Whale spotting

We have been dodging a whale in the Bay here at Oban the last couple of days.  There is some uncertainty as to its species but it is big about 20 odd feet long with a hump and big T bar tail.  I along with most of the crew have been trying to photograph it but this shot is much better than anything I have managed. http://goo.gl/swA1a

Travel disruption nationwide

Seems to be no end to this winter weather. We did one sailing across
to Craignure this morning and had a lot of trouble getting in to the
extent we went in astern eventually and all the traffic on board had
to turn around to get off. The rest of our scheduled sailings for
this day have been cancelled, along with the majority of the West
Coast.
The gales are from the East and most places are not sheltered from
this direction, the (previously) prevaling direction being west or
south west.
Next go is tomorrow morning, but things don't look good.

Spotted on a wardrobe this morning

Nosey Parker.

Up a ladder

The day was spent pleasantly enough going up and down a ladder polishing the port side of the boat, this after washing it down and rinsing off.  I then set about the starboard side to find that I have become old, it was a case of either finish the job and fall over in a stupor or go home and fall asleep in a chair.  I chose the latter.  Anyway I think the photo shows that I have done a reasonable job on the bits I did do.

Why do we have DST?

I am an early riser, at 6:15 today I looked out at the wintry scene above and across at the morning twilight.  Which was lovely, and at that time of the morning there are few folk around to appreciate it which brings me onto my blog writing today.

Why do we continue to have the clock changes for winter time when we do?  The winter solstice, when the sun is at its lowest in the sky, and the daylight is at its shortest, occurs on the 21st of December.  Some 2 months earlier on the last Sunday of October we put our clocks back to GMT, the sun then rises at 7:15 and sets at 16:45.  By the 21st of February the days are getting longer and the sun rise and set times are the same as at the time change in October.  As things are at the moment however it is still more than a month till we change the clocks again and "spring" forward to British Summer Time on the 31st of March.  By then the sun is rising at 5:53 and setting at 18:51.

Would it not make so much more sense to put the clocks forward at the end of February?  We would enjoy an extra hour of daylight in the evening, and it will still be getting light by 6:45 in the morning so that should keep the farmers and school children happy and we won't need to put the lights on for another hour.  Better for the environment and our general well being.