Hurricane +25

It is the 25th anniversary of the hurricane/great storm that blasted across southern Britain. How clearly the Gorse Fox remembers that night.

The wind picked up in ferocity throughout the evening/early hours. The house vibrated as the gusts blasted against the brickwork... and GF became aware of the gate banging. He stumbled from bed and in PJs and slippers wandered round the side of the house only to see that not only was the gate banging, but the dustbin had gone.

The Gorse Fox, set out into the road - first wandering down the road where he found the bin. He returned it to the house and set off in search of the lid. It was at that point that the power went out. He was totally disorientated for a few moments - but there was enough ambient light that he managed to complete the search, retrieve the bin-lid, secure everything and return to bed... commenting that it was "breezy out there".

The following morning it became clear that the "breeze" had wrought devastation across the country and though the Gorse Fox was due to visit a client in Bristol he wasn't able to get out of the village. This was one of only two occasions in his career that he has missed an appointment. (The other was due to an 18 mile tail-back on the M6 where GF actually ended up attending the meeting by mobile phone from the motorway).