Today has been rather exciting for a change. The day would probably have been even more exciting if I had (a) not overslept, (b) not had a headache all day, and (c) had not been half asleep all day.
I knew there was something going on with the weather when I left the house this morning. After getting up late, putting on the full wet weather gear over my clothes, donning my cycle helmet, and fetching my bike from the shed, I wondered after setting off down the road why it seemed such hard work turning the peddles. Then I squinted sideways in the rain, and spotted that the rain was horizontal.
It’s funny how rain stings, and wind decreases your general will to live after a while of trying to force yourself in the direction it’s coming from.
So - I arrive at work, and huddle in my cosy office for the best part of the day. I say “best part” because at 2pm we lost electricity. We also got informed that our normal exit from the estate (I work deep in the bowels of a country estate) had been blocked by a fallen tree. “That’s okay - we can take the old road out past the marina”… well, we could of for about ten minutes, until a tree fell across that route too.
Luckily some handy chap with a chainsaw turned up, and cleared the road in minutes.
The clock ticked on, and we found out the power was not going to return in a hurry - so various emergency processes went into place at work - informing clients, arranging to work from home, and so on. I quickly invited several developers to work from my house tomorrow. We have a huge dining table, and wireless internet access… what more do you need?
Of course it’s sods law that our electricity or internet connection will disappear tomorrow now.
My journey home was something of an adventure. You try cycling with a 40mph tail wind…
(p.s. the photo at the top of the blog comes from the BBC News website covering the storm)