Gone at last

It felt much more like a proper day in January today as I ran out to the Land Rover at 6:30 to head south for work. Gone were the lethal sheets of ice with their lubricant of cold water on top, here was the lashing rain and gale force wind that we usually associate with this time of year. OK, by the time the week is out I’ll be sick of the mud and being permanently clad in oil skins but at least the batteries will be charged and wifey will be able to drive my boy to school without fear of coming off the road.

To be fair this cold, dry (apart from the snow) and windless spell has fair shortened the darkest period of the year and we’ve all had great fun sledging and the like. However, I’m glad to see the back of carrying buckets of water across sheet ice for the pigs every morning and I’m sure my neighbour enjoyed the first shower in her own home today after being without water since Christmas eve

On this day

The drive down ‘Calum’s road’ and on to work was a little smoother since the ice had melted but many more potholes had appeared in its wake.

Not only had the odd hole in road appeared after the thaw but also a rather large sheep like boulder and I know the picture’s cr4p but it was blowing force 7 from the south and pishing with rain   The near gale from the south meant sailing at 7:55 was out of the question but the forecast moderation came with daylight and we ran at 8:55 much to the delight of the waiting harbour workers leaving for a weekend break.

The day steadily improved, more and more workers left and very little traffic coming on to the island.

The fishery protection vessel Minna passed by at 15:40 and I busied myself doing routine stuff, it was on the whole a very uninteresting day

Looking back to my diary for 1990, I see we have gotten off very lightly with the weather, for Monday the 15th of January was the ninth consecutive day on which there had been a wind of gale force or more. A pattern which was to continue right through until the 23rd when the 19 days of wind and rain were replaced a light south westerly and snow!!!!! On this day 20 years ago I was mending lobster creels in my garage and stripping the bedroom door of its many layers of paint. Most of the doors in our old croft house came off the dump or out of the barn where they’d been lying dormant for years having been replaced by younger models You know the plywood and egg box type ones that are found in all modern houses. I carefully resurrected, stripped and varnished them before putting them back into service.

   

 

Though I could not resist adding some trinkets I’d found on the sea bed over the years

The following year 1991 saw a bonny, cold but icy day on Tuesday the 15th, I was working on my new fishing boat, ‘Sylvia Jean’ BRD50 a 23’ Wilson Flyer with a 150hp Volvo inboard petrol engine the next couple of days were pretty good and I continued working on my boat until the weather broke on the 18th. The bad weather drove me inside and I fitted my new Morso Squirrel multifuel stove in the living room, where it has faithfully burned for 19 years, requiring nothing more than a couple of grates, a glass or two and the odd door rope

1992 seems to have been a far better January weather wise, well it was around this time, though I spent much of it in the house treating timbers and stripping yet another door! New years eve and the following day had however been a pure sh1t of a day, my neighbours 30’ caravan had blown over and been wrecked, whilst on the fish farm a boat had sunk at its moorings. Down at the south end of Raasay they were without power for a couple of days, though that has never been a problem here

Speaking of the weather

By midnight it should be blowing a good force 8

and by 3:00am it should be up to force 9 ( 47-55 mph )

It will be interesting to see if they’re right