Eurovision Song contest

Eurovision. A vision of h*ll, where music becomes a parody of entertainment, wrapped in slices of paranational tripe, set in a key of 💩 minor by presenters whose verbal diarrhoea is designed to fill our ears, not the blanks between stage appearances. The remote control did not reach as far as Basel, a city I've only passed through, waiting for an onward connection to places, infinitely more alluring than its concert hall this evening. Eurovision. Made in 1956, long since outlasted its sell-by date. Should be able to walk off our TV screen unaided by now.

Remembrance 2025

In November, I observe the two minutes' silence for Remembrance Sunday - to commemorate Armistice Day on 11th November 1918, the end of hostilities in the First World War. In doing so, I remember those from the UK who made the supreme sacrifice in the defence of freedom, in Europe and beyond.

In May, I observe the two minutes' silence for Remembrance Day on 4th May, the eve of the capitulation by Nazi-German force in the Netherlands, at the end of the Second World War, which took place on 5th May 1945.

The focus in the Netherlands tonight will be remembering the victims of the persecution of Jews and others during the Nazi occupation of 5 years, between 1940 and 1945. More than 100,000 Jews were deported to extermination camps like Auschwitz.

In the past, church bells would be rung in times of danger. Although perhaps appearing contradictory, I have always turned to this recording of the St Peter's bell in Cologne cathedral.

Have we learned the lessons of history?

Tariffs, reimports and Trump

 So American companies outsourced their manufacturing to low-wage countries, like China, Vietnam (and South Georgia?), who would do the dirty work for next to nothing. 

Then, the goods would be imported into the USA for those companies, who would proceed to make dirty big profits off the backs of what is almost slave labourers. 

And now Trump (and I'll omit the adjectives I have in mind) slams tariffs of close on 50% on those countries. He is shooting himself in the foot to such an extent that he hasn't got a leg left to stand on. 

If Trump wants manufacturing to go back to the USA, fine. But it'll be a darn sight more expensive than having it done in the sweatshops of Hanoi and Beijing.

In the windows

In Stornoway, it is customary for funerals to be intimated through notices, placed in the windows of certain local shops. When someone dies, they are said to be "in the windows". 

We do move with the times, so the notices, produced by the undertakers, now feature on a dedicated webpage. Today, seven people are in the windows, a number I have never seen before in my years in the island. 

One funeral has taken place, and will shortly be taken off the website. Five others will happen on Saturday, and on Monday and Tuesday of next week. And on Thursday 11th April, an islander will be laid to rest who had moved to Toronto, Canada. 

I am led to believe that any person from the island, who has previously indicated that they wish to be laid to rest here, will be conveyed back to Lewis for interment - financial provision has been made for that in the past. 

I would like to extend my sympathies and condolences to the family and friends of those, whose deaths are intimated today - and in the future.

Bragar Cemetery, pic taken in 2007

Heathrow fire

Just my personal opinion regarding the fire at the sub-station that closed Heathrow Airport on Friday.
A transformer went on fire. That basically means it overloaded, the usual safety mechanism, a tripswitch, did not operate so it exploded. As it was bathed in 25,000 litres (6,000 gallons) of cooling oil, this caused that massive fire. 

Many moons ago, I worked in a lab that tested cooling oils. My Dutch readers will be familiar with KEMA. The test involved relative density and conductivity to electrical current. Those who lived closer to the lab than I did at the time (I was 6 miles away) will have been familiar with bangs, resulting from transformers being tested to and beyond their safety limits - to the point where they blew up. 
 
The ramifications at Heathrow were world-wide, and everybody is in a flap over resilience, back-up systems and all the rest. Just check your equipment on a regular basis. Maybe such a simple thing as a bird doing a poo on a switch - and it gets stuck. 

 

Past versus present, versus future

This article on the BBC News website prompted me to write this little discourse. 

 I don't believe in cleansing history, such as removing statues and rewriting of text books. At the time (sic), there was a group of people in America who felt that slavery was acceptable, and they were prepared to fight for it. Do not seek to impose 21st century thinking of 19th century events. But also, do not live in the past. It happened. People like Robert E Lee and Abraham Lincoln lived, and happened. Both sides served to steer the course of history. And it still develops. Future years will see a more dispassionate view of the likes of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. We have to live with them.

February 2025

In 9 days' time, it will be all of twenty years since I came to stay in Barbara's house. It only seems like yesterday - yet, there have been vast and irreversible changes along the way. Barbara herself passed away more than 4 years ago, my parents are both now gone - naming those three people in no particular order. One of the things that has struck me, having re-read my old blogs Northern Trip and Atlantic Lines is that this island does not change. Everything to do with people changes - and you may read that in the broadest possible terms. But Lewis (and Harris) are old and immutable. Their rocks are 3,000 million years old, and will be there for as long as the Earth remains.

I took the below picture on 11th May 2005 at Aline, along the border between Lewis and Harris.