"When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high..."
This Muppet video turned up for me on Facebook last night and made me laugh, as a storm outside was actually howling and rattling my windows at the time - and throughout the night. It was a lot worse far up north in Sweden though (I heard on the radio this morning that it had reached hurricane strength there), and along the coasts; but even around here (inland south-west) strong enough to at least (as I found when I got out) turn over a few dustbins...
It wasn't raining today though, so I held my head up high (but well tucked into the hood of a warm winter coat), and managed a walk to the supermarket for a few "light" items.
Stopped on the bridge over the river to take this photo - which gives you no idea whatsoever of the strong winds still blowing. It was alright on my way to the supermarket, as then I mostly had the wind "helping me along"... A bit worse on the way back! (I kept to the pavement along the street today. The paths in the old cemetery next to it are usually covered with broken twigs and branches from the old trees after a storm...)
Illustration by Bing Image Creator (+ me)
wow on the bing creation, it looks a lot like you... love that song. glad you could get out and about
ReplyDeleteSandra, I told Bing that I wanted a senior woman walking against the wind, wearing a purple winter coat with a hood. They seem to have automatically colour-matched the rest of my outfit better than I can manage myself! :)
DeleteThose gale force winds seem to have been relentless this Winter. We lost a chunk of lead from our roof last week, which is proving to be very costly to repair.
ReplyDeleteJayCee, ouch, that sounds no fun. A reminder to me about the advantages of living in a rented flat and not having to worry about that kind of thing...
DeleteI love your A.I. creation!! the muppet video is beyond cute! you were brave to go out, even though the weather was better.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ginny. I love that video too and hope to be able to replay it in head when next I need to go out in really bad weather... (Today I've been staying in.)
DeleteIt's been on the news here that there was a hurricane in Northern Scandinavia, with wind speeds of nearly 200 km/h. I don't know how much damage has been done or whether there was loss of life, but it sounds severe enough.
ReplyDeleteGood job in your area you only had strong winds - "helping" you along on the way to the supermarket, even! You should have bought heavier items to anchor you firmly to the ground on the way back :-)
Wise decision not to cross the cemetery. Bigger, heavier branches can easily fall, and cause injury or even death (Hungarian-born author Ödön von Horvath died that way, walking in a park n Paris).
Meike, I struggle with the maths (comparing km/h to m/s, which is how they report it here) but I suppose that's probably about right. The figure I saw was a new wind record of 51.8 m/s for a place up in the Lapland mountains. It was of course nowhere close to those record-breaking figures on my walk here yesterday, though - or I would certainly not have been going out at all!
DeleteI was raised on the muppets, so many good memories from my childhood watching them each and every week. Hope there wasn't too much damage from the hurricane.
ReplyDeleteAmy, there's probably more serious damage from the hurricane up in the North, and along the coasts. But just around where I live, the winds have not been all *that* strong, so mostly just (still) playing around with dustbins and debris...
DeleteWe too have been battered by fairly constant storms recently. Our main problem is ferry cancellations.
ReplyDeleteGraham, I'm sure there have probably been many ferry cancellations along our coasts as well this winter. As for trains, I've heard on the news that they have cancelled lots of departures long-term now, as they're unable to keep up with service and repairs this winter. And buses have been standing still every now and then as well.
DeleteWe too have had fairly high winds, but nothing approaching those in Northern Sweden. The wind usually gets up just after I've spent a couple of hours or so in the garden sweeping up all the leaves! On a couple of occasions recently it's been so strong that I've actually turned back for home on the dog walk.
ReplyDeleteCarol, sweeping leaves in a storm sounds like Sisyphus work (you know, the guy in Greek mythology rolling a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll down again, and be forced to start over...)
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