The Untied Kingdom? - the British thread 2021

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  • Rough night here, too.
    Weather coming from the west, so rain battering the bedroom windows as though someone was chucking gravel at them. Nice and sunny now, but the wind is still cold and blustery. According to the shipping forecast this morning our bit of the channel is to expect winds of force 8 or 9.
    I will not be strolling down to the cliff top to take a look, although undoubtedly some intrepid (foolish?) people will.
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    Our house is pretty sheltered and being deaf I don't hear much anyway, but I'm informed by my husband it was a windy night here too. In the great storm of 87 I'd spent the night with my parents, as I'd been out with them and my brother to celebrate my dad's birthday. It took me hours to get from Kilburn where they lived to Dulwich where I worked. I remember stepping over trees on the way. By the time I got there, the school was closed anyway. I think I walked home to Sydenham. My husband drove in to the West End for work via Blackheath so he could pick up a colleague. That took him quite a while too.
    Today I'm going out in a bit for my daily walk, I expect it'll be very windy down by the Thames.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    I was in NW London when the 1987 storm struck. I was in a building with a courtyard design, and the sheer force of the wind blew in a couple of windows, as well as blowing the copper sheeting off the roof of another part of the building.
  • I was in south west London for the 1987 storm, with a day off in lieu as we'd been burning the midnight oil getting some interim results out, so I slept through it, but woke up to a world flattened and gratitude I wasn't trying to get to work through the chaos. We walked across Putney Heath, Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park to see the aftermath.

    This was noisy, but not so bad. More disturbed by daughter struggling to breathe and having to feed her more antihistamine at 3am.

    Here it wasn't as special as the 1989 and 1991 storms were in the south west. That 1989 storm took out a tree next to my parent house, which shredded the tree it landed on, and that debris took out all the window on one side of the house and round one of the corners. I was home minding the house, trying to board up windows with the minimum of damage, with petrified dog and toddler, following me from room to room across broken glass.
  • Here it wasn't as special as the 1989 and 1991 storms were in the south west. That 1989 storm took out a tree next to my parent house, which shredded the tree it landed on, and that debris took out all the window on one side of the house and round one of the corners. I was home minding the house, trying to board up windows with the minimum of damage, with petrified dog and toddler, following me from room to room across broken glass.

    January 1990 is the one that sticks with me in the south-west (I grew up there). I remember tiles coming off the roof and watching on TV the footage from Devon and Cornwall of whole rooves just being pealed off.
  • NenyaNenya Shipmate
    Hailing here now.

    Mr Nen's weather app assures me I'll be able to take a walk in about 15 minutes...
  • daisydaisydaisydaisy Shipmate
    I’m rather glad that, even though it’s rather windy here, the temperatures aren’t too low - yesterday I discovered that a gizmo in my central heating system isn’t working, which explains why the house has been rather cold for the last few days. An engineer is due this afternoon.

    As for dinners - for the last 3 evenings I’ve been celebrating a reduced-price cauliflower (I can’t grow them successfully) with a rather nice cauli cheese using meltable vegan cheese. Today it’ll be vegan sausages - I bought & froze rather a lot when they were on special offer, so it’s an easy lazy option.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    We had just returned to Orkney after David's sister's wedding in Colchester when the 1987 storm hit (it poured with rain on her wedding day), and we couldn't quite believe that such a storm had hit the south of England but left Orkney unaffected.

    Last night was a bit blustery here with some fairly heavy rain, but nothing worse than that, and at the moment the sun's splitting the trees. :)

  • Windy here overnight, but a bit calmer today, with blustery showers. The latter are welcome, as they are conveniently washing seagull-poop from the roof (and side) of my car...
    :wink:
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Piglet wrote: »
    ... at the moment the sun's splitting the trees.
    Scrub that - it's pissing with rain again ... ☔
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    The wind always sounds quite impressive on the 25th floor, although I think we've had less of it than some of you. Showery and blowy here today.

