SID 18 Busy Skies

Gaz, C and B are on their was home. As I write this they are above the Indian Ocean just over half way between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur. It is one of the wonders of modern science that I can open my phone and find out where a plane is on a live map. Anyone who often picks up people from planes knows how unreliable airport sites are with their arrival and departure information. However, if I can see that a flight is in the middle of The Minch on it's way to Stornoway then I know exactly when to leave home so that I will be at the airport at the correct time.

So I shall track their progress across the globe until they land in Glasgow and are safe and sound on Scottish soil. 

When I took the screenshot to the right they were half way across the Australian outback. Their plane is the little red one with the route shown. 

However what really struck me was that with every airline apparently closed down what are all these planes doing in the sky? 

Lots of them will be cargo planes but lots will not. I thought the numbers flying over China and the Far East in particular was particularly interesting . I know from Marcheline that the skies over the US are almost empty. Which made me realise that if there are that many planes when the skies are 'empty' how many are there usually. Actually looking at the pictures now (10:04) London airport looks quite busy and the Frankfurt to Los Angeles flight is somewhere above me. It suddenly brought it home to me that if this is the 'empty skies' level of aircraft pollution what is the 'normal' level. Somehow my academic knowledge had not computed with my perceived knowledge. In short there is one helluva lot of planes up there and, therefore, one helluva lot of pollution.

Last Week

Last week was a strange week: ordinary but strange. After weeks of my morning walk in the woods being in the rain and cold wind the wind suddenly got warmer. The rain didn't go away though. I think I had one dry walk.

However, despite the gales, the crocuss in my garden are surviving - just:

I set off for my walk on Saturday but the Braighe (the isthmus between the peninsula on which I live and the 'mainland' of Lewis and the town of Stornoway where the Castle Grounds where I walk are situated) was closed by the police just as I arrived. When there is a southerly gale and a very high tide the waves bring pebble and rocks over onto the road, The force is quite capable of inflicting considerable damage to a car.

Someone took A VIDEO of the waves showing the closure and me getting out of my car to take photographs.

Yesterday Gaz, Carol and Brodie (son, daughter-in-law and grandson) returned from Italy where Gaz works at the moment. They flew into Stornoway on a Loganair (Scotland's airline) Embraer ERJ-135 jet. I think I'm correct in saying it's the first scheduled passenger jet service to the Islands.

The Last off

Gone

I have just watched The Family's international flight land in Auckland. It's quite strange to me who, as a youngster, had schoolfriends who had fathers at sea. They could be away for many months at a time and any letters with their whereabouts or intended destinations or return home might take months to arrive. 

Now it is possible to follow their every move and even speak to them or hold a video call almost anywhere in the world. 

Interestingly the flight went over the Cocos or Keeling Islands of which I had never heard. 

As I write this it is 54 hours since they left. To me it seems like they left yesterday and then I realise just how much I've done since they left including having two nights of sleep.

They have spent an overnight in Edinburgh and caught up with family and spent the rest of the time in airports and on planes travelling to just about as far away from here as a commercial airline can take them.

So much happened when they were here and yet the week went so quickly. The Heb Celt Festival was on and they went every night. It is many years since I had been and it has come a long way from being a local event to being almost international. There were certainly visitors from all over the place who had come principally for the Festival. It was a sell-out with a capacity of 5,000. It still manages to feel homely though and I enjoyed the events I attended which included Blazing Fiddles.

Whilst they also went visiting (Wendy and Martin lived here years ago) they also showed Catriona some of the history. It was 2010 when Wendy, Fraser and Catriona last came and, now that she is older, Catriona has a much keener interest in the history of the places she's been.

On Sunday we all went to Garry Sands and, despite less than perfect weather, we had a lovely time just chilling out and walking where we had walked so many times before. As usual we were waiting for Martin who was having a last long look at the beach.

The Journey: Glasgow to New Zealand

Well that's the first two intercontinental legs completed. Just the last hop over the Tassie from Melbourne to Auckland and then the last leg on the local plane from Auckland to Napier.

Leave Glasgow Monday 1 February 2055. Arrive Dubai 0810 local time (0410 UK time)

Leave Dubai Tuesday 1015 Local time (0615 UK time)

Arrive Auckland Wednesday 1345 (local time) Wednesday 0045 (UK time)

Leave Auckland 1640 (local time) 0340 (UK time) Arrive Napier 1740 (local time) 0440 (UK time)

Quality

will always make itself felt. Recently I was at the Waitrose store in Milnegarvie and was trying to buy some unusual and different wines for a gift. I was beginning to exhaust my knowledge when an assistant asked if she could help. I've never really thought about supermarkets employing wine experts in the store but this lady (who wasn't the store's main wine person - he was away learning about new wines) certainly knew her stuff. I can't imagine Tesco stores providing that service.

Yesterday Anna wanted to take me for lunch at one of her 'finds': The Côte Brasserie in Glasgow's West Nile Street. Good choice! I have to say that it was one of the most contented lunches I have had: quality company, quality service, quality food and wine. For what more can a person ask? I shall be on the other side of the globe for six weeks but when I return and pass through Glasgow for a few days I expect to have more meals here. I was, I have to admit, astonished to find that it's a chain restaurant.

