved having parked next to a tractor for the night!
Most of the national papers and news seem to have reported on the incident but strangely enough a colleague who lives about 5 minutes walk from the site of the damage heard nothing and thought it was only a rainy night, and didn’t actually believe me until I showed him the story on the BBC News website!

On discussion in the office we seemed to recall there was another tornado last year on the westside but it didn’t cause any damage. I was also then informed that tornadoes are more common in the UK than they are in Kansas – it is just in Kansas they are so much more powerful. I have no idea whether this is true!

For more info you can see the telegraph’s report, the slightly more sensationalised Hebrides News and the Stornoway Gazettes report.

 

Historic moment?

I was on my way to the festival office and the MV Isle of Lewis was just pulling out of its berth. A historic moment for Stornoway?
it is strange it has been on the main news of radio 4 and 2 each hour – didn’t realise we were creating that much interest – kind of feel it is just a ferry.

Apparently there was a few protesters at the harbour, and there was lots of people out watching it go off but the atmosphere aboard the ferry was good apparently with it being packed and a band playing!

 

Festival

I’ve just finished 3 nights of working with the wonderful Hebcelt festival. A great time was had by all it seems and the bands were very good – despite the fact ticket sales were down, there was a good atmosphere, friendly and fun which is perfect for a festival of this size.
I was managing the volunteer stewards on site this year (who are part of a bigger security machine!) and they were fab – they worked hard, stood in the pouring rain, were friendly and smiley despite having very sore feet and legs – lets face it stewarding isn’t the most glamorous of the festival jobs -standing in one place for 7 hours is never going to be! but the team we had were wonderful – a heartfelt thank you from me and the festival!
I am sure over the next few months there will be a lot of humming and ahhing as to the why’s and wherefores about the future of the festival and ticket sales but despite there not being a big headliner the line up was excellent. I heard bands i had never heard of before and will be going to buy their CD’s. (particularly The Wilders, La Bottine Souriante, The Michael McGoldrick band) Last night The Chair were brilliant – so much energy on stage plus a diddley dee version of AC/DC’s Highway to hell – how can you go wrong!

Let’s hope the festival is here for another year and maybe we could turn some of the negativity into positives to ensure it remains  a vital part of the islands economy, entertainment, art and  appeal.

Ferry update: the replacement ferries have been sailing backwards and forwards all weekend with the first timetabled Stornoway Sunday ferry for many years will be sailing this afternoon!

 

the irony …

As you know from the previous post Calmac decided to start the controversial Sunday sailings.
Yesterday (Friday) the ferry (MV Isle of Lewis) limped into Stornoway harbour with a faulty engine and Calmac announced that it wasn’t sailing in the afternoon and they didn’t know when it would be sailing again as there was a problem with the engine.
Not only is it the busiest weekend on the island (all accommodation is full, all ferries and planes on and off the island are full) with the Hebcelt Festival ands Maritime Festival, and with this Sunday being the first sailings the impact was potentially huge.

Had the anti Sunday sailings campaign had the last laugh? and rumours abound that sabotage might have taken place!
But Calmac has come to the rescue by bringing up another ferry and now ironically the first Sunday sailing is not going to happan at the planned 2.30pm sailing but will be arriving into Stornoway at 3am on Sunday morning and there could be a further 2 sailings on Sunday as well!