A weather eye, cartridge loading and a u-boat

[See update at foot of article]

It's odd. The more summer migrants that turn up, the more wintry the weather becomes. We're seeing Great Skua, Wheatear and Swallow quite regularly now, but here was some of Sunday's meteorological input...

With just over a week to go before the General Election 2015 to decide the make-up of the next UK government, it's nigh on impossible to put on the tv or the radio and not be bombarded with spin, speculation and cynical politicos spouting forth.

It is predicted, though by no means a certainty, that the Scottish National Party (SNP) will do well in Scotland, for despite losing last year's independence referendum, their membership has rocketed in the intervening months. Perhaps folk reckon that the promises made back then by the Westminster elite were emptier than hollow laughter?

The SNP leader and Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has confounded the political world by not playing fair. She has been 'accused' of positive campaigning, having an inclusive agenda and, worst of all, actually talking to actual voters. I don't think London can cope with stuff like that, as its negativity and lack of respect for other parties and voters alike, is too ingrained. We will see soon enough whether the Scottish population, and perhaps some of the UK's, has seen through the Westminster bluster and bile.

Yesterday, local events managed to shove the election lower down the agenda. A submarine was seen in Scapa Flow, purportedly from the Dutch Navy. Apparently the UK MoD refused to comment, but I'm sure there would have been a bit more activity if it was thought to be from a non-NATO country!

Here's the view from Tense Towers as the sub made its way out of the Flow.

Today at work, I had one of those sudden impulses that come along every once in a while. Nothing salacious, you understand, but the need to know was very strong. And I'm not very spontaneous, apparently. I urgently needed to ascertain, with little room for doubt, just how many printer toner cartridges you could fit into the back of a Ford Fiesta.

Plenty, as it turns out. I ran out of data, but not room, at 50. Who knew?

I had a morning bathed in warm sunshine, though everywhere I drove had just had rain, snow or hail. It was bizarre. Nice bizarre, but bizarre nonetheless.

Then, late this afternoon, I watched from home as more wintry showers tracked their way across Hoy and over West Mainland.

There's something satisfying, though not always comforting, in forecasting the weather by just looking out of the window. On Orkney, there's no place to hide, the weather has unrestricted access to all areas.

30/04/15 Update: Today's The Orcadian contained a report which indicated that there were two submarines seen on the same day. The Dutch one mentioned in the link above, but also another one, possibly Norwegian, which is the one I photographed later in the day.