Monday 28th October 2013

Sunday.

And so the day of the storm. Or part one of the storm. Yes, the first autumnal blow of the year, and this promised to be a big one. Now, it should be said that way back in 1987, both the Met Office and the BBC were caught out by a similar event that year. And so every time the wind blows, will it be as bad again?

As the day progressed it became clear that the stiff breeze we got during the day would stiffen during Sunday night and peak at dawn on Monday. So, we'd better go out and check the waves out down Samphire Hoe.



But before that we got to enjoy the extra hour we got in bed due to the clocks going back. I laid in bed until quarter to eight, which was rather wonderful. I went down made coffee and cooked bacon butties, which seemed like a great way to start the day. We got our boots and coats on and headed out in the car to Dover and up the A20 to the Hoe.

As expected, the sea wall was closed, and so we walked along well away from the spray as the occasional wave broke over the sea defences. Looking over to Folkestone, we saw a black cloud approaching, so we decided to head to the car to shelter; would we make it in time to stay dry?

No.

In a word. We got damp as the rain pounded on our backs, but not too bad. The rain hammered down for ten minutes then the cloud passed, blue skies appeared and the sun broke through. We took more shots as the rain cleared over Dover Harbour to the north, then headed back up the tunnel and onto Whitfield to visit the old folks. That done it was home for early lunch of pork pies with homemade chutney, and then some serious relaxing as showers passed over and doused us before the sun came back out and dried everything up again.



As I listened to the football, I cooked roast beef, which was very welcome come seven in the evening. It was pretty much dark by half four, which is the result of the clocks going back of course. Once we ate, we sat down to watch Michael Portillo travel through spain on trains, and so added many more places on our never-ending list of places we want to visit.

And all the while, outside the wind strengthened. Although the badgers still came and ate, picking first the two roast potatoes left over from dinner.