NaBloPoMo 2024 - day 05

Today the people in the United States of America go to the polls to elect a new president. I thought that British politics was polarised. It is, but nowhere near as nasty as American politics.
I wish all my American friends and acquaintances wisdom in selecting the person best suited to lead their country over the next four years. Nationally and internationally many challenges face the new president. I just hope things will calm down across the pond.

NaBloPoMo 2024 - day 04

A picture from four years ago, which I was reminded of on my walk round to Goat Island today.
It shows a split sky, with cloud moving into blue sky. It marked a transition, when a close friend was in the last hours of life. I had to hurry back from Goat Island to be with Barbara - someone I had known for 16 years, and who had shared those years with me. 

During my time in Stornoway, my father had come up to see me four times, in 2008, '10, '12 and '14. He passed away two years ago. The last time I saw him in this life will remain with me. He was very frail and unwell in a hospital bed, but he was genuinely pleased to see me after an absence of three years - partly due to Covid restrictions on travel. And when we shook hands when I left, he held on a little longer. 

 I last saw my mother 20 years ago last July at the railwaystation in Darlington. I was on a train, which was departing. She was a smiling person, but there was no smile the last time I saw her face disappearing from the train window. My mother passed away in 2008.

Those who have passed on are not really dead, if they are remembered by those who knew them, who loved them.

NaBloPoMo 2024 - day 03

Yesterday was All Hallows, when we remember those who have gone on ahead. Today was the day, six years ago, that one of my friends passed away in the night. Sophia was not found until three days later, when her social media acccounts remained silent over a weekend. Her life was music and dance, and in the few encounters, she opened up about the challenges she had faced, and the promises that had been left unfulfilled. I remember the March evenings, when darkness fell after 7pm, when she lit an angle-poise lamp for my convenience. I would leave well after midnight. I only met her a few times in 2013, but opportunities to meet up again were lost in circumstance. Her voice remains in recordings of the radio programme she did on a now-defunct radiostation in Uist, and the memories remain with those who knew her. Sophia saw herself as a mermaid, and would swim in the sea. After I learned of her passing, I felt she had swum away in the night. Her little cat was finally retrieved nearby and is now living her life with people that love her. One day, Sophia will come striding up the garden path to take Torran across the Rainbow Bridge. 

Quite a few of my female friends have passed away in the two decades I have spent in Stornoway. Mostly, they could not be anywhere but near the sea.

NaBloPoMo 2024 - day 02

 A typical Saturday in November, with darkness beginning to fall after 4.30pm. Lots of people rushing about getting their shopping in. In a fortnight, the Tesco superstore will open on a Sunday for the first time, meaning that it won't be quite as busy on Saturdays. 

Politics have taken a new turn, with the now-opposition Conservative Party electing a new leader. Kemi Badenoch will oppose Labour PM Sir Keir Starmer in the House of Commons, and we can expect sparks to be flying at Prime Minister's Questions. 

The below pic shows Francis Street in Stornoway this afternoon at 4.45pm. 

NaBloPoMo 2024 - day 01

 It is November, National Blog Posting Month (#nablopomo). Those taking part commit to publish a post on their blog each day of the month. 

November is a month of remembrance. Now that the winter half-year has arrived, the month commences with All Saints' Day, followed on Saturday (2nd) by All Hallows - hence All Hallows' Eve or Hallowe'en on October 31st. All Hallows' or All Souls' Day remembers those that have gone on ahead, particularly over the preceding twelve months. 

I shall publish a post, dedicated to the 86th anniversary of the Reichskristallnacht on November 9th. 

Of course on November 10th, we have Remembrance Sunday, a day before Armistice Day on November 11th. I have made a point of observing the solemnities, for at least 35 years, out of gratitude to those soldiers from the UK and the US (among other nations) who gave their lives between 1939 and 1945 so that we, in Western Europe, can live in peace. 

Storm clouds are, however, gathering to the east, as the situation in Ukraine becomes increasingly dire, with the suspected involvement of soldiers from North Korea, 6000 miles away. Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un have this mutual assistance pact, which does not bode well.

Stornoway Sundays

 On November 17th, our Tesco superstore will open its door for shoppers at midday. The latish opening hour is designed not to disturb those who wish to go to church. The store will close at 8pm, and only those members of staff who wish to work on Sundays can do so. 

After the Sunday ferry came in 15 years ago, eventually few people noticed it. I believe it is quite a busy service, although it is 7 years ago since I took the ferry on a Sunday. 

Will it make a difference to Stornoway on Sundays? I'd imagine so, with people coming in to shop who might otherwise have had to do it on Fridays and Saturdays, days of the week that I know to be very busy. On the other hand, I've always appreciated the quiet of a Sunday, and a little bit of that will be lost.

9.13 am

A clock.

Its hands pointing at a little after 9.13
This was in the morning
The morning of 21st October 1966

The clock looks a bit battered.
It looks grimey.
Encrusted with black soot... 

The clock stopped permanently at the above time, when it was engulfed in an avalance of coal dust, which had come crashing down from a 111 ft high spoil heap, outside the Welsh mining town of Aberfan

The collapse claimed the lives of 116 children and 28 adults.
109 of the children were killed when their primary / elementary school was engulfed.

Lest we forget