Today’s ferries have all been cancelled, primarily, I’m guessing, due to the howling gales that are battering my bedroom window - 66mph, I’ve been told. And I believe it. To describe it as whistling is doing it a disservice. The screeching coming from the slight opening in my kitchen window is enough to get me out of the warmth of my bed to clamp it shut. There, that’s better.

I’m up now, though. The kettle takes its time, but soon brings its high-pitched squeal when it’s time to pour. Before I strike the first match, I hear the tinkling sound of hailstones hitting my log burner - it’s a stormy morning.

All these sounds are loud against the quiet of the world outside, but they’re not noisy. There is, I’ve found, a difference.

Elle with her son Cailean get caught in the rain (Image: Elle Duffy)

I haven’t experienced much of October on Rum in the two years that I’ve lived here. The first year, I moved at the end of the month, just in time for the island’s Halloween party and as the trees were beginning to lose their amber leaves. And last year, of course, I was gone for the majority of the month, living on the mainland for the........

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