Survived the night

[Green Aura]

We went to bed last night with the start of some high winds and woke at about 4.30ish to see my husband peering through the window. The polytunnel had popped and he'd heard it. Nothing to be done at that point so I read for a while until the electricity popped too. It's just come back on.

It's a good job no-one could see us - my mother had five layers of clothing on, I had four and OH had three and we sat chatting round a ceramic heater made of four plant pots and half a dozen tea lights. Tea and porridge care of the camping stove and fortunately I'd baked yesterday so we had bread for butties. We were surprisingly comfortable (although my mother was incredibly crabbit because she couldn't watch TV ).

And it looks like it could all happen again tonight. Well, not the part about the polytunnel popping, that's a done deal. Fortunately it's all salvageable apart from a couple of bits of wood.

Can anyone remind me how long we've been talking about buying a generator?

And can someone explain how the boradband is working when we still have no landline - that went off about 9.30am

[Odsox]

Glad to hear you're all OK Maggie.
I guessed you had lost your leccy at least when Ish and FB went strangely quiet
Shame about the polytunnel though, all that work you did on it and now having to start again, and what about the plants you were overwintering ?
All OK here, I feel quite ashamed to report that nothing much happened here, just a bit breezy, although that "breeze" is supposed to last for a week or more I see, and turn cold.
Stay chipper, and about that generator .......

[Flo]

Good luck to those just over the border from Northumberland.

It's just wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee bang, flying bins and one or two around here and so far nothing so savage that we'd comment on it.

It just looks as if it's going to go on for a bit.

[diggernotdreamer]

It was terrible here all night, we have a wind blowing in from the south, but now it has changed direction and is blowing in from West and it is howling at the moment. We lost the internet for a good while yesterday, but not the phone (weird). The electric seems to be quite stable here now, they did a lot of work on it a few years back. It really has been to bad to go outside at all, so it's been a housework day (yuk!!!!). Keep safe and warm. Sorry about your tunnel GA, we all fear that happening, actually, my biggest fear is losing all the tin off the barn and byre roofs, I noticed they were a bit movey a few weeks ago, so I lie awake during the storms waiting for the sound of flying tin.

[ina]

We've got off lightly here, so far...

[diggernotdreamer]

Didn't get much sleep, the wind has been mental all night, you get to hear a lot in our storey and a half house, but the tin roofs seem to be still in place, still blowing quite hard

Edit: we now have snow and hail coming down as well as the wind

[Green Aura]

Well it went off at 3.30am and has just come back on. The leccy board even put a burger van in the village square giving out free burgers and chips - which were not particularly nice but quite welcome - you can only stomach so much porridge and reheated stew.

The worst bit of all this has been the effect it has had on my mother, who is quite confused anyway, and has not known what's been going on.

They've had to replace a downed pole today - hopefully that's the last of it for a while. The wind seemed to subside a couple of hours ago so fingers crossed.

[Flo]

Yep it doesn't help when the weather turns bad and the older folks aren't up to fending for themselves. Fingers crossed for you all. Especially as the forecast is for winds to pick up again.

[becks77]

Hoping you are all ok
Its blowing a gale down here on the south coast

[Green Aura]

It's getting a bit old now. We had electricity but no phone yesterday. Today the power went off at 4.45am and has just come back on. At least we had a phone to contact the Doctor, who came to see my mother. Nothing to be done, just keep her warm!

I thought it had all been fixed but I suppose the continuing high winds are revealing other weak spots in the system. I just hope it ends soon.

[Flo]

Doesn't sound like it will as there are amber weather warnings out for the central belt of Scotland for snow and ice with most of the rest of us getting just a yellow warning. Tomorrow yellow warnings of wind, rain, snow. With Thursday there being wind and rain. It ain't done with us this week yet.

[Green Aura]

How did everyone fare in yesterday's blasts? It missed us entirely I'm pleased to report, but I know it was blowing a hoolie in Ireland and further south here.

I hope everyone's OK.

[Odsox]

It was a fair bit stormy down here Maggie, but no damage thankfully.
The wind was storm force all day yesterday until about 7pm when it abruptly dropped and stayed calm all night.
Brilliantly sunny today (so far) so unfortunately my 3 days of sitting indoors doing nothing has come to an end, unless I can think up another excuse fairly quickly.

[diggernotdreamer]

We had a very bad day yesterday. Couldn't get the pig out for love nor money, so he had to cross his trotters for quite a few hours when there was a slight respite from the wind and rain for about 20 minutes. Kept all the doors to the outside closed, the wind can play havoc in tin roof buildings, so the hens had the run on the byre for the day (which amused the rabbits who live with the hens as they found the hay bales very exciting, so every cloud). As Odsox said, the wind suddenly dropped yesterday evening. We had a very clear starry night and then suddenly two huge claps of thunder and some lightening. This morning we had a dusting of snow, so quite bizarre.

[Green Aura]

I think sometimes you need a day of rest, after the event. The enforced idleness doesn't count, surely.