Making the Best of a Stormy Day...

Well, the words of the day all have to do with gale-force winds, biting rain, fallen trees and the most glorious clouds (well, as Mimi and Mother of Invention both say, I am partial to a bit of sky... :-) )

So, I woke to the sound of wind battering the front door, and as I turned the bottom step (which faces the door), felt the seeping of water stretch up from the carpet between my toes... The wind had blown the rain in sideways under the door, leaving the carpet was squishy and sodden...and cold... and not terribly inviting first thing in the morning!!

Looking out the window, I watched as trees became limbo dancers, bent almost double to fit under the bar-like wind...

The ground was scattered with still-roving debris... the tops of two garden solar lamps, general litter, a dustbin lid and half a car bumper (??!!??)... all seen through a haze of sideways rain...

(The tree in my back garden just wouldn't stay still for it's portrait!)

I took a couple of videos (they only last a minute each) of the wind, and decided it didn't look very exciting after all, so got ready for work instead...

Big puddles on the road (the kind you have to drive slowly through or around, otherwise you either flood the engine or skid out of control) kept car speed to the minimum, with me constantly on the alert for fallen branches. When the roads are tree-lined, it's inevitable there's one down somewhere!

Wasn't long before the alert paid off, and the rear lights of the cars in front looked more like an airport runway than a flow of traffic. No way through. And, what's worse, it looked like someone might have just gone into the tree (couldn't see since it was around a corner) as an ambulance was arriving on scene. There wasn't anything I could do there... loads of other drivers milling around already, so I turned the car and took a different route, with the rest of the 'runway' following me...

Only 15 minutes late for work as well!

(angry clouds, really making themselves known -
doesn't it look like a crab claw grabbing a fish by the tail?)

The day was pretty uneventful, apart from doors crashing and banging, a couple of mini-powercuts, getting soaked running back and forth between the buildings... that kind of stuff.

(Can you see the dolphin in this one?)

This afternoon, it cleared enough for me to walk the dogs after work. It was, as I said, glorious! The fresh wind was blowing and gusting, throwing my scarf in all directions. The dogs were wild with joy, running with their tails wagging and tongues hanging... I was grinning like a mad-woman, snapping left right and centre... Oh yes, there was the perfect sky for me... I could have stayed out there all day capturing clouds (said I looked like a madwoman, didn't I? :-D )!!

But, there was a time limit between getting home from work, and fetching my daughter from school, and it's one that shouldn't (even though I do) overstep too often... So, I ran the last bit of the way, knowing I'd be late if I met any other dogs... and, just as I reached the road leaving the forest, was faced with the sun making a space for itself in the sky (unfortunately it didn't come out as well as it looked, but you get the idea):







And now for the event that broke my heart today...

It's like I've lost a friend...

As I stopped the car to pick up my son from scouts, I noted that the only space left was where I would have to step out of the car and into at least an inch or two of puddle :-( This had me pausing a couple of moments after the engine stopped, while I considered if I could walk on water... but eventually had to face my mortality - and lack of divinity...

I opened the door, and tested the depth with one foot - there was a kind of mound in the center. If I could just throw my other foot the same distance, I might just make it to the scout hut door without water seeping between my toes for the second time today!! So, one swift movement, and splash! Nope, it wasn't my other foot. That hadn't even touched the ground yet. Was it my mobile phone? No... I hadn't taken it... didn't think I'd need it for the 10 minute round trip. So, what the heck was it??

Then I remembered... I'd been writing a bit on one of my poems just before I went out, and had put the pda on my lap...

OhMyGodNo!!

or should I say NOOOOOooooooooooo!!!!!*@$~#*!!!

Unfortunately. Yes. And Guess what silly bugger hadn't saved onto the computer for several weeks!!! Yep, that was me too. Dammit! [This is the point were a good swear really does make you feel better... and yes, I had a really good swear... until I realised there were a couple of scouts looking at me a bit shocked, at which point I just muttered under my breath at my stupidity :-( ]

I picked my poor, dying friend out of the mud-engorged water, and watched as the dirt drip-dripped from the holes... The light was on, but nothing on the screen. But the light was on - that was 'hope', wasn't it? I shook the water onto tissues, stuck a bit of loo-paper in every crevice, but nothing except that eerie, unresponsive light (which wouldn't turn off)... it was short-circuiting. I've had the little hand-held next to the heater for the last couple of hours. There's no life left in it now. It doesn't turn on when you push the button. All the words it held forever lost...

Oh god, I think I'm gonna cry! (no, really!! ) I had several verses to put on Heroines and Heroes, there were lots of half-finished poems, and (Oh no, I've just remembered) the start of the book I was writing... and worst of all... there was a poem for my wonderful daughter, who lives with her dad and I don't see so much anymore...

My lifeline. Severed.

So, I'm going to go away and find a book or something to cheer me up... but I'll leave you with one last photo from today:





(oh yes, I'll be putting some of the other photos from today and yesterday over the next couple of days...)