Was always in too much of a hurry to get to my destination.
I also used to use the next Pennine crossing heading north, the A686 which didn’t see much heavy goods traffic, but was a fantastic drive in the right car. The cafe on the summit of Hartside Pass (alt.1900 feet) had a fantastic view over the Eden Valley and beyond to the Lake District mountains.
On Sundays it would attract hundreds of bikers, some of whom have possibly since become SFers. On other days in the summer, I’d sometimes drive up there just to catch the sunset.
During the 1987 hurricane in the UK, the house that I lived in had an up-and-over door to the garage at the back of the garden. The door was slightly damaged and it never closed properly. During the storm, the wind somehow lifted the door and took it to …… I’ll never know. The door had gone completely, and I searched for it in the gardens next door, in the next road and even in the next road to that. It was never found.
I always remember reading the very sad story that 6 of the 7 oak trees in Sevenoaks had been felled during the hurricane.
Then, during Cyclone Klaus in 2009 our woodshed roof (here in France) blew off and landed in the farmer next doors property, two fields away. Fortunately there was no damage to his animals or property.
The recent Goretti storm, was mild here (North Deux Sevres) compared to other parts of France that were affected. We only had winds blowing to about 50-60kph.
But we did have snow last week - it was around 15cm deep and lasted for two full days. Fortunately the recent rain melted it quite quickly and everything is back to normal now.
Stuart has just gone to the lake to see if any trees have blown down - which usually happens after any strong winds.
That storm in '87 was a curious experience for us. We were living in the London suburb of Thornton Heath and had no TV, so no forecast - just got up as normal. The power was off, but these things happen occasionally, even in the metropolis. Dropped the wife at the station, but it was closed mysteriously, so I took her to a bus stop for the journey to Balham and went to work in Beckenham. As I drove the 6 miles or so, first I came across a fallen tree, then a bit further, a car crushed under another tree.
Work was at Wellcome Research Labs in Langley Court, and the driveway was lined with leylandii. When I entered the driveway leading to security it was necessary to weave the car between the fallen trees, and at that point I realised something major had happened. I drew the building keys from security as the first to arrive and opened up - it was completely silent! Labs always have background noise from fridges, freezers, bits of equipment, allsorts, but never this silence from the now seemingly universal power cut.
My wife didn’t make it to work - while she was waiting, someone came past and asked what she was doing. Apparently there were no busses, and so she went home.
