Sunday 6th December 2015

Saturday

In the summer, the Met Office decided to drum up a bit of media coverage, they were going to name the major autumn storms, the full A to Z list of names were released, and then the storms came. This weekend, it was Storm Desmond's turn. And its a good job they were named as those in Carlisle and Hawick who were flooded out of their house might not have noticed were it not for the name of the storm. Or not. Saying that, of course, these events, flooding and hurricane force winds are no laughing matter, as they do change and sometime end lives.

Over here in The Garden of Kent, the wind was to blow, rain was to fall, but no with as great ferocity as that in the west. So, we battened down the hatches and watched the clouds rush over the sky and the wind try to flatten the hedges.

Of course, before that there was shopping to get done, and then the day would stretch out with little or no plans, other than listen to football in the afternoon.

After coffee, I take myself, a selection of shopping bags to Deal to rush round before the crowds arrive to rampage through cleaning all off the shelves. It being the first Saturday after most folks have been paid for the month. I took my camera hoping the winds were have whipped up the sea into impressive white horses. But with the wind in the south west, this meant that the land sheltered the inshore waters from the wind. So now waves. As I drove along the coast road, the sky began to glow a pale pink, but I thought it not worth stopping to take a shot.

I zipped round the store, getting stuff, and then finding a near-empty check out, paying the bill and going out to the car to load up. And when I got outside, I saw that the sky looked like it was on fire, the light of the rising sun casting the whole sky in vibrant reds and purples. I rushed to the seafront, found a place to park and got out to snap a few shots before the light faded.

Back home for breakfast, whilst outside the sun rose and the colours faded. And the wind blew. And blew.

We thought to go into town to see the ongoing demolition of Burlington House, and see if any ferries were operating because of the wind. It would appear that Burlington House is somewhat shorter than it used to be, the top two floors seem to be floor-less, so come next week it might be even shorter. All along Townwall Street, there was a solid wall of trucks, lined up waiting for a ferry. This is now such a familar sight, that we don't take a second look at it, but of course it affects how we get around, how all locals in the area get around and do their daily tasks. I get some shots, we ask each other if there is anything esle we want to do in town? The answer is no, so we walk back to the car, take off back up Connaught Hill, past the castle and along Reach Road along the cliffs.

Back home before ten, so we were able to listen to Huey on the radio, then get ready for the main slog of an afternoon of listening to the football. And cooking a roast dinner, I felt very strongly that we should have a roast that day, rather than on a Sunday. So, prepare the meat, pop it in the oven, peel the spuds, prepare the veg, and soon the house is filled with the glorious smells of roasting beef. And with the main games of the day starting at three, we sit down to a wonderful roast dinner, a bottle of Cava, and all in the world is great. Coming as it does after Citeh were thumped 2-0 by Stoke. That's Stoke. Sadly, Norwich played like they were scared, and so slumped to a 2-0 defeat by Watford, a team we thumped twice 3-0 last season. But then they're not the same teams, literally, as they were last year, and neither are City. Even better, Chelski were on the late game, playing home to Bournemouth, a team who have lost their 4 best players to long term injury for the season. And so it came to pass that Bournemouth ran out 1-0 winners, scoring win the last ten minutes, leaving the Chosen One and his charges in 15th place.

We spent the evening watching the first two episodes of the second series of The Bridge, more murder and mayhem from Denmark and Sweden. No idea how its going to be solved, but will be great to find out. Followed by the season finale of Dr Who, I did have a shower at this point. We rounded off the day by following my friend, Sam's, Tweets and Faceache posts about the flooding in Hawick, and how the town was flooding, and the water creeping up the street to his studio.