Where were you?
Mrs B and I were living on a busy street in Watford. Woke up about 02:30 to bins, signs and bits of fences blowing about the street. An hour later roof tiles were going rattle, rattle crash to the ground. Thought they were ours but actually next door which still had original slates rather then concrete pantiles. Tried to get into work but no trains so, in accordance with then instructions reported at local County Court - spent the morning filing warrants.
By 12:00 trains were running so went into London. Trees down, hoardings over roads etc but got to ofice by 14:00. Worked for an hour or so before some guy appeared an told me to go home. Never seen him B4 in my life but turned out he was what in today's parlance we'd call the deputy chief executive!!
So I walked back to Euston and got train home.
|
|
I was on honeymoon in Singapore, knew nothing about it till we read it in The Straights Times, and had to phone home to get my mum to drive round my place to see if the roof was still on.
|
Pfft - 'twas a mere breeze next to Hurricane Bawbag of 2011.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Bawbag
|
I was in my flat in Finchley. I'd done a late shift and had a few beers afterwards so slept through the lot.
Mid morning I got up to take the dog for a walk and noticed next doors fence was down.
Walked to the park and noticed Armageddon, trees and fences down everywhere, although Barnet Council did well and had cleared the trees blocking the roads.
|
>> I was in my flat in Finchley. I'd done a late shift and had a
>> few beers afterwards so slept through the lot.
Ahh that, even without beers, is The Lad's holiday trick. He retires to his little pup tent just before the French mountain thunderstorm threatens. While his Mother, Sister and I are defending the family tent against innondation d'eau he's snoring with his i-pod in his lugs!
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 15 Oct 12 at 22:32
|
>> Pfft - 'twas a mere breeze next to Hurricane Bawbag of 2011.
>>
>>
>> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Bawbag
Bawbag was nowt but a phart in comparison to the big 'un.
|
>>Bawbag was nowt but a phart in comparison to the big 'un
The 'big un' hit an area populated by society where 2 inches of snow grinds the counties to a halt.
Up here, where we still live in caves and eat our young 165mph gusts are good for drying the washing.
|
>> >>Bawbag was nowt but a phart in comparison to the big 'un
>>
>> The 'big un' hit an area populated by society where 2 inches of snow grinds
>> the counties to a halt.
>>
>> Up here, where we still live in caves and eat our young 165mph gusts are
>> good for drying the washing.
All those mens skirts blowing in the wind.....
|
>>All those mens skirts blowing in the wind.....
In retrospect maybe that's what actually caused 'Bawbag'...
|
We'd moved from a one bedroom flat in S. London to a 3 bedroom detached house in St. Leonard's on Sea that very week.
I remember being woken up in the early hours, looking out of the bedroom window and noticing how sort-of eerie it all looked.
Come the morn, I walked along the seafront and was amazed to see all the damage the hurricane had caused.
A few people lost their lives that night in Hastings and St Leonard's - it's amazing to think it was 25 years ago :(
|
|
I was sleeping that night in a hotel in Street in Somerset called "The Bear". It had chimney pots in the shape of bears. I was woken by the sound of one of them falling and smashing.
|
I think we had a few leaves blown into the path from next doors cherry tree.
Awful, I had to clear them up myself....life's tough here in Arcadia.
Ted
|
Arcadia... surely more risk from the invaders?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia_(video_game)
|
We know who the invaders are round here all right !
Ted
|
>> I remember being woken up in the early hours, looking out of the bedroom window
>> and noticing how sort-of eerie it all looked.
>>
Same here, I didn't actually realise there'd been a storm till I turned on the TV in the morning. We had a spell of storms for a few years after that, I remember a house near us had it gable end wall (I think that's the term for the pointy bit under the roof on the side) blown down in '90 or '91.
Last edited by: Robin Regal on Mon 15 Oct 12 at 23:01
|
|
Hayling, contemplating windsurfing. Ultimately didn't quite have the balls so went out the next morning, when it was still plenty hairy enough.
|
|
Like Z was on honeymoon in Cairo. Saw the pictures on the news there. Couldn't believe it at first, then a bit gutted we had missed it. Just celebrated our silver wedding anniversay.
Last edited by: Mr. Ecs on Tue 16 Oct 12 at 00:21
|
I left Wimblington at 3am with a Volvo F10 and a flat trailer with 20 tons of baked beans roped and sheeted on the back.
I was scheduled to be in Evelyn street at Deptford by 7am prompt as the firm had a small yard by the railway arches and wouldn't tip later in the day.
The wind got worse the further south I got down the M11 and I was scared because in the headlights debris was being blown about all over and my cab was very old and very rusty.
I came off the M11 at Wanstead and turned right at the roundabout to go through Stratford and Leyton to the Blackwall tunnel and the traffic stopped. As I sat there a bus shelter on my left blew across just in front of my cab window and I was even more scared.
