Tuesday 26 January

A bright and sunny day, but ever so cold. The day opened with the mercury at -9C, and we only went as high as -4C by mid afternoon. As I type, the temperature has plummeted right back down to -9C, and it's only half past eleven. Heaven knows what it'll show by sunrise time tomorrow morning, just after 8 am. Went for a walk in the Castle Country Park, which is always a nice amble. Most of the noteworthy water features have frozen over, and the ornaments have been wrapped in tarpaulins to protect them from the hard frost. People are waiting for the ice to grow thick enough on the castle moat, but the weather should change to a less cold spell tomorrow afternoon. So, more snow in the offing.

Politics is the same wherever you go. The Dutch minister for Transport did a nice Duke of Wellington impression in Parliament this afternoon. The issue is around the introduction of charging for the use of the roads, in order to relieve the massive congestion on this country's roads. The Dutch automobile club ANWB published a survey on its website, where drivers could register whether they fancied the idea to be charged for every kilometre they drive, although road and cartax would be abolished. The Minister, Camiel Eurlings, said on Friday that a negative outcome of the survey would mean the shelving of the scheme. The Lower House of Parliament in The Hague did not fancy the idea that government policy would be decided by a poll on an ANWB website rather than through debate in Parliament, so Mr Eurlings was called to account. He promptly backtracked on his words last Friday and stated that Parliament was supreme. Remember the Duke of Wellington? He marched his army right up the hill - and then marched it all back down again.

A few pictures to close this post

The well


The Castle from an unusual angle


The Castle Moat


The Torck School (former primary school)

Monday 25 January

A cold, cold winter's day. Temperature no higher than -3C all day, and it was just as well that there was no more wind than this force 1 from the northeast. Tomorrow is going to be even colder, but then the sun will be out. Today was grey and misty, and the few pictures I took in the next town, whilst walking to the shop, bear that out. I shall post those tomorrow.

The suitcase saga has thankfully come to a positive conclusion. Although I was told the case would arrive between 8 am and 1 pm, the delivery van did not turn up until 2 pm, by which time I was already phoning the airport again. Not impressed with the driver who chewed on his pen whilst talking on the phone in the middle of delivering the case to me, before handing it to me to sign the chit. Yuk.

Today is Burns' Night in Scotland, and the poetry will have done the rounds, as will the haggis and the drams. Here in the Low Countries, I have been busy solving a postal mystery - I have written about that on Atlantic Lines, as it is a Scottish story. Tonight will be a cold one: down to -11C in places, with a daytime high of -5C. I'll wrap up warm.

Sunday 24 January

Apart from all the hassle surrounding my missing luggage, I can report a mildly wintry scene here in eastern Holland. A thin layer of snow fell in the night, although it was rather thicker further west in the country. After receiving confirmation that my bag had turned up, I was able to go out for a stroll. Ice from the cold spell around New Year still paves the paths in the forest, and only thanks to the thin layer of snow was it possible to walk fairly normally.

Watched television tonight, including the final instalment of a show in which an actress is selected who would play the role in the Mary Poppins stage musical. Starting with 11 girls, the evening started with 3, finally going down with the one who had been a clear favourite right the way through. The idea had been picked up from the BBC, but comparing the two, including the surrounding media coverage, I will go so far as to say that the Dutch programme was milder and good humoured. It gets incredibly competitive and personal on British TV, whereas there was a nice atmosphere of camaraderie here. I am not saying that in a vein of 'better or worse', in my mind it reflects a difference of culture.

Another programme reunited a school class from 1981, and that was quite interesting too. One lady had been in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, and her stories were horrendous.

Nearly half past eleven; time to shut up shop.

The staggering journey

Well, I don't know what I have to do to get a normal trip by plane. Yesterday's trip to Holland was full of weird events. It started at Stornoway Airport, when my 09.00 am departure to Edinburgh was delayed by ice. The flight to Glasgow, departing at the same time, left without problem, but the aircraft used for the Edinburgh service had to be de-iced. Normally, the plane would have been sprayed with ethylene glycol, but that is not kept at Stornoway. So, the groundstaff set to with scrapers, more commonly used on cars with iced-up windscreens. After it was established that the ice grew back as soon as it was removed, they moved the aircraft into the hanger, which is kept at 21C / 70F at all time. That would certainly thaw any ice, but by the time it returned from there, the sun had appeared, and the mercury had risen by 2 degrees, from -1C / 30F at 9 am to +1C / 34C at 10.30 am.

The flight to Edinburgh afforded some stunning views over the west coast of Scotland, from Lewis all the way to the Paps of Jura if not the mountains of Mourne in Northern Ireland beyond. The Isles of Skye, Rhum, Eigg, Canna lay in full view, and it wasn't until we crossed over the spine of the country that cloud increased. Rain fell heavily over Fife and it was dismally grey and wet over Edinburgh. We landed at around midday, but I did not mind that delay. I was scheduled a 4 hour stop-over there, so it would shorten that wait.

Well, it wasn't long before the departure screens announced my onward flight to Gatwick to be delayed by an hour. Which did make me a bit concerned about the connecting flight to Amsterdam; I had 90 minutes at Gatwick, so it would be a very tight connection. We left Edinburgh just after half past three, more than an hour behind schedule. The delay was caused by a flat tire on the aircraft (i.e. in the landing gear), which had to be replaced before the aircraft was able to leave Gatwick on its inward journey. Beautiful flight to London, during which I saw nothing except for the sun and low clouds. Arrived at 4.40pm, and my flight to Amsterdam was going to leave at 5.10pm.

If memory serves, the plane from Edinburgh disembarked near gate 59. We were bussed to the terminal building, and that was where the mad dash began. First to passport control (for a domestic flight???), then to Arrivals, up the stairs to Departures, through Security, and then into the Departures lounge. By that time, it was 5 pm. My flight was marked as Final Call, so I hared down the stairs to gate 59. After a few minutes, all passengers were allowed on board, and I sat in my allocated seat, 23A. If this was the same plane that had taken me from Edinburgh, all I could have done was move from 23F to 23A and not have done that blessed half marathon through the North Terminal at Gatwick. OK, I'm only joking.

Left Gatwick at 5.35pm for Amsterdam. Halfway across the North Sea, the snow began and we arrived into Schiphol at around 7.40pm, broadly on time. I waited at the baggage reclaim, but no bag. When the belt was stopped, I proceeded to the service desk and filed a report for a missing bag. Then, I went to Schiphol railway station and travelled to my dad's house near Arnhem, where I arrived at 9.50pm.

I was quite relieved when I received a phonecall at 1pm today to say my bag had arrived at Amsterdam Airport, and it would be delivered some time tomorrow morning.

Photo video - 3 January

The below video is a compilation of pictures I took on Sunday 3 January.

Monday pictures

Winter fun on a frozen town pond


Path on a steep hill in the woods


Stream in the forest


Road Closed





Village pond

Returning northwest

Tomorrow, I shall be returning to Stornoway once more. The weatherforecast is poor for the airports where I change flights: London Gatwick and Edinburgh, so it is perhaps just as well that I have several hours waiting times there. The heavy snow showers, predicted at both locations, could well cause disruption. Well, what's new.

Posting, all being well, will resume on Atlantic Lines on Wednesday (January 6th). The Shell Gallery will close until my next visit to Holland. My Sitemeter tells me that a lot of visitors come here from Atlantic Lines, but feel free to add this blog to your Followers and/or your feedreader.

If I have any pictures to share from this afternoon, I'll post them later today.