Early Risers.

[81C]

I sincerely hope that this isn't a case of "empty walletitis" after yesterday's show.

 

Jamie

 I've been woken up by SWMBO cooking bacon for lunch and am now back on the move surveying yesterdays purchases.

 

Jamie my pocket was empty when I left the show but just before I was at the club stand wanting to buy a Cooper Craft Bedford truck kit marked at £4 I only had £3.01 on me I was about to ask

 The Bank of GDB for the loan of a £1 when the dear chap said £3 will do I left the show happy.

[bluebottle]

Needs a link to the youtube offering IMHO! Statement with attitude.

 

FWIW:

 

Fish just sounds to me like he was trying to be reassuring. I would imagine that whoever happened to present that forecast would have done a similar job.

[Simon G]

Just checked on BBC weather website, and we are forecast for 70+mph winds tomorrow evening, persisting through the night.

 

I just hope that whatever the problem is with my roof doesn't get any worse, as the roofer was a no show yesterday, and no phone call to explain. We are not amused. If we suffer damage, it means that a planned 3 day trip to Wales may have to be cancelled, which will be a major annoyance.

[Barry O]

AndyB,happy birthday to your good lady.

 

I was supposed to be watching a much modified M109 Self propeeld Howitzer firing at Shoeburyness the morning after the storm. That, for reason, was cancelled so had to drive back to Leeds through the storm wreckage.

 

Washing done

Electrical items recharged

Ironing..phase 1..completed

 

Roundhouse, glad you enjoyed the trip to Foxfield. Did you return on a preserved bus by anything.

 

Baz

[Gwiwer]

Afternoon all. Autumn has been postponed. I am sitting outside in T-shirt and shorts (both different to last night's) eating ice cream in balmy sun.

 

Checked the wetter forecast and we are due more of the same tomorrow. Oop North there is a Yellow Wind warning and over parts of Ireland and Fraggle Rock that is an Amber Warning account Ophelia packing a fair punch. Hang on to your wigs up there while I have a word with Amber about her wind problem and Ophelia about violent disorder.

 

I watched Mr. Fish's Famous Forecast as it happened. At around 3am I was awoken by the wind ripping through my flat (since I prefer to sleep with a window ajar) and slamming doors. Got up, closed window, discovered the power was out. The wind increased to a strength I have never experienced on these shores and the sound was both deafening and alarming. There was all manner of debris being blown around including glass and metal. With no chance of sleep I turned on the radio and the scale of the storm began to unfold. "This is BBC Radio broadcasting on all frequencies. We have no power except our stand-by generator which allows me one lamp and one microphone".

 

I was early station supervisor at Liverpool Street and would be relieving my night shift and checking in the early team at 06.30. The tube was closed. The GE main line was closed. Night buses had been taken off. With six miles abd a hurricane between home and work I rugged up and set off at 05.15. On foot.

 

Shop fronts and stock had been blown out and were everywhere. The roof of the house opposite was lying in the road. Trees and branches were a tangled mess and there were some downed wires among them. With no power, no phones and nothing sparking I just picked my way carefully along. I finally reached work an hour late much to the relief of my night shift who were largely unaware of events beyond the station other than the wind noise. I was the only person to reach work that morning. The next arrival was an admin clerk who made it in from Walthamstow at midday.

 

Take care out there. Batten hatches. Don't park under trees. Check in here.

 

Meantime enjoy the rest of Sun Day

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon from Estuary-Land. Seeing the MF forecast reminded me of what might have happened. There was a deep low pressure to the north of Ireland/west of Scotland and another low pressure just off the Bristol Channel. IIRC these two low pressure systems joined forces and created the storm. Even today weather forecasting is not an exact science.

[Horsetan]

Ivan , check what medication you are taking , I think you said you were on a steroid one now ,

these can cause problems as a mate will tell you , they caused cataracts to form in quite a

short time .

I had a nasty feeling that my current drugs régime might have something to do with it. Then again, it might be coincidental.

