this is frank catching snowballs – which he apparently loves doing – in all the snow we have had recently.
I was assured that we never have lots of snow on the island, but the last 2 weeks have proved otherwise! As the rest of the country we have had a white Christmas, which has been both fun and slightly terrifying driving on the roads at times!!

Anyway Bliadhna mhath ur – happy new year in Gaelic – to you all
hope 2010 brings love and happiness in abundance for you.

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.”

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?!

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!

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!)

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.

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.

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!

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!