91Èȱ¬

The main topic of conversation at the moment is the state of the road west of the village. The boys are doing a tremendous job filling in holes but I don’t think anyone realised how little foundation there was. One moment it looks fine, then a few cracks appear, and then there is a big hole and a small pile of crumbled tar. Strangely enough the holes don’t seem to expand. Once the matting is exposed it is obvious there is nothing underneath but peat. They are laying new matting and spreading type one aggregate on top (I’m picking up the lingo, type 1 has a density of 1.7, while the stone is only 1.4, so the trailers look fuller carrying stone) but the journey to the village is taking longer and I can’t use fourth gear at all. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to bring a Lotus over at the moment.
The runway is taking shape. There must be some alternative uses for it when it isn’t actually having planes land on it. The obvious one is drag racing but I’m wondering about some sort of curling with the stones made from used bearings rescued from the dump. Or we could make a giant skate board ramp, but the banking might make it tricky for the planes to land.
There are a few yachts about and the corncrakes are quite visible at the moment so the visitors can do the normal exploring, although the airport does occupy a significant part of their evening conversation too.
At the moment Nobby is doing the dumper truck hill-climb. If he drives flat-out at his pile of stone how high can he get the dumper before it stops. Today’s barge is the Nord Star which has a Swedish captain and a Polish crew. They buy their stores here. I don’t think Coll has ever been the most convenient place to shop before! The other barge has a very Irish skipper, a Russian and two more Nordic crew, I wonder how they chat to each other.

Just after I wrote about the road I heard there had been a major problem. The road by Uig had collapsed under one of the lorries and it was a bit of a job to get it cleared. The front wheels sank down until the lorry was resting on the front bumper. A digger had to lift it up and ease it forward, then the load was taken off and put in the hole and then the lorry could move forwards. Fortunately no-one was hurt, but the hydraulics for the tipping trailer needed repairing so the lorry was out of action for two days. A suggestion of sabotage by digging a heffalump trap has been discounted. At least it gave the police, who were over on 'routine' business something to do. As it was so windy we lost a couple of barge trips so it was probably a good time to happen.
Elsewhere washed-up bombs are still a concern. We have some posters with all sorts of explosive devices pictured, and warnings to not pick up, or move them, and to let the coastguard know.

I have worked out why we need an airport. It is to allow access to the RSPB bird reserve. And also to the helipad for medical evacuations. The road is barely passable in an ordinary car. Of course the chancellor is taxing all the owners of 4x4s because they are gas guzzling status symbols. My 4x4 is certainly guzzling the diesel, I’d rather not know what fuel consumption an elderly Fourtrak gives when it does 3 miles in second gear and takes about 15-20 minutes, depending on how many passing spaces are used. I do turn the engine off now if I wait for a tractor, at £1.30 a litre I’m not keen on burning the stuff any quicker than I have to. At least the tractors don’t appear out of nowhere round blind corners any more, they are all accompanied by a very large dust cloud. Roll on the rain.

The Coll Hotel now officially sells Real Ale. All winter we have had a barrel (or two) resting on the bar in the restaurant and the beer has come out of the tap into the pint glass. I think secretly the real ale enthusiasm was expected to die down, but eventually the bullet was bitten and an official shed was built to house the kegs and a hand pump was installed. This took some time as it is very crowded behind the bar, and any left-handed bar staff are going to find it quite difficult. The hand pump was put into operation on Friday; and we are now on our third barrel! The problem will be maintaining a supply, as shopping trips to Glasgow are limited by weight. The choice will be more beer, or more chips. The drawback to having the beer on hand pump is it will be more complicated to have a ‘guest’ beer, as the system will need flushing out. I’m still trying to work out a way to get some Latitude from Atlas brewery, but there is absolutely no room for a second hand pump.