One thing I never get use to living in the countryside next to the sea, is the gales. Especially when they come at night and you curl in a ball praying to God that everything will be OK. Hurrican Ophelia is said to be hitting Ireland and dear old Blighty tomorrow. Its supposed to have been graded to category three. The school bus is not running and we always think of people sleeping rough or travelling on planes, trains, over land and sea.
We will probably have no ESB (electricity) because nobody ever gets around to burying the electricity cables underground. Fences posts will need replacing and old corrugated roofs and old sheds will need replacing. Trees will block roads and tides will flood towns. Sheep and donkeys and cattle will find shelter behind an hedge or in a dip and sit on the grass to keep it dry for their dinner tomorrow.
All you can do is batten down the hatches and reach for a bottle from the top shelf and try to read and pray and hope no animals or humans are killed. At least we know these days when a storm is coming. If I don't answer any comments or put any on your blog its because we have no electricity due to the storm and not because somebody is too tight to put ten bob in the leccy meter. I will go and get the candles ready and check the torch is working. Keep safe and don't go outside. Try and read a book. Speak soon.
Here's a good poem that's very appropiate for the wind.
We will probably have no ESB (electricity) because nobody ever gets around to burying the electricity cables underground. Fences posts will need replacing and old corrugated roofs and old sheds will need replacing. Trees will block roads and tides will flood towns. Sheep and donkeys and cattle will find shelter behind an hedge or in a dip and sit on the grass to keep it dry for their dinner tomorrow.
All you can do is batten down the hatches and reach for a bottle from the top shelf and try to read and pray and hope no animals or humans are killed. At least we know these days when a storm is coming. If I don't answer any comments or put any on your blog its because we have no electricity due to the storm and not because somebody is too tight to put ten bob in the leccy meter. I will go and get the candles ready and check the torch is working. Keep safe and don't go outside. Try and read a book. Speak soon.
Here's a good poem that's very appropiate for the wind.
I am an insomniac, yet managed to sleep through the great gale of '87. I awoke to trees down everywhere, and had missed all the excitement. Hope you'll be |OK.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cro. Yes I remember when Seven Oaks became one oaks when the trees blew down in 1987 and a famous weather forecaster got his weather prediction wrong.
DeleteLike Cro, I slept right through the '87 gale and was woken by the phone ringing to tell me one of our trees was blocking the road. I didn't know what the woman was talking about. I hope Ophelia is not so bad as '87 and that everything remains standing and roofs stay on. I like Ted Hughes' poem, the words certainly make me think of a gale blowing!
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel. I like Ted Hughes poems. The house far out to see describes the Atlantic and other gales very well. At least our generation know the storms are coming. Thanks!
DeleteHope wind and rain is not as bad as you expect. No rain here for ages. The olives need some rain before picking begins.
ReplyDeleteKeep safe
Hi LA. Thanks for your comment. Wish we lived near you and the olives instead of wind and rain. If I ever built another house (once is enough isn't it Dave? Never again!) again it would have a basement and we would go down there until the storm passed. A bit like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ. Thanks!
DeleteLike Cro and Rachel I too slept through that storm and at the time I was like you living on the coast. It was only when driving to another area of the UK that I noticed lots of branches and a few trees down here and there, not that seeing them was much different to normal anyway.
ReplyDeleteI f you want to keep abreast of weather around our coasts then log onto
https://magicseaweed.com/North-Atlantic-Surf-Chart/2/?type=wind
Thanks for the weather site Heron. I just hope nobody gets hurt tomorrow and they stay indoors until it passes.
DeleteLooks like you are bang in the path Dave. Luckily it should pass by so long as the jet stream doesn't nudge it over. Keep safe.
ReplyDeleteThanks Philip for your kind words. I hope the livestock will be OK too and not much damage done.
DeleteCategory 2 was last I heard wind speed 150 kmh. These old Irish pubs are pretty solid. Be ok in there till it passes. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteCan't hold out as much hope for your plastic tunnel unfortunately.
DeleteHi Gwil. Our nearest pub is five miles away. We have a cider punch on the range and the terrier is snoring. Hopefully we will when Ophelia visits us tomorrow morning.
DeleteThe polytunnel survived storm Darwin and its got mesh on the door and on the back. But if it needs a new skin I will buy it one. Hope it doesn't though. Thanks!
DeleteDon't be running out to try to rescue it as it sails over the rooftops on its way to Scotland ;)
DeleteThe polytunnel is still with us Gwil. Its survived Darwin and now Ophelia. It was very frightening and I am glad its gone and we have electricity after 32 hours without any!
ReplyDelete