:57:04
(Wind whistles)
:57:06
(Day-Lewis) The wind shifted
slowly but steadily into the south,
:57:11
and as steadily started to blow
with increasing force,
:57:14
until, by the 10th of October,
:57:16
the Geo, the shells of Hellabrick,
the Ness and the cliffs themselves
:57:22
had vanished into the grey
sound and fury
:57:27
of a full gale from the southwest.
:57:30
It blew until the mess hut shook
and heaved beneath our feet.
:57:34
We expected to see it torn to pieces.
:57:36
It blew the water
out of Mill Loch and up into the air.
:57:40
A whirling water spout,
300 feet high.
:57:43
It blew the camera off its legs,
with Skeets on top
:57:46
and Carl underneath.
:57:49
It blew until at night
sleep was impossible,
:57:52
while every hut tugged
and strained at its mooring ropes,
:57:55
the roofs vibrating like drums,
steel guys humming and twanging,
:57:59
and each gust tearing at
the boards beside our heads.
:58:05
The yacht in the Voe heeled over
:58:07
until her keel showed
through the flurry.
:58:09
Alastair got to her
with a rescue party,
:58:11
who made fast a cable
:58:13
with a braking strain
of a ton and a half round her mast.
:58:17
It snapped in two minutes.
:58:20
The wireless mast was blown down,
:58:22
the stone dyke behind
the schoolhouse was blown over.
:58:26
Frankie, venturing out with me
:58:28
to see Mill Loch water spout,
stepped beyond the house
:58:30
and was picked up by a flann,
hurled 40 feet
:58:34
and rolled head over heels
down the hill.
:58:37
I had to go after her
on my hands and knees
:58:39
and crawl back to safety with her
bumping and laughing behind me.
:58:43
By the fourth day,
there were no fresh vegetables.
:58:47
By the fifth day,
:58:48
no fresh meat except caddie mutton,
which means one joint per person
:58:52
to make a square meal.
:58:54
By the sixth day,
no cigarettes left but Woodbines.
:58:57
On the seventh, not even Woodbines.