There was no traffic lights working and we crawled along reaching Stratford High Street by around 11 am, and by then were almost at a standstill. There were 3 lorries close together and we all left them in the queue and went into a cafe for breakfast as did many of the car drivers.
I finally got to Evelyn street at 1.30 PM and had to back the trailer under the railway arches to get the sheets off and fold them up with all the lads in the yard helping me to hold them down.
What a long day, and one I'll never forget.
Pat
|
>> 20 tons of baked beans
Cause and effect?
|
>> Couldn't believe it at first, then a bit gutted we had missed it<<
18 people lost their lives that night.
|
"18 people lost their lives that night."
I know that, and its tragic. But I was meaning that we were not part of such a rare event. If I had not been on honeymoon I would have been involved in the aftermath through my job.
Many people died on the Concordia cruise ship, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy a cruise and say so?
|
Okay, I'll let ye orf this time, but don't let it happen again.
;-)
|
|
Are you old enough to be my dad then.
|
|
Don't take life (or internet forums) too seriously.
|
|
I really don't. Some on here really do ;-)
|
Am I really old enough to be your dad.
:}
|
>> Where were you?
I was in Lincolnshire, and as far as I remember there wasn't any damage worth talking about in our area.
|
|
As with L'es up in Lincs there was little effect on our part of Cambridgeshire in 1987. The Jan 1990 storms however caused a great amount of damage... thankfully none to our property though. Very bad for Gordon Kaye if anyone remembers.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Tue 16 Oct 12 at 09:20
|
I was a 17 year old schoolboy living in a village in Berkshire (which has subsequently been swallowed whole by Bracknell). Just started the Upper Sixth. Sigh.
Woke up in the morning and looked out of the window at a neighbour's driveway - they had three cars parked one behind the other, and they had three tall trees alongside the driveway. The trees had all fallen, and they'd all fallen with trunks between the cars, and the foliage beyond them. Not a single scratch on any of them.
Switched on the radio for news of destroyed schools. Mine wasn't on the list. :-( On with uniform and off we went.
|
|
Ha - I was sharing a house in Bracknell, just having started a work a year or so before. Went out at about 6 for my usual morning run not aware of what had happened overnight, and was surprised by the strength of the breeze and the amount of debris lying around. When I got back, breakfast TV appeared to have been hit quite hard. IIRC went to work (Racal) as normal - didn't have a car then, and was walking or cycling.
|
I think we're stalking each other. I worked for the French company which took over Racal a few years ago, was based in their former Reading office at Worton Grange.
Then again, I've still never driven a Focus, of any mark. Which is odd considering the amount of Escorts I used to own/drive.
|
>> I think we're stalking each other. I worked for the French company which took over
>> Racal a few years ago, was based in their former Reading office at Worton Grange.
Ah by then I was probably working at NEC, down Imperial Way next to, er, Worton Grange :)
Know Robin Harris? Used to work for him.
|
The night before the hurricane I drove back from Paris in a friend's Mercedes coupe, through the torrential rain that fell on northern France as the hurricane revved up. We were late for the ferry and I quite enjoyed the drive, which was hard work.
The following night, in London, woke up to hear dustbins bowling about in the road and to see the trees in the gardens behind the house lashing about as never before. In the morning heard that the house where we now live, at that time occupied by my wife's mother, was cut off by vehicle and had no electricity owing to the carnage wrought in the surrounding woodland with many big old oak trees severely damaged or actually laid low, across driveways, power lines and so on.
After that there were some weeks of slightly hairy chainsaw work by several people including me to get the place accessible again. It wasn't so bad then but I wouldn't like it now and couldn't cope as well.
|
After the storm hit the south of England, weather forecasters fell over themselves to forecast doom and destruction for the north and Scotland. I was living in Hamilton then, and by the time the storm reached me, a bit windy was the only observation to make. Not at all exceptional.
The fallout in weather forecasting is still with us, forecast wind speeds bear little relation to reality, although as the Norwegian meteorological office covers the UK, at least these days one can get some sense!
|
We were living in North Dorset in a rather lovely old farmhouse about a mile or so from the nearest village. That night we woke as small ancient panes of glass were blown in from the leaded windows - we slept in the 18th century bit of the house. No lights as the power lines were down and no hot water as the Rayburn wasn't on for the winter (it had been quite mild). Older son was 4 weeks old and, those of you with sons will know what I mean when I say he was wet through, as was the crib. Fun to deal with ... not.
The following morning we discovered that large trees had fallen in the lane on either side of the house - fortunately cleared later that day by farmers who needed to get milk tankers through. Power was returned relatively quickly as we were priority with a new baby.
|
|
I tried to remember - probably drunk. I've a vague memory of a wet new carpet in the hallway of the house we were then living in, but other than that......fades into the fug of high living that was the 80s
|
|
I was in Scotland - at university in Stirling. Just another normal wet n' windy time on campus. Think the locals just grow webbed feet and fins...
|
The Great Storm 1987 - Zero
