Sunday 2 December 2007

Island Life in the storm

Woke several times in the night to hear the wind lashing the rain against the windows. I lay in the cosy warmth of my bed, thanking God for shelter and comfort. I thought and prayed for those I know who are not so fortunate: Mary, our housekeeper in Kenya, who does not have the luxury of electricity or running water in her house, nor of paved roads and street lighting. The orphans supported by the Tumaini project in Tanzania, some of whom did not even have shelter to live in when they were found. Refugees. The homeless in our world.

Day brought no ease in the weather. Richard has spent the last couple of hours reading the weather charts and checking on the regulated safety limits. He is supposed to fly to Alderney this afternoon: the airstrip there is notorious for awkward cross-winds which make landing difficult.

He doesn't, at the moment, think he'll be going. The wind speed is forecast to go up to 38 knots, gusting to 65 knots - that's approximately 43 mph, with the odd gust of wind to over 75 mph. Or in other words, Force 8 gusting to Force 12 - hurricane force.

With wind of hurricane proportions, he's not going to be going anywhere until this particular storm has passed through. And we're obviously not going to experience the warm weather which often accompanies hurricane-sized wind.

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