Wind

It's late and the Gorse Fox was thinking of wind.

It was 20 years ago (the News reminds us) that the south of England was blasted by the huge storm that did so much damage. 115mph winds battered the south eastern counties, 18 people were killed, 15,000,000 trees were flattened, roofs were blown off, cars and lorries flipped over.

The Gorse Fox remembers it well. Living in Hampshire he was woken by the vibrations that permeated the whole house. Lying there he heard he listened to the howling wind and remembered he'd left the bin out. He stumbled out of bed, headed downstairs and into the teeth of the gale. He was struck by how warm it was - which was just as well as he was only wearing his pyjamas.

Opening the back gate it became clear that the bin was nowhere to be seen. GF trekked up the road and found the errant receptacle nestling with several other bins in a quite corner. Breaking up the party he dragged it home. The lid, however, was missing.

He trudged back up the road and then as he turned to look down the road the lights went out. Power was lost across the village and the Gorse Fox stood there completely disorientated struggling to realise that it was just a power cut - not the instant onset of blindness. Some while later he came across the bin's lid, returned home, and snuggled back under the covers.

In the morning we took stock. We had been lucky... no damage. Trees blocked most of the exits from the village, and for the first time in his working life Gorse Fox missed a customer meeting as he couldn't find a clear route across to Bristol.