Hurricane Ophelia has been in the news (although technically it has been downgraded to a storm), and this morning (Monday) we were seeing the early effects.
Unlike Ireland, we were not in the main path of the storm, but it was showing its influence - the sky was a strange yellowish-grey this morning, with an ominous red sun. It was so dark that I had to keep the lights on in the house, and was definitely very strange, and more than a little eerie.
Later in the day, it became sunny and bright, but the wind got more powerful. I haven't been out, and while we were forecast gusts of up to 50 mph, I think we are past the worst, and, at least in my immediate vicinity, without any significant damage.
I hope that those of my fiends who are in Ireland, or in the parts of this country closer to the heart of the storm, are all safe and with their property undamaged.
Inevitably, there has been a lot of discussion of the Great Storm of 1987, which was exactly 30 years before the current storm.
I remember that storm: We lost a couple if trees from the garden in that storm (including the Victoria Plum, which was a shame- we had several trees which bore unappetising damsons, but the Victoria Plum was pretty much the only one we had which had edible fruit) and I am fairly sure that that was when the back garden wall came down and we found a cow wandering in the garden in the morning!
We were without power for about a week, which was not fun, as we had no heating other than a smoky fireplace in the living room, and no cooking facilities other than a tiny, camping gas single ring. I remember making arrangements to go and shower at a friend's house, as we were one of the last in the area to get our power back.
No doubt to those living in regions where hurricanes are common it all seems fairly minor, but we only get these events once every 30 years or so, and it's neither expected or familiar to us.
I hope those affected will be back to normal soon.
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