 

Every morning: 1 x Omeprazole + 2 x Prednisolone

 

Every night: 1 x Lipitor 20mg

 

Every Wednesday: 1 x Folic Acid

 

Every Saturday: 3 x Methotrexate

 

I seem to be keeping a small part of the pharmaceutical industry afloat.

[JohnDMJ]

I had a nasty feeling that my current drugs régime might have something to do with it. Then again, it might be coincidental.

 

Every morning: 1 x Omeprazole + 2 x Prednisolone

 

Every night: 1 x Lipitor 20mg

 

Every Wednesday: 1 x Folic Acid

 

Every Saturday: 3 x Methotrexate

 

I seem to be keeping a small part of the pharmaceutical industry afloat.

 

I'm being taken off the Prednisolone but I was told the Folic Acid had to be 24 hours after the Methotrexate (currently 6 MTX Wednesday with 1 FA Thursday for me!)

 

Saw  Dr Rheumatologist last week and he wants me off the Pred's since they caused him to become diabetic and I'm now borderline!

Edited October 15, 2017 by JohnDMJ

[TheQ]

MF was on TV this morning talking about it. He was of course technically correct as there was not sustained wind speeds of 74 mph which is what classifies a hurricane, just gusts over that.

I was in Northumberland at the time and there was nothing unusual up there. However my sailing boat, was on the Norfolk broads and sank on its mooring in all of 3 feet of water, like several others alongside.

 

I have lived in the Hebrides where we had gusts of 126mph I've driven in cross winds of nearly 100 mph out there, interesting to say the least.

 

At another RAF radar station, Saxa Vord in 1961, the entire Type 80 aerial was blown off its mountings, all 18.5 tons!! That day the anemometer went off the scale. In 1991/2 It got the highest recorded UK wind speed record of 197mph!!!! The radars are now in domes but they did not all survive that...

 

Afternoon Awl,

I had solid 8 hours sleep last night yippee!!!!

 

After Ben's stroll this morning I tried To mow the jungle, however overnight there was a very heavy dew and the grass was too wet.

 

So first I spent an hour fitting a switch in the landrover.

 

The grass was still wet, so I spent two hours fixing woodwork to the blockwork of the future letter box. Ben would occasionally come it to play but then run inside to hide something was spooking him..

 

Then it was mower time, 3 hours trundling up and down occasionally stopping to clear the odd wet blockage.

 

After that I decided I'd better recharge the motorscooter battery. For a variety of reasons it's not been run since May, but first I tried starting it ... And it did first time!!¡. So I got my gear on for a charging run. This turned into an hours blast around the local roads in the sunshine, followed by filling the tank with fresh fuel.

 

The Bike air temperature gauge showed 22C, which is why there were butterflies and dragonfly's around as I massacred the daisy's, buttercups and dandelions earlier.

 

The feminine wiles of Ophelia promise 23C during Monday and 30mph( average) early hours Tuesday.

 

Time to?.. get my evening meal....

[Horsetan]

I'm being taken off the Prednisolone but I was told the Folic Acid had to be 24 hours after the Methotrexate (currently 6 MTX Wednesday with 1 FA Thursday for me!)

 

Saw Dr Rheumatologist last week and he wants me off the Pred's since they caused him to become diabetic and I'm now borderline!

The RFH warned me that the Methotrexate might have side-effects. Apart from the eyesight problem, it also seems to have set off an increase in farting. Better out than in, is what I normally say, but my clients think otherwise.

[Barry O]

At Shoeburyness the wind was busy playing with the 27 tons of the M109...and hence..no firing!

 

Been nice here today but it has now turned chilly. 

 

Can we all send out very positive thoughts to Debs as her other half is very, very poorly.

 

Baz

[The Stationmaster]

FWIW:

 

Fish just sounds to me like he was trying to be reassuring. I would imagine that whoever happened to present that forecast would have done a similar job.