    This morning we went out to buy fish on the market, and thence to the speech therapist. I have got the Wash Ing on, and am contemplating either starting on the dinner (Portuguese fish stew) or doing some Iron Ing. I admit to feeling underwhelmed by either task.

    I bought a parsley plant yesterday. If it's not raining too much later, I'll go and plant it out in the garden.
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    The wind has died down, but there's a very threatening cloud hoving into view, darkening all beneath it.
  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    Our walk was very pleasant if a tad on the blowy side. The odd drops of rain, but nothing like yesterday's wetness. On the way back husband popped into the supermarket for things things we need for tonight's dinner (flatbread and humous) and tomorrow's (pasta with sage). He also came out with some tulips for me and some hot cross buns, which were very nice with a cup of tea when we got back.
    This afternoon I'm not doing very much, a bit of knitting and a bit of surfing, and maybe an exercise video if I get too chilly.
  • I was at boarding school in Kent when the 1987 storm hit - I don't think I was in a room under the eaves any more by then, but I do remember a group of us gathering in someone else's dorm, when the window blew in - thankfully the curtain kept the glass from hitting anyone.

    The next morning was apocalyptic - so many trees had fallen that the landscape had changed! I particularly remember that the windows on the windward side of the school were so plastered with mud that you couldn't see out of them. I went with the CDT teacher to collect his chainsaw from where he'd left it to be serviced and hardly recognised the roads, we did a lot of squeezing round debris, and when we got there it was a bit like a mad scientist's lab with the chainsaw guys literally throwing machines together from their scrap bins.

    The main building of the school lost most of its tiles (they weren't replaced until the following summer, after I'd left) and there was a tree down across the front drive, while farm buildings and oast houses we could see from the school had visible damage. The electricity was off - thankfully the kitchens ran on gas - and after two days it was decided that we all had to go home. A lot of people's parents were off the phone, so kids were arriving unannounced and unexpected - I know that I went in a carful of kids from Essex, I can't remember whether it was a social worker or a staff member that took us now, but I do remember that my parents were off the electricity too when I got there. Essex wasn't as bad as Kent had been, but it was pretty bad.
  • MMMMMM Shipmate
    edited March 11
    We were having the wooden window frame/sill under our front window replaced (it was a bodge by the people before us) and it had been left overnight with just a sliver of wood to hold the glass. It survived, thankfully.

    I remember vaguely thinking overnight ‘it’s a bit windy’ but only really being woken up when the street lamps went pop. We only had a mains radio at the time and as there was no electricity, we had to sit in the car to find out what was going on on the car radio.

    MMM
  • daisydaisydaisydaisy Shipmate
    At the time of the Great Storm I was working for a freight haulier in their head office in Birmingham where we just had a strong breeze. However, trying to contact the regional offices in the SE felt like they’d fallen off the planet, with no response by phone and all computer connections down.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited March 11
    Ha! I slept through the 1987 hurricane, apart from waking for a few moments whilst a neighbour's dustbin lid rolled down the street (we lived on a hill).

    Next morning, no electricity, but I just reckoned that perhaps a few cables had come down. For some reason, neither Mrs BF nor I thought to tune in to our portable radio - no, I set off down the hill to the station, to go to work in London. I was met by the son of our next-door neighbour, who calmly told me the news that there were no trains or buses running anywhere in Kent...

    Back home, a quick listen to the radio, and we finally learned what a catastrophe had occurred. Our house wasn't damaged at all, though the lawn was covered in leaves and other debris, and neither was My Old Mum's house (apart from a piece of fencing that was down).

    Later in the day, I managed to phone my Aunt, who lived in a house in an exposed position on the clifftop east of Brighton. She told me that the gale had taken off the roof of the house, and blown the windows out, and that the heavy rain that followed was causing the ceilings to collapse.

