Thankful Thursday: Lifeboat

When you live on an Island which is nearly three hours away from the mainland of Scotland by sea and it's a stormy winter night and the sea is running a colossal swell and the wind is howling storm force in opposition with huge waves, then, just occasionally, you wonder about what would happen if the sea got the better of the ship.

To be fair these days the ferry doesn't sail in the sorts of seas that it used to traverse.  People complained and in the usual way that everything is done these days, instead of saying 'well get the next ferry' they just stop the sailing when it gets that rough.

Anyway here in Stornoway covering The Minch we have the Lifeboat and the Coastguard Helicopter.

Well I am astonished.  I can't find it.  But I'm certain I've done one.  What?  A post on the Stornoway Lifeboat practising in the Bay below the house.  The funny thing is that several years ago I started a post in a similar vein.  I couldn't find it then either.  Well when the Stornoway Lifeboat was practising a few days ago I took some photos from the house.

When one lives in a country surrounded by sea and where there are thousands of ships and boats at sea at any one time one is profoundly aware of how many lives rely on the Lifeboat and Coastguard services.  This is a map, taken as I write, of the vessels carrying locator beacons in Scotland's waters in sight of a receiving station.  And there will be many more that aren't.

(Map from marine traffic.com)

So today, looking across that stretch of water that I have to cross to reach the mainland I am very, very grateful for the fact that we have people and resources devoted to our rescue in times of need.

0444 - Again?

Twice this week I have woken with 0444 showing on the bedside digital clock.  That's the trouble with digital clocks:  it's never 'a quarter to five' or 'half past six' any more.  It's time accurate to a minute.  Assuming, that is, that the clock is accurate.  Mine tend to be.  I'm just like that.  An accurate clock person.   My main clock in the house is one of those clocks controlled by the radio time signal from Rugby and, of course, all the internet devices automatically correct themselves.

Sometimes this accuracy causes me problems.  When I drove one of The Family's cars in New Zealand the time was never accurate so it would throw me because I automatically made the basic assumption that it was.

It's all part of the Edwards Family need to be on time for appointments or at least not to be late.

What I was really thinking when I started this was just how coincidental it was to wake twice at the same time within three days given that my bedtimes vary within a three hour time gap.

Each year when I return I forget just how much catching up there is to do and how much adjusting.  Whilst I am away Pat aka Spesh looks after my affairs and without that my stay away would be, if not impossible, certainly very much harder.  Thank you Pat.  

David and Molly leave tomorrow.  Where did the week go?

 Molly looks rather sinister don't you think?  She's not.  She has a lovely nature (unless you're a cat!)

The RNLI Stornoway Lifeboat has a new home since I left last October.

Thankful Thursday: The Perils of the Sea

Jaz posted her Thankful Thursday post today.  It's always good to see a post from Jaz who, as most of you will know by now, was the inspiration behind Thankful Thursday.  Today someone (commenting on her post I think) made the point that one should be thankful all the time because there is so much about which to be thankful.  Of course the person is correct.  After all Virginia has titled her blog So Very Very Thankful.  Most of us who have had some seriously life threatening experience or have battled cancer are very thankful people.  We are thankful for the fact that we wake up in the morning.

I must digress for a paragraph.  The lady at the supermarket checkout remarked a few days ago on what a lovely day it was.  I said that every day when I woke up I decided that it was a Good Day because I'd woken up and that was better than the alternative.  Big mistake.  Huge mistake.  [Again].  "No" she said [I was going to say 'opined' but Frances would tell me off] "It would be better if we didn't and then we would be blessed with eternal salvation.  I used to be an atheist.  But now I know better.".  Now I don't know about you but so far as I'm aware the majority of Christians seem to want to stay alive.  I assume that it's being so cheerful as what keeps her going.

Anyway, as I was saying, most of us can  find something to be thankful about without trying too hard. Today, however I've decided on a big thankful.  A thank that any of us who live on an Island or near the sea should give every day.  A thank for the men and women of the Coastguard and Lifeboat services who risk their lives constantly for those in peril on the sea.  Thinking about it I don't hear the word peril much nowadays but there's a lot of it around.

From my windows I can often see the Coastguard search and rescue helicopter and crew practicing.  

Some years ago I was on a ferry in mighty seas with the S & R Helicopter overhead doing that in earnest.  So today I am exceptionally thankful for the Lifeboatmen and women and the Coastguard crews and the many other people who brave the storms to save the lives of others.

Training Exercise

It was happening a few miles out in The Minch so was at the limit of my camera’s capabilities but it still looked pretty spectacular with the Coastguard helicopter coming up to the back of the fast moving lifeboat to lift a ‘casualty’ from its afterdeck.  I was sure that I’d done a post on the Lifeboat when she was hauling her tender on board in the Bay last year but it’s not coming up in the index.  Odd.  It would have given you an idea of how big she is.