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.