 

Which is no doubt why nowadays we get a 'severe weather warning' if there's a likelihood of a rain shower lasting longer than 5 minutes.

[Sidecar Racer]

I had a nasty feeling that my current drugs régime might have something to do with it. Then again, it might be coincidental.

 

 + 2 x Prednisolone

 

 

I seem to be keeping a small part of the pharmaceutical industry afloat.

 

 Do some googling on this one and eye problems , seem a lot of people have

side effects .

 

 Your list is small compared to my mate , if he was fit enough to jump up and down

he would rattle .

[Horsetan]

....PS The lady who called Mr Fish to enquire abut 'the hurricane' lived in Holland - ...

I'll have to respectfully correct you on that one. In the infamous broadcast, Fish mentioned " a lady in North Wales (not Mrs Trellis) who called in to say a hurricane was on the way, but don't worry; there isn't.". Said lady was identified a while later as Anita Hart (she lived in Llandudno at time, I think) and she later wrote in to a newspaper on the subject, mentioning that the only reason why she called the BBC that day was because her son, Gaon, who was studying Geography and Meteorology at the time, told her of his own forecast.

 

The only reason why I mention it is because Gaon Hart became my Criminal Litigation lecturer in 1993 and confirmed it was he who made the fatal forecast that his mother passed on to the Beeb!

[newbryford]

Ironing..phase 1..completed

 

Roundhouse, glad you enjoyed the trip to Foxfield. Did you return on a preserved bus by anything.

 

Baz

 

The preserved bus is usually used on the outward trip. Return is either by the service bus or train.

We took the service bus and when we arrived back in town the driver asked us where we wanted dropping off as it was his last run and there was no-one else on the bus.

He changed the display to something more appropriate.

 

 

The smiles (apart from the driver's) are alcohol related.........

 

Cheers,

Mick

Edited October 15, 2017 by newbryford

[BoD]

Evening all.

 

I read an article over the last couple of days which said that the data Mr Fish used on that fateful day was fed into today's super powerful Met office computers and they came up with exactly the same forecast - the winds would miss us and hit France.

 

Whatever happens over the next day or so, stay safe.

[roundhouse]

AndyB,happy birthday to your good lady.

I was supposed to be watching a much modified M109 Self propeeld Howitzer firing at Shoeburyness the morning after the storm. That, for reason, was cancelled so had to drive back to Leeds through the storm wreckage.

Washing done

Electrical items recharged

Ironing..phase 1..completed

Roundhouse, glad you enjoyed the trip to Foxfield. Did you return on a preserved bus by anything.

Baz

I don’t not tend to use the preserved bus these days as I can’t last the journey without a call of nature so a number of us normally return on the last train back to BIF which also gets us back to finish off in the Duke.

 

The bus goes out and back via Ulverston these days so as to drop of those who live there.

 

However we were almost back at the hotel when the bus went past us empty to depot at about 01.50!

 

Now on a late running Pendolino. Worked to our advantage as it gave us enough time to have a half in the Merchants in Lancaster although now gives us a too short a time in Crewe to go and find a takeaway. Looks like crisps in the Post Office Vaults or the Wellington in Brum.

[bluebottle]

I'll have to respectfully correct you on that one. In the infamous broadcast, Fish mentioned " a lady in North Wales (not Mrs Trellis) who called in to say a hurricane was on the way, but don't worry; there isn't.". Said lady was identified a while later as Anita Hart (she lived in Llandudno at time, I think) and she later wrote in to a newspaper on the subject, mentioning that the only reason why she called the BBC that day was because her son, Gaon, who was studying Geography and Meteorology at the time, told her of his own forecast.

 

The only reason why I mention it is because Gaon Hart became my Criminal Litigation lecturer in 1993 and confirmed it was he who made the fatal forecast that his mother passed on to the Beeb!

 

The story gets fishier...

