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Posted by Olwyn.Mary on October 4, 2009, 6:12 pm
Kate XXXXXX wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> Yup, we were in the middle of that one... No way out of the village for
> 24 hours due to trees down across the roads, and power out for several
> days after that, then intermittently for several MONTHS as the guys
> traced all the lines and found all the faults and fixed them...
> Sometimes we lost power for a day or two while a particularly knotty
> problem was fixed. And as the months went by, lots more trees weakened
> by the tsorm came down and took more power lines with them...
>
> The power guys working on the mess were fantastic, and everyone TRIED to
> keep us informed, but it wan't always possible.
>
> And sometimes, for several days at a time, we had power but no phone,
> because the same poles that carry the electric power to us also bring
> the phone lines and were felled by trees just as they were...
>
> Fun, for certain values of fun.
>
> And they hadn't quite got that mess sorted by the following February,
> when we all got cut off by snow, and lots of the new power lines were
> felled by ice, and it all had to be done again.
>
> And folk wonder why we talk about the weather! :P
"Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything" ?? Well, after the
fiasco of Hurricane Gustav last year, when we obediently evacuated but
where we went to got it worse than home did (remember, I told you about
that one, I called home and the answerng machine picked up, and we
promptly went back home where there was power). So, we bought a
generator, several very long, heavy duty power cords and a small, one
room, window air conditioner.
Now that we are all prepared, I told my local friends not to worry there
wouldn't be any hurricanes this year, and there have not been!! I look
on the money spent on the generator as being an insurance payment.
Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.
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Posted by Kate XXXXXX on October 4, 2009, 7:01 pm
Olwyn.Mary wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> Kate XXXXXX wrote:
>
>
>> Yup, we were in the middle of that one... No way out of the village
>> for 24 hours due to trees down across the roads, and power out for
>> several days after that, then intermittently for several MONTHS as the
>> guys traced all the lines and found all the faults and fixed them...
>> Sometimes we lost power for a day or two while a particularly knotty
>> problem was fixed. And as the months went by, lots more trees
>> weakened by the tsorm came down and took more power lines with them...
>> The power guys working on the mess were fantastic, and everyone TRIED
>> to keep us informed, but it wan't always possible.
>> And sometimes, for several days at a time, we had power but no phone,
>> because the same poles that carry the electric power to us also bring
>> the phone lines and were felled by trees just as they were...
>> Fun, for certain values of fun.
>> And they hadn't quite got that mess sorted by the following February,
>> when we all got cut off by snow, and lots of the new power lines were
>> felled by ice, and it all had to be done again.
>> And folk wonder why we talk about the weather! :P
>
> "Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything" ?? Well, after the
> fiasco of Hurricane Gustav last year, when we obediently evacuated but
> where we went to got it worse than home did (remember, I told you about
> that one, I called home and the answerng machine picked up, and we
> promptly went back home where there was power). So, we bought a
> generator, several very long, heavy duty power cords and a small, one
> room, window air conditioner.
>
> Now that we are all prepared, I told my local friends not to worry there
> wouldn't be any hurricanes this year, and there have not been!! I look
> on the money spent on the generator as being an insurance payment.
>
> Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.
Yes, I remember...
And we do not live in a hurricane/tornado/severe weather area. What we
live in is a freak weather area! :D
--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!
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Posted by The Wanderer on October 5, 2009, 3:28 am
On Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:13:34 +0100, Kate XXXXXX wrote:
show/hide quoted text
>
> Yup, we were in the middle of that one...
Yerss, so was I! Worked for two 24-30 hour periods with anly a very few
hours sleep, had to take a day off to recover, then settled into working
about 16 hours a day for the next ten days!
We had loads of linesmen from the Irish Republic, they were all put up in
hotels around Gatwick. Oh, and it was the time the first mobile phones
appeared, full sized handsets, and a battery pack as big as a couple of
house bricks....
Odd, the little cameo images that the memory holds - a plantation of
conifers with a 20-30 wide swathe through the middle that was totally
flattened, an old oak tree some 3-4 ft diameter where the crown hsd been
torn off about 12 ft above ground, an acre or two of green houses at a
market garden completely flattened.....
show/hide quoted text
<snip>
show/hide quoted text
> We have never been
> more appreciative of the emergency service helocopter pilots as wer were
> in those months.
One of the few perks for me after the event, I was trained as an
'emergencies' observer so for several years got a couple of days every year
doing line patrols by helicopter. None of your 15 minute joy rides, this
was 6 hours flying each time!
--
Richard
Meditate! It's better than sitting doing nothing.
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Posted by Kate XXXXXX on October 5, 2009, 4:04 am
The Wanderer wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> On Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:13:34 +0100, Kate XXXXXX wrote:
>
>> Yup, we were in the middle of that one...
>
> Yerss, so was I! Worked for two 24-30 hour periods with anly a very few
> hours sleep, had to take a day off to recover, then settled into working
> about 16 hours a day for the next ten days!
I was always worried by the safety of the line workers in those woods.
A lot more trees fell in the years folowing, loosened and weakened by
the storm.
show/hide quoted text
>
> We had loads of linesmen from the Irish Republic, they were all put up in
> hotels around Gatwick. Oh, and it was the time the first mobile phones
> appeared, full sized handsets, and a battery pack as big as a couple of
> house bricks....
But they proved their use in those months!
show/hide quoted text
>
> Odd, the little cameo images that the memory holds - a plantation of
> conifers with a 20-30 wide swathe through the middle that was totally
> flattened, an old oak tree some 3-4 ft diameter where the crown hsd been
> torn off about 12 ft above ground, an acre or two of green houses at a
> market garden completely flattened.