I think even Cro would have enjoyed it.

Talking of Cro here's a picture I took yesterday in Glasgow's Buchanan Gallery which you/he might appreciate

Ah well. In a little over an hour the car comes to collect me and I shall be Emirates' problem. Storm Henry may rage but, hopefully, I shall be on my way to the other side of the world.

The First Leg

After a day of waiting around at Stornoway Airport and after nearly 9 hours returning home for a night's sleep Pat took me to the airport in the late morning for the extra flight FlyBe had put on at 1235. With a Sunday service following and Storm Henry waiting to pounce, one of the best sights all of us in the departure lounge had seen for a long time was the Saab 340 as it arrived outside the departure lounge window.

By 1500 hrs 90 minutes later than intended we were on the ground in Glasgow after a remarkably good flight. The first flight on my way to New Zealand was complete. 

Today has been a quiet day out to lunch - another post follows on that.

Storm Gertrude

I'm sitting in Stornoway Airport. I'm not alone. Storm Gertrude has so far managed to prevent the flights from southern Scotland from taking off for Stornoway and two have been cancelled. So there are now three sets of passengers waiting for the 1530 flight to Glasgow. Not that they will all get on. The question for me is "Will I?".  The more important question as I write this after 1500 hrs is whether this flight will also be cancelled. It was supposed to have arrived at 1500 but hasn't yet taken off from Glasgow. Fortunately being a reasonably sensible sort of chap I made sure that I had a few days in Glasgow with a friend which days also act, conveniently, as a buffer for incidents just such as this.

We're doing well (or badly depending on the point of view) so far this season: this is the seventh named storm since the middle of November.

A – Abigail (hit the UK on November 12-13)
B – Barney (November 17-18)
C – Clodagh (November 29)
D – Desmond (December 5-6)
E – Eva (December 24)
F – Frank (December 29-30)
G – Gertrude (January 29-?)

Just in case you are wondering which name comes next the answer is as follows: Henry, Imogen, Jake, Katie, Lawrence, Mary, Nigel, Orla, Phil, Rhonda, Steve, Tegan, Vernon, Wendy. If you are wondering why there is no name associated with Q, U, X, Y and Z The Met Office and Met Eireann have decided to follow the US National Hurricane Center, which names - you guessed it - hurricanes, and does not use names beginning with those letters. As storm systems often develop over the North Atlantic, they want to be consistent with their American colleagues.

However it's unlikely that we'll arrive at Wendy this season as the worst season recently (2013/4) only had 14 named storms. 

Well we've just heard that the flight has been cancelled.

I'm now booked on the 1920 flight. Most others have gone for the Inverness flight oprion with a bus to Glasgow. With snow forecast for Drumochter I don't fancy that. Oh well what will be will be. I was going to say que sera sera but I'll probably get told off by YP for being pretentious.

I Do It All The Time

In fact I've done it for 40 years. The journey between Stornoway and Glasgow used to be quite a pleasant affair. Air travel was back 'in those days'. Now it's a trial beset by security checks and long periods hanging around because of the time needed to ensure that one is at the departure gate in good time having negotiated all the obstacles to ensure secure travel.

When I first came to Stornoway in the '70s it was a case of turning up at the airport with your ticket some time before the plane's door had been closed (and for some people after it had been closed), having a chat to the British Airways staff and enjoying the trip with it's appropriate refreshments on the hour-long journey. On one occasion I was even driven out onto the taxiway in a police car as the plane (a Loganair Twin Otter) delayed its take-off.

Stornoway airport was little more than a few portacabins in those heady days. I've tried to find some photographs on the internet of the airport in the '70s but so far without success. I wonder if I ever took any. Since I wrote that I have found this on the internet but I cannot find the copyright holder so if I'm infringing a copyright please let me know and I'll either acknowledge it or remove the photo. The picture is older than the '70s but the building is the same as it was when I came to the Island. The buildings behind the terminal building were Meteorological Office buildings. Stornoway Airport was also home to an RAF station.

The planes used were Vickers Viscounts and they were really good to fly in. 

On one occasion the Captain (I can even remember his name) decided that it was such a beautiful summer day he would show us Fingal's Cave and took the plane right down to give us all a good look. He did issue the safety warning though for "those on the starboard side - that is the right hand side - not to all rush over to the port side to have a look or we'd tip the plane over." I suspect that was 'unacceptable' behaviour 35 years ago but I hate to think what the consequences would be these days. Anyway we all enjoyed it.

I can recall when 'security' was first introduced and bags were searched for the first time. Usually for those who were regular travellers well known to the staff the security went something like "Good morning Mr Edwards. Off to Glasgow again? On you go." The idea of peering into one's briefcase just didn't enter into it. We knew many of the pilots and the cabin staff too.

Ah those were the days my friend. We thought they'd never end. But they did. Oh how they did. 

Now Stornoway has a superb airport with security greater than I've encountered anywhere else in the world (including LA!) and the flying experience is just something to be endured.

I found this on the internet too but I'm assuming my brother will allow me to use it!