Hello again
I needed a day to recover from the excitement of the flood, and then I had to get some work done and attend a lovely chamber concert last night here in Oban, so it's been a couple of days.
Here are a few more pix of the flooding and of the trash that's come down on the torrent.
A couple of views from my garden shed:
No, I wasn't all that shaken, but the wind was tearing at the shed (and I'm still learning to use my camera properly). Still, I like the colours here. Not sure yet what the damage to the lawnmower is.
The wind and the water conspired to overturn our almost-empty wheeliebins (trash containers; each household has its own and they are all supposed to congregate in friendly agglutinations inside the so-called bin enclosures):
The gunk that came out of those bins, and the smell, were unspeakable.
And I think we could all have done without these water features at the bottom of our gardens:
If you click on the photo above, you will see a metal fence set into the stone wall. It was making ominous creaking sounds as I was taking that photo, and I was truly afraid the pressure of all the debris behind it, and a foot of water, was going to breach the fence -- a solid, heavy-duty corrugated steel fence with sturdy verticals and strong horizontals. It didn't yield but it has a noticeable bent in it where one of the verticals gave way by about an inch.
A dozen yards downstream, the "burn" called the Black Lynn disappears into a culvert beneath a car park:
There wasn't much clearance on Saturday...
The day after, the Black Lynn flowed much calmer and clear-watered within its designated concrete trough, but there was a lot of mysterious-looking debris caught upstream of the footbridge, like this plank with beautifully rounded edges that sticks out of a tangle of branches and twigs and plain junk. Was it once a bench?
Or this yellow unidentifiable object:
From my kitchen window, I could see a long piece of roundwood, probably an unused telegraph pole, lying across the cleared patch of what used to be "my" wilderness and should be a Community Garden come spring.
This morning the "Garden Brigade" turned up in their reflecting overalls to clear some of the debris and junk that has washed up and got stuck in the burn upstream from the wee footbridge. It's quite a collection, some of it still useable:
It was a gloriously sunshiny day until, quite suddenly, at about four pm, we had a flurry of wet snow. It only lasted a few minutes, but was a taste of winter a bit on the early side for everyone. Still, my Iona nasturtiums are doing ok:
TTFN and be well. Peace!
Cloud reflecting the still-strong sun above Oban Esplanade.
In these parts, things often get more dramatic just after sunset.
Hello again
...to an early afternoon build-up of beautiful cauliflower clouds...
...to a glorious evening glow...
...Oban in spring is full of surprises:
Daffies that thrive despite a hideous wire-mesh fence, ...
... a promise of beautiful weather beyond the horizon...
...a glory of light and colour across the harbour...
...a procession of swans, and, finally, ...
...an illusion of swan after sunset.
Peace!
Just before midday, we walked to the train station of Oban for her train. Some impressions:
Yes, MB, that's you on the train there, beyond the reflections... :)
And this is another one, a few paces further out:
Oban marina and one of the mountains on Mull through the metalwork of a fishing boat in Oban harbour.
Guess what is represented in the photo above.
Hiya again!
The tide was out, probably slack water just then. In the photo above, you can see the freshwater of the Lorne river feeding into the harbour through a culvert. Very peaceful, isn't it?
I was delighted to find an old acquaintance moored at the North Pier.
The wheelhouse is a wonderful amalgam of old and new and the captain has installed a kind of organ that is worked with these pull-strings.
I was too shy to ask the engineer's mate to pull on one of those strings -- I think they're the captain's prerogative...
The same day, the evening was really pretty:
The next day and the next and today have been really gorgeous as well. 
The lovely weather has given me a chance to test my lawnmower -- it still works!
Ben Cruachan on the horizon, with a dusting of snow; view from Pulpit Hill, Oban.
By four pm the sun was sinking fast but bathing the town in a warm glow:
More some other time. Cheerioh and slàinte! (= "health" in Gaelic).
Hello again
No, I wasn't all that shaken, but the wind was tearing at the shed (and I'm still learning to use my camera properly). Still, I like the colours here. Not sure yet what the damage to the lawnmower is.
The gunk that came out of those bins, and the smell, were unspeakable.
If you click on the photo above, you will see a metal fence set into the stone wall. It was making ominous creaking sounds as I was taking that photo, and I was truly afraid the pressure of all the debris behind it, and a foot of water, was going to breach the fence -- a solid, heavy-duty corrugated steel fence with sturdy verticals and strong horizontals. It didn't yield but it has a noticeable bent in it where one of the verticals gave way by about an inch.
There wasn't much clearance on Saturday...
Or this yellow unidentifiable object:
From my kitchen window, I could see a long piece of roundwood, probably an unused telegraph pole, lying across the cleared patch of what used to be "my" wilderness and should be a Community Garden come spring. 
This morning the "Garden Brigade" turned up in their reflecting overalls to clear some of the debris and junk that has washed up and got stuck in the burn upstream from the wee footbridge. It's quite a collection, some of it still useable:
It was a gloriously sunshiny day until, quite suddenly, at about four pm, we had a flurry of wet snow. It only lasted a few minutes, but was a taste of winter a bit on the early side for everyone. Still, my Iona nasturtiums are doing ok:
TTFN and be well. Peace!
