Storm damage

So a little bit behind the times, but thought we should let you know how we fared in the big storm last week (for generic coverage try nzherald.co.nz). I was working in Orewa as usual on Tuesday, and it was a truly horrible day to be by the beach. I was alone in the office, which can be noisy at the best of times, and could see and hear the weather getting progressively worse. Wind howling, things going clattering up the street, rain coming in sideways, that sort of thing.

I finally gave up and went home at about 3pm as the power kept flickering on and off (kicking me off the internet and my VPN to work every time, crashing my computer - most frustrating). I was glad to be able to drive home with some daylight, and Beans was ecstatic to be let inside.

Dave was having to stay lateish to get something finished at work so I was delaying getting dinner in the oven. Our power kept going off for approx 5 minutes at a time, then coming back on. I jinxed it - because I was getting frustrated at (in hindsight, optimistically) re-setting the clocks and blowing out then relighting candles I said something to Beans like "gee, Beans, I wish they'd just make up their minds, if the power's going to go out I wish it would just do it". Yes, I do talk to the dog when there's no one else around to talk to! Not a minute after I'd finished saying this, POOF, everything goes out, including the street light up the road and my cellphone coverage. And stays out. Of course - Murphy's Law - I'd only finally decided to put the chicken in the oven to roast ten minutes before this.

Meanwhile Dave has finally left work as I summoned him on behalf of my parents to go over there on the way home to help tie down what was left of their conservatory roof. Luckily as it turns out, if I hadn't rung and asked him to do that he wouldn't have gotten over the harbour bridge just before they closed it. Dave finally got home about 8.30 (that doesn't sound late but you'd be surprised how slowly time passes when there's no power and the house is continually shaking in the worst wind you've ever experienced), with left over chinese takeaways from Mum and Dad's. (Went very nicely with the roast chicken which I finished on the BBQ.)

Anyway Dave barely finished dinner before the pager went off and he spent most of the next 18 hours being a fireman (he can post separately about that if he wants). I spent half that in bed under several blankets staying mutually warm with the cat, then the next half doing such farmer's wife-y stuff as sawing a fallen tree so I could get it off the fence, collecting various storm debris from the paddock before the cows attempted to eat it, attempting - and failing - to reattach a sheet of cladding that had come off the chook shed, and making a batch of scones for the fire brigade's lunch (yes really!!!). Oh how rural and domestic. Neither of us made it to work on Wednesday.

PS we were without power for about 8 hours, we got off lightly compared to most other people. Even the fire station was without power for twice as long as we were. Our local vodafone mast took another couple of days to get back up, cellphone reception is one of those things you don't realise how much you use it until you don't have it!