Stormy Weather

Given the paucity of my posts over the last few years I don't suppose many noticed that I've not even been commenting for over a week. I was happily beavering away last Thursday when yet another suspected bout of urosepsis hit me. Thanks to the usual exceedingly prompt hospital treatment, within a couple of hours I was on pretty strong IV antibiotics and some days later I was back catching up with real life. Having just about caught up I'm back in Blogland. Hopefully I'll get some blogs read this evening.

In 2005 we had a storm. It was before named storms (which started in 2015 with Storm Aileen). The storm of 11–12 January, 2005, affecting northern Scotland, had a particularly severe impact in the Outer Hebrides, particularly The Uists, resulting in widespread damage to property and infrastructure, and in the loss of five lives. Through the night, the severe storm moved over Northern Scotland before eventually starting to ease off. The remote North Rona in the Western Isles recorded a mean wind speed of 100mph with gusts over 115mph. with a top gust of 134mph which made it a Category 3 Hurricane. In addition to the physical impact on the coast, there was widespread marine flooding. 

Somewhere around 2am I lost my conservatory. I ceased worrying and went to bed and slept through the rest of it. The conservatory wasn't small at 6m x 2.5m. By the morning it had all but disappeared. 

Last week we had Storm Ciara wreaking havoc throughout the British Isles. Well, up to a point.  We on Lewis were not affected apart from some ferry cancellations. Perhaps we are just better prepared. Our winds apparently got to nearly 60mph but didn't get as strong as in Storm Brendan in January. 

Storm Brendan didn't do much damage up here either although the winds were fierce - gusting 80mph. and they they did result in a lot of transport disruption and the closing for 5 successive high tides of The Braighe which isolates the peninsula on which I live as well as many of the causeways which join other islands.

The Difference A Day Can Make

Yesterday about 1700 hrs and storm force winds

Today about 1640 hrs and a mere light breeze

I know which I prefer.

Unhappy Birds

One of the things I forgot to do before the storm was take the bird table off the post. That'll be an oops then. The wind did it for me. In fact the whole base was torn apart. I've put the structure back below the post for the photo but it was actually blown as far as the far edge of the garden where the fence stopped it careering down to the sea. The next base will be stronger! However what is both upsetting and amusing is that the birds just can't work out what has happened. They keep going to their usual perches away from the bird table and then flying to it as if it were there and just looking very confused. 

Last Night

We had a storm. Another one. This one, however, was a Big Storm in terms of strength if not so big in terms of duration. It was all over in about 10 hours although the next one is rolling in from the Atlantic as I type. The winds reached 113 mph (182 kph) at Stornoway Airport just a few miles from here. It felt and sounded like a jet plane and a heavy goods train passing by at the same time. Ten years ago almost to the day I lost my conservatory in a hurricane lasting nearly 24 hours although that one also had gusts of 147 mph (237 kph).

75,000 homes in Scotland also lost power: many for the night and some are not yet back on. We were  off from around 2330 until 0930 and so was the cellphone network. Why do storms always feel worse at night and when there is no power and no communication?

This time the damage to my property was slight: the guttering on the conservatory, the chimney pot cowl (which I found about 100 m down the croft just by the sea), one of my compost bins has vanished completely and I've lost a few trees and bushes.   I've heard of a lot of damage round about and apparently there are film crews up near Stornoway where two houses have been badly damaged. I did meet this van which had been lifted from the side of the road and bodily thrown onto the beach. Try explaining that to the hire company.

Another storm is forecast for this evening but it's supposed to be fairly innocuous with winds just up to 80 mph. Hey ho. Wotthehellarchiewotthehell.

The Storm

One day last week we had a lightening storm. It's the second time I've experienced one here in Villeneuve and the second time I've managed to get a photo:

I'm Back Again

Hello.  I'm back in Blogland.  Apart from a few minutes yesterday when I posted a quickie on a news item I've not really had the opportunity to read or write much since Sunday morning.  I've had friends for dinner every evening and the days have been equally busy.  Yesterday we had a storm with gale force winds and the sea in the bay below the house boiled:

 

  

Today the sun shone.  The washing dried on the line in a stiff breeze and I cleaned all the windows to get rid of the salt - I can now see through them again.  In the afternoon it was warm enough to be in the garden in shorts trying to clear more weeds and prune back some of the bushes.  My decision as to what to do with some deciduous trees I'm growing but which will eventually obscure my neighbour's view was partly taken for me when the storm snapped the top two feet off a 9 ft high tree. And down in the bay the lobster fisherman tended his creels.