Friday February 18th 2022

03:30 Storm Eunice announces its arrival, as Lois and I wake briefly to hear the sound of the wind roaring in the trees and both rain and wind beating against the window behind our bed. 

YIKES !!!!! [Stop saying that! - Ed]

Luckily we go back to sleep.

our bed at Ali and Ed's house: seen here in happier times

-  June 2021, when there weren't any storms about

11:00 The wind has now reached a speed in the 75 mph bracket, which I don't think I've really much experienced before. Ali and Ed's neighbour Virginia phones to see an ash tree is down in the driveway, effectively blocking the exit for all 3 houses on this block. 

Ed is working in his "home" office but when he gets off his current business call, Alison alerts him to the "tree down" situation: he says that it's not too thick a trunk and he should be able to cut it into smaller pieces later with his chainsaw. That's lucky because with all the trees down in the neighbourhood already this morning, it'll be hard work trying to get a "professional" to do the job, that's for sure. 

there's an ash tree reportedly down in the driveway (not shown), but nobody 

wants to go out and check. Luckily, our car, visible from the window,

 seems to be all right, which is nice.

meanwhile, on the main lawn, the wind is playing havoc

with the patio set and the tennis court net

Later it turns out that the car-port has been wrecked, as well as the wood store. And the barbecue grill has been overturned on the veranda.

What a crazy planet we live on !!!!

the barbecue grill falls over with a crash on the verandah

14:00 Now we discover that the road outside the house is blocked by a fallen tree, which is caught in some power lines, which it's pulling downwards - yikes!. Our power is still on, however, which is nice.

a fallen tree threatens to bring down power lines

15:20 Ali bas been trying to contact the power company, Scottish and Southern Electricity, report the danger to the power lines posed by the fallen tree, but has been on hold for nearly an hour. What madness !!!!!

16:00 One of Ali's neighbours offers to use their chainsaw on the ash-tree that's blocking the drive, which is good, because Ed is still hard at work.

17:00 The wind has died down, so Lois and I go round the property with Ali and the children to inspect the damage.

the wrecked carport

the partly smashed patio table

the road outside blocked by a fallen tree which is

threatening to bring down the power lines

the sawn-up ash tree

the wrecked wood-store

18:00 Ali and Ed go out to have dinner with a neighbour couple in their 30's, who like to eat at an unfashionably early time, just like us! Lois and I make dinner for ourselves and the kids and then Josie goes to have a bath, while Rosalind and Isaac and ourselves sit down and watch Shrek the Musical - Isaac is going to be performing in that at his school in a few months' time. I find it unexpectedly entertaining and amusing, which is nice!

we settle down in the living-room with Rosalind

and Isaac to watch Shrek the Musical

my new friend Otto settles down beside me

while Sika, the family's Danish dog, dozes 

half in his basket and half out - zzzz!!!!!!

We enjoy Shrek - lots of funny lines and funny cultural references: probably Lois and I missed a least 50% of those, though, I'm sure! We're not sure about the tunes: pleasant to listen to, but will they be memorable? Will people still be singing them in 10 years' time? We suspect not.

The best song in it was the one that ended the show, and that was an old one - the Monkees song "I'm A Believer", and that's the song Lois and I are singing to ourselves as we exit the living-room. 

22:30 Ali and Ed are not home yet, but we put the pets to bed before going upstairs ourselves. Zzzzzzzzz!!!!