Hôtel du Lac ...

For all the trumpeting about Storm Ciara, she seems not to have affected my corner of Argyll as much as her predecessors - even though there were a couple of times when the suspension of the Western Ferries crossings signalled the possible end of the world as we know it. To be sure, it looks as if half of the West Bay beach has been dumped on the promenade, and several black rocks at the water's edge weren't, I'm sure, visible before, but perhaps the most prominent feature of something not right was here, at the Selborne Hotel. Normally it does not have an ornamental lake in its massive front garden, but today ...

Many of the West Bay properties have gardens which now lie lower than the sea level; I don't know if this was always the case but if it weren't for the promenade and its little wall, and the barricades that have been added to several garden gates, the sea would penetrate far more often than it does. But this lake seems to me to be more connected to the water table and saturated ground; it'll be interesting to see how long it takes to vanish.

It was interesting - or perhaps merely dispiriting - to see how many people were discouraged from coming out to church because, presumably, of the weather forecast, as the morning was actually quite benign despite the odd shower. The wind began to gust during the service, but we've had it so much worse on other occasions when the slates rippled above our head and the whole lofty structure creaked alarmingly ...

Not today. There was a wild couple of hours in the early afternoon, but storms and teacups come, perhaps inappropriately, to mind.