    Other than that, she said, she, and the dog, were OK.
  • DiomedesDiomedes Shipmate
    My husband slept right through the 1987 hurricane in spite of two chimney pots coming down into the front from and several large trees uprooting across the road. When I returned from a nightshift the area looked like a warzone and he was still slumbering peacefully
  • We were in a C17, timber framed, lath and plaster house at the time of the 1987 storm.
    It swayed about a bit in the fiercest gusts, but I told myself that it had been standing there for 300years, so wasn't likely to fall down for a bit of a blow.
    It didn't.
  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    edited March 11
    In spite of hearing our fences rattle about every night of late and knowing that we have absolutely lost a mature hebe to the winds, I am finding these stories strangely comforting.

    I did lie there last night wondering about the roof.
  • Wesley JWesley J Shipmate
    edited March 12
    What frightful(ly) fascinating weather stories! Glad you are all safe!

    Now the gale force winds have reached the Continent, and it is pouring down too. There is a severe weather warning in place overnight until Friday morning; it should calm down soon though, or so we hope.
    Ethne Alba wrote: »
    In spite of hearing our fences rattle about every night of late and knowing that we have absolutely lost a mature hebe to the winds, I am finding these stories strangely comforting. [...]
    I agree!
  • We were in a C17, timber framed, lath and plaster house at the time of the 1987 storm.
    It swayed about a bit in the fiercest gusts, but I told myself that it had been standing there for 300years, so wasn't likely to fall down for a bit of a blow.
    It didn't.

    The more flexible nature of the construction was probably an advantage.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    1987 not so memorable in Scotland. Otoh, since living in this house (since 1990) we've had strong winds rip up the flat roof on the back half of the property - got up to find water running down the light fittings, and falling like a beaded curtain in the doorway to the scullery. And on another occasion bring down the 40ft cherry tree at the bottom of the garden.

    Not my favourite weather.
  • Here the traditional roof is (once thatch went out of widespread use) composed of felt sealed with tar so no edges for the wind to get under and curved such that the wind pushes the roof down onto the walls.
  • Fawkes CatFawkes Cat Shipmate
    As we're doing Great Storm of 1987: I was at university in Bristol, out of the affected area in the south-east. But there was, in effect, a bank holiday the following day - as in, all the banks were shut because they didn't get any cash delivered from London.
  • I was a small child, in London, in 1987. A tree went through the window of a house two doors down.

    When we went into school the next day we made a BIG BOOK in which each one of us got a page where we drew ourselves and had a few words (“X was very scared...") And on the last page we had "And Pure Sunshine slept through it all!"
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    It was the night before my OU exam in something or other Earth Sciences, and I was starting a cold. I woke to the screeching of the wind, and looked out to see the trees over the road and at the foot of the garden bent over and thought "Oh, its a hurricane," and lay down again. Some time later I realised there was a problem. I shut all the windows (wrong, I recalled later from reading an Aussie book of what to do in the case of a cyclone - you need to allow the pressures to equalise), and padded down to sleep on the sofa which was not under the chimney. And then realised that the grid cables up the road were shorting with blue flashes, so turned all the power off. Then I went out to check the neighbours, as trees round the garden - mature limes - had fallen. I did not wear my hard hat. Iron guttering was falling. We were all OK.
    In the morning, I could not contact the OU, but decided the best thing to do was to attempt to get to the exam centre, fail, and then claim I'd tried. I couldn't get my car out as there wasa tree between the block and the garages, and two across the drive. None had hit the block, but there were others down in the back garden and a string along the back that had fallen across each other. And others into the neighbour's garden next door.
    A bunch of guys from Homebase turned up out of the blue a nd cleared the drive. I set off up the road to meet a fellow student who couldget her car out, climbing over several trees on the way. (The phones between us were working.) Off we set to Chatham. The roads were clear all the way!
    There we met a small group of students attempting to get the principal of the college to allow us to sit the exam. I was not party to this, and kept quiet as he explained that there was no electricity, no heating, no water, and it wouldn't be legal. One student had come by bike, as the drive from his house though a wood was blocked and he could carry his bike between the trees. another had got a taxi from Thanet. To my delight, it was cancelled and we made out ways back home, where I could join in the clearance.
    The people from the houses behind had joined in cutting down the trees between us, which they had wanted to be removed for some time. They did not notice that their houses were whole, while the matching houses with no trees had had the gables blown out - pressure difference.
    Somewhere in school was a big book of the night. I expect it has gone by now.
  • I was living in St John's Wood and had to get to a meeting at the Stock Exchange. Transport was crippled and it was like walking through bomb damage: streets littered aith tiles, fallen trees, masonry, glass.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    I lived in St John’s Wood while at university! Elm Tree Road, right behind Lords cricket ground. You could see the pitch if you stood on the corner of our wall. 🙂
  • Hamilton Terrace, just around the corner. Bought a flat in the 1970s that hadn't been updated since 1937: 2 pin sockets, walls painted in green gloss paint, and what seemed like a million mice 😯.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    Hamilton Terrace, just around the corner. Bought a flat in the 1970s that hadn't been updated since 1937: 2 pin sockets, walls painted in green gloss paint, and what seemed like a million mice 😯.

