Sick Man in Stornoway

One thing I wanted to experience was worship at The Free Church of Scotland in Stornoway. Here is the building on Kenneth Street which reputedly has the largest Sunday evening congregation in the U.K.. Katy was to make it to church on Sunday morning but sadly, not me. This was the church building taken Friday evening before an excellent dinner at the nearby Thai restaurant. Most church buildings on the islands are of a dull functional design. One exception is the ugly modern R.C. building in South Uist that looks like a huge T.V. tipped on its screen.
Saturday morning, walking round the town, my breathlessness which had been getting worse with any exertion was so bad we decided to risk a visit to the local hospital. It was not a brief encounter I left the hospital on Tuesday having been given I.V. diuretic to remove 6 litres of fluid that Saturday. Relieved of that liquid I no longer had fluid on the lungs disturbing my breathing. I had already seen my doctor at home who said the local hospital has told him I had an enlarged heart. They had not told me. The doctor was to refer me to their cardiology department but I finished up in The Western Isles Hospital instead. My main frustration with this was no church for me on Sunday.
The doctor who admited me was from Saudi Arabia but most nurses were local. The dear lady on the right turned out to be a member of the Free Church and as I was unable to get to church she phoned to get the church to come to me. The assistant minister from the church visited after 9 pm that night and I was most grateful.

The hospital's care was excellent. after the holiday i wrote to the local paper and they published my letter.

"Earlier this month I was on holiday in your beautiful Hebrides when I
was increasingly short of breath so i visited A & E at The Western
Isles Hospital, Stornoway. I was seen right away and spent the next
three days in the hospital.

I should like to thank the staff there, doctors, nurses and others,
who treated me in medical ward 2. Their care was superb. It was like
being looked after by friends. Special appreciation too for the
hospital catering. That department should send someone to London to
teach hospitals here how to produce good food.

I am now telling my friends that if they must fall ill on holiday,
the place to be is Stormoway.

Finally, thank you too to your kind free Church Minister who came to
the hospital late Sunday evening to visit a stranger unable to get to
his church that day.

Yours in appreciation of Hebridean care,"

After Katy's B&B booking finished the hospital allowed her to stay in their nurses hostel.
The ferry for Ullapool leaving Stornoway. It sails twice a day but never on Sunday. On their Sabbath just about everything closes. One garage i believe remains open and we saw it displays a sign to the effect that thieves and shoplifters will be reported to the police and banned for life, EVEN ON A SUNDAY.
This statue commemorates the herring girls who used to accompany the fishing fleet, gutting the fish and putting them in barrels of brine.In 1913 the Fishery Officer based in Stornoway reported that in May and June of that year, 2400 women had left for the herring ports of Shetland and the east coast of Scotland, with 1613 of them later proceeding down to Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Payment might have been one shilling a barrel between the three a crew, with an additional sixpence being paid following the final packing. They might be working from 6am to late at night, five days a week but finishing at 6pm Saturday.