A couple of paragraphs from Wikipedia's Article on Michael Fish:

 

Fish said in a BBC interview that there was actually no woman caller who phoned in to the BBC regarding the storm (although over the years many have claimed to be the woman caller). It was in fact a white lie he made up himself, as another staff member at the BBC told him his mother in Wales was going to Florida and mentioned she had heard there was a storm coming, so he thought it would be a good opening line to start the forecast with, and said "Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC..."

 

...In later years, Fish claimed that he had been referring to that year's Atlantic Hurricane Floyd affecting the Florida Keys at the time, in a link to a news story in the BBC One O'Clock News that preceded the weather bulletin. But he did not mention Florida in his forecast, which was made amid widespread worries about a coming storm: that morning, the Surrey Mirror had warned of "furious gales", so both his caller and his viewers likely believed he was referring to Britain. Fish did go on to warn of high winds for the UK, although the storm that actually occurred was far stronger than he had predicted (albeit, technically not a hurricane).

[laurenceb]

Lets be careful out there folks!

Night awl

Edited October 15, 2017 by laurenceb

[Tony_S]

Evening all.

I read an article over the last couple of days which said that the data Mr Fish used on that fateful day was fed into today's super powerful Met office computers and they came up with exactly the same forecast - the winds would miss us and hit France.

Whatever happens over the next day or so, stay safe.

But I suspect if the sensor data available today had been available then, even the previous generation of met office computers may have predicted a different path. We always seem to be on the edge of whatever is forecast so find it safer to look out the window. Edited October 15, 2017 by Tony_S

[New Haven Neil]

Evening.

 

Looks like we are 'in for it' wind wise - no trees near our cars or van, but lots near the (bike and train) garage. Oh well, here's hoping.  Last big storm here was about 11 years ago, 100mph at sea level and 114 on the hill, next door's roof tiles blew off and one went through the wing of my car.  A bigger bit oc concrete capping came off our roof and missed SWMBO's car by 18.83mm (allegedly), or was it 16.5?  Close, anyway.

 

Lawrence, glad you enjoyed the little rock, please come again!  It's a nice place, and very varied.  Ian and Penny weren't on the same tour, were they?

[pH]

Watching Nascar from Talladega. These cars are turning over at 8400 RPM. As it sometimes does, that number makes me think a bit more about what it actually means -

 

- the crankshaft is rotating 140 times per second

- pistons are going up the cylinders 140 times per second, stopping at the top, going back down 140 times per second, stopping at the bottom and going up again

- each cylinder is firing 70 times per second

 

I find those numbers quite stunning!

[Tony_S]

Evening.

 

Looks like we are 'in for it' wind wise - no trees near our cars or van, but lots near the (bike and train) garage. Oh well, here's hoping. Last big storm here was about 11 years ago, 100mph at sea level and 114 on the hill, next door's roof tiles blew off and one went through the wing of my car. A bigger bit oc concrete capping came off our roof and missed SWMBO's car by 18.83mm (allegedly), or was it 16.5? Close, anyway.

 

 

I sent a message to Matthew and commented that it was forecast to be breezy in Dublin. I think he is aware of this. He sent me the Waterford Whisperers Twitter comment. I won't post the link here as there is a word that would trigger the profanity censor. The Met Eireann forecast has a red warning for wind in Dublin. Edited October 15, 2017 by Tony_S

[Gwiwer]

Thoughts with Debs and Passepartout tonight.

 

SWMBO is still under the weather and has declared herself hors de combat as regards working in the morning.

 

For those under the weather in the more literal sense do take care.  The forecast for some areas looks alarming.  For here it remains more than somewhat balmy.  

The Great Storm anniversary actually falls some two weeks from now but a present-day interview with Michael Fish is availble here https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/barometer/features/great-storm

Stay safe.  Sleep well.  

[BoD]

Thoughts with Debs and Passepartout tonight.

 

Oh dear. I don't know what has happened but that doesn't sound good.

If thoughts are needed then they have mine too.