    We were there in 1976 - 1978! We will have walked past each other on the High Street! We were the scruffy hippy types taking the empties back to the pub!

  • ThomasinaThomasina Shipmate
    In the late 50s i had a bedsit in Kent Terrace. Prett basic but landlady was very broadminded for those days. Had to cook on one solid plate electric cooker on the floor. Wish takeaways and microwaves had been invented then!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    The rain here mercifully held off for the 20 minutes I had to wait for the bus after work this afternoon (I caught the morning bus without having to wait, thereby using up my good bus fortune quota for the day).

    Now on the train heading home, via Tessie's for a few bits and pieces and then the chippy to get supper.
  • A walk in the drizzle this morning, then a morning spent prepping for tomorrow morning's tutorial (parenting) and an afternoon marking (children and inequality). Another marking pile finished.
    I'm awaiting the arrival of some Thai food.
  • NenyaNenya Shipmate
    I had a lovely Zoom catch up with friends this afternoon and our usual Friday Zoomy wine-drinking. Mr Nen and I have just had a very nice chicken curry washed down with an Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc. The trouble with the wine was that it went away rather quickly.
  • PendragonPendragon Shipmate
    I wasn't quite two and slept through in 87, as our house got off lightly despite being close to the English Channel. One of the storms in those years knocked a chimney off the house we then moved to though. The worst one was Mum had to take my brother to a specialist hospital appointment at the time of the 1990 storm. A significant part of the route back (all across country) was wooded, and apparently it was quite hairy. Got a bit drenched on the way back from the school run this morning, but the rest of the day was better. Had to go into the city centre to pay two cheques into the bank this morning.
  • I’m having a Hazy Jane beer, and we’ve just booked an apartment in Brighton for a week in August, overlooking the marina. I don’t know the south coast at all and I’m looking forward to walking on the Downs.

    In early December 2012 a friend of mine and I walked part of the South Downs, essentially from the A272 north of Chichester east to Poynings (we would have done longer but he had an appointment he had to keep with his supervisor in Cambridge). We had many weathers. I quite enjoyed it, despite one day of driving rain. There was also some very good food. I think that it was in Steyning that I had a superb roast cod in a pub, and very good steak pie at the Royal Oak (I think it was called) in Poynings, where our ride to somewhere outside Crawley was picking us up to drop us off on the rail line into London. I didn't mind the rain, but I had an attack of vertigo on the Fulking Escarpment. This required a couple of pints at The Devil's Dyke - to rebalance myself, understand.
  • Thomasina wrote: »
    Prett basic but landlady was very broadminded for those days.

    Forgive me, but I have to ask how you tested that, or what constituted 'broadminded' at that time.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Nenya wrote: »
    ... washed down with an Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc. The trouble with the wine was that it went away rather quickly.
    That is the trouble with nice wine, isn't it?

    Oyster Bay is a favourite of mine - I'll always get some if it's on special offer.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    We’ve just had a family Zoom with my son and little Enkelin. Her first words are ‘I love you’ which she says whenever she cuddles her parents or her teddies. The problem is that they are in Georgian and unpronounceable to us English folk!

    She’s nearly saying ‘Omi’, she calls me ‘Mi’.

