Yesterday stayed cloudy all day, with the daytime air temperature never rising above zero, so most of the snow and frost continues to lie across the land. By this morning the temperature had risen to a healthy 3C, but any improvement was negated by the wind, a bitter northeaster gusting over force 4.
This rotten weather, said to be the worst we've seen in Scotland in a generation, has meant a busy Christmas for our road man, John MacFadyen. He's been working throughout the holiday, doing over twelve hours a day, although only eleven of that is actual gritting - the limit allowed by his tachograph. To make his job more difficult, the Strontian loader, which lifts the grit into the back of the trucks which serve most of Ardmanurchan, has broken down, so the Kichoan one has had to go down the road, which means that, every time John has needed to refill his hopper, he's had to drive over thirty miles along that narrow, winding road to Strontian. Despite this, our main access along the peninsula has been kept very clear and he's got along most of the side roads, though some of them, to Sanna and Portuairk, have been icy.
John's is a considerable responsibility as many aspects of ordinary Kilchoan life depend on the roads being clear. For example, we have a wonderful system of carers. Employed by Social Services, they usually visit their charges - mostly our senior citizens - up to four times a day, but with some of the access roads and driveways icy, this hasn't always been possible. And, with Jessie off work with her broken wrist, the District Nurses have been stretched, so a relief nurse has been drafted in, and he has to drive some fifty miles from Fort William.
There's no sign of the weather letting up before the end of Friday at the earliest, and there is some talk of snow coming in over the next 24 hours, so, while others celebrate, it looks as if John will be obliged to work as long hours over hogmanay as he did over Christmas.
JH
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