Spate enables counter revolution

The rain has washed away all the seagull shite and the town looks a lot cleaner as everyone comes back to life and emerges into the Thursday morning sunshine. The spate in the river had an unforeseen consequence for the young swans that had taken over the harbour. The older pair had been moping around between the A96 bridge and the Jubilee. Obviously they couldn’t stay in that area with the spate so they went downstream and ousted the upstarts. Seems the older male has a few marks from another battle but he is back in control of the harbour.

A town centre Herring Gull enjoys the Wednesday evening sky clearing to reveal a town with a lot less white streaks per square inch - for the moment, for the moment. Only two days to go to the Habourfest now, an uncontrollable wave of excitement mounts throughout Nairnshire.

It's rubbish

A reader writes,

'As another weekend fades into the sunset, the steady drain on batteries can be heard from the tourist's cameras at the harbour as they capture essence of Nairn.

Behind them are the folks back home, and even more immediately behind them are the usual end of weekend over flowing bins. Gulls pick at the chip papers and the wind drags the discarded rubbish into the harbour. Bins are not so pretty to look at but any chance of a few more please Mr Highland Council?'

On the weed

Seems the battles on the river may not be over. The new residents are resting in the habour, the former residents (the vanquished) are split up. The female it seems is waiting outside the habour and the male is moping about above the town bridge feasting on weed and brown bread (pic above), perhaps getting ready to go back down to the habour for a rematch. It is rather sad and six cygnets are dead as a direct result but nature is nature.

Not a comeback

This is not a comeback, not even a proper gurn.

Showies affected by global warming

The seasons are all mixed up yes and now the final proof. The showies are here. Rumours abound that some folk are upset by all this and are not into 'all the fun of the fair' if it is to be with us all summer long. Oh sod it, let's just turn Nairn into Disneyland!

Do you really like cheap petrol?

Psst want some cheap petrol? Do you have trouble getting through the day with out using any? Are you a real hard core carbon freak? Help is now at hand. Satisfy your craving at Petrol Prices.com. A correspondent recommends we use our local garages as they are the cheapest. The site is free to use it seems but your e-mail has to be registered.

Death in the habour - end of 2007's cygnet show before it even started

It seems the resident swans returned yesterday with six cygnets. They were attacked by the 'squatters' and in the resulting battle the young were killed. An eye-witness reports 3 dead cygnets floating in the harbour today and the 'squatters', well they are now the residents. A tragedy and locals and visitors will be deprived of a great show.

Local Council elections. Who will be the lucky winner's keeping the Courthouse Gargoyle's company for the next four years?

So, we are to have an election after all, for a while it looked possible that there wouldn’t be one but eight hopefuls have put themselves forward for the public vote.

Three out of the four current Councillors are standing; Liz MacDonald (SNP), Sandy Park (Ind), and Laurie Fraser (Ind). The fourth, John Matheson, is taking his golden handshake and standing down.

The other five, some of whom are known about the town and some have never been heard of, are locals Graham Marsden (LibDem), Jim Lennon (Ind) and David Fraser (Ind). The unknowns, and so far unheard of’s in this household, are Bob Ross (Con) and Ron Stevenson (Lab).

Out of the eight, leaflets have only been received from three and, to be truthful, only one of these provides any in-depth information about what they stand for. Perhaps some of the others are riding on their previous performances? This time round this may not be such a foregone conclusion as in the past. Nairn no longer consists of four wards with one Councillor in each, it will now be one ward with four Councillors. So, where previously it could be relied on that a fair whack of the vote could come from concentrating on keeping everyone within the ward being represented happy and not being too bothered about upsetting those in other wards, now there will be a bigger reliance of having to have get a larger slice of more voters to win. Could this provide an opportunity for disgruntled voters to have a ‘payback’ vote?

This is certainly going to be one of the most interesting local elections for a long time, apart from the changes to the wards there will also be a change in how we actually vote and, as well as being interesting, it will also be very confusing to some voters. The Single Transferable Vote System will be used for the first time, full details and an explanation can be found here:

For a start, you have to put a number beside each candidate, not a cross. Then, in our case because there are eight candidates, you decide who your first preference is then your second, third and up to eighth. On top of this it would seem that you don’t have to ‘rate’ all eight and can pick as many as you like. Reading it it’s not as confusing as it seems but for many voters confronted by this at the polling station for the first time could result in much bemusement. Let’s hope there will be some literature appearing to provide an easy guide on how to use the system.

There is a note of caution about what will happen after the vote though with potential worries about the counting system.

With just over two weeks to go, let’s see how things hot up!

Swan tales

During stormy weather a few weeks ago this young swan fell foul to a feathered territorial battle and ended up bruised, battered and exhausted on a footpath near to the river.

The SSPCA were called and the Inspector came out. He gave the youngster a check over and decided to relocate him to a place of safety away from the battle scene and the marauders.

Off they went with the swan safely tucked under the Inspector's wing!

Nairn's first webcam?

Is it? Try here if you don't feel like going down the beach today - just have a look on-line instead. The kind person that installed it is not sure how long it will stay however.