    Her first English word is ‘car’ just like her Papa’s was. :mrgreen:
  • ThomasinaThomasina Shipmate
    @Pangolin Guerre wrote
    Thomasina wrote: »
    Prett basic but landlady was very broadminded for those days.

    Forgive me, but I have to ask how you tested that, or what constituted 'broadminded' at that time.

    Forgive me, PG, before I even think about answering that, might I ask how old you are?
  • Wesley JWesley J Shipmate
    edited March 13
    Riiight. The storm is here, in Continental WesShire, in quite some force - and damage to the house (which is solid-stone railway building from the mid-1800s) hath occurred: a big, heavy chunk of under-roof cladding from the overhanging roof just came down, ... witnessed by several, clearly shocked people waiting for the train!

    Thanks be to God that nobody was standing just there when that thing came down from up on high, people might have got killed or severely injured!!

    And all I was hoping for was a quiet weekend of cleaning and tidying and ironing in the house, but then, maybe not.
  • NenyaNenya Shipmate
    Yikes @Wesley J , that's scary! We had damage to our house in The Great Storm of 1987 and it was awful, though not as bad as some people around us had.

    We had another very noisy night of wind and rain. I woke at 1.30 and was still awake at 5 so am not feeling my best today and hoping tonight will be quieter. I've been out for a walk and a bit of shopping and have quite a long list of jobs to get through this afternoon.

    However, Mr Nen has been busy this morning installing various plugs and wires to up the speed of the internet in various parts of the house and it's now whizzy-fast in my little study. :smiley:
  • How scary Wesley J! I hope you don’t have too much that needs some work.

    I was awake from about 3.30 due to other people snoring! So I got up around 6.30. Morning tutorial delivered and then I pottered in the garden planting up a new delivery of plants. Just come in as it started to rain.
    I’m assuming tonight is family online games as usual.
  • PriscillaPriscilla Shipmate
    We’ve had a mixed day so far - sunny intervals and ferocious showers with hail. The car thermometer reckoned it was 7.5 degrees this morning when we went to do our shopping, but there was what my father would have called a lazy wind - doesn’t blow around you, blows straight through you - which made it feel much colder.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Hereabouts it’s been busy cycling through sun, cloud, rain, wind and hail with a steady ground of bloody cold.

    Bijou shopette to get the paper, teabags, limes, Serrano ham and daffodils, then zonk out in front of the rugby.
  • daisydaisydaisydaisy Shipmate
    Each time I think it’s safe to go out for the seemingly obligatory stroll the hail arrives so I settle down to another cup of tea and hot cross bun (I know, I know... it’s too early).

    So instead of strolling I’ve been Getting Things Done, including washing a couple of saris to see if they’ll become soft enough to be turned into things I’ll wear in everyday life (I still have a few saris that can be worn properly if needed).
  • NenyaNenya Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Bijou shopette to get the paper, teabags, limes, Serrano ham and daffodils, then zonk out in front of the rugby.
    I love bijou shopettes - the mix of things in the list is always fascinating! Mine today included Bournville chocolate, yogurt and coffee beans. (Only the yogurt was for me.)

    I'm working my way down my list and enjoying ticking things off.
  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    Gorgeous blue skies and gentle warm sunshine up here!

    Went out for a spin in the car -reacquainting ourselves with chemists, farm shop and the Co-op.

    Then gardened.
  • Priscilla wrote: »
    We’ve had a mixed day so far - sunny intervals and ferocious showers with hail. The car thermometer reckoned it was 7.5 degrees this morning when we went to do our shopping, but there was what my father would have called a lazy wind - doesn’t blow around you, blows straight through you - which made it feel much colder.
    Much the same here. Walked to Asda early, only to find that I'd left my debit card at home! Took the bus home, then returned by car (still only 8am). My wife had an online Welsh lesson, then I went to a farm shop to buy a Simnel cake. There was one thing my wife needed at - yes! Asda - so dropped in on the way back, however there was a long queue so I came home. We watched the Rugby, and you can where I went afterwards (on foot again) ...
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