Brace yourselves, we are told!

[Rosaboobie]

I dont know if you have heard this on the News, but Scotland, and in particular, Orkney is bracing itself for very very severe weather conditions for tomorrow and Saturday. We have no ferries now until at least Sunday, if then, and all Orkney schools are closed tomorrow. Be scared - be very scared

[draclvr]

I did read about that and wondered if it was the remnants of that horrible storm that just went over our east coast.

[Rosaboobie]

The storm is called Gertrude and I was due to go out to the cottage early tomorrow morning with my DIY man but as 100 mph winds are forecast then, I have cancelled. I live in fear of structural damage and I dont think my conservatory will withstand these winds.

[draclvr]

Oh, dear... will be watching your weather and hoping you and your conservatory come through OK.

[Val]

Brace yourself indeed RB! Hang in there and hopefully it won't be as bad as you think. Will be watching the news. Good luck. x

[Diat60]

Hope you and the cottage come through unscathed. Better weight the dogs down!

[JKEerie]

Oh...prayers going up as we speak that you are kept safe and get through this episode unscathed.

[LadyKestrel]

Thinking of you with all digits crossed, RB!

[draclvr]

My weather app says Kettletoft is having 54 mph winds right now. I'm sure that a breeze compared to what's coming... the radar show it's not there yet.

[Rosaboobie]

It's 8.40 a.m. here and the wind is raging - it peaked at 61 mph at 8 a.m. and the news has just come in that we are due to be hit big time within the next couple of hours.

The noise outside is like having a jet engine right outside your house - its the noise that spooks me - even the dogs, who are bullet proof, are looking up at the conservatory roof with apprehension!

Edit: 94 mph at 10.40 a.m.

[Diat60]

We were living in Worthing when the 1987 hurricane hit the south coast and your comment about the noise of the wind brought it all back to me. It was the middle of the night and the power had gone out leaving us in the most absolute pitch blackness I've ever known. Sitting at the kitchen table with only a couple of candles for light and hearing that banshee wail was a truly scary experience. It was like being thrown back to the Middle Ages when ghoulies and ghosties roamed!

[Rosaboobie]

I was actually outside all night in that Great Storm, Diat, as I was at that time living rent free in a little cottage in Jersey in exchange for looking after two horses, and the stables were right next to my cottage. I could hear the horses were terrified, so I went out to try and calm them down. It was really really scary, with my roof tiles crashing to the ground, and sheets of iron roofing hurtling all around. One of those sheets could have done a lot of damage to me or the horses, so I closed up the stable doors and stayed in with the horses. And to make matters worse, I had just bought a new car the day before, and it was not in a garage but in a car port. Jersey lost most of its trees that night, and I shall never forget that night.

[Diat60]

And Michael Fish saying it couldn't possibly happen!

[Rosaboobie]

Oh yes, that was classic. Funnily enough, I was trying to remember what year that Storm was just this morning.

[draclvr]

How terrifying... and 94 mph! I just can't imagine.

Where I grew up in NW Iowa, there is a lot of wind because that's prairie country. The worst of it comes with the blizzards in the winter, but it's still nothing like the hurricanes and storms you are are having. To make up for it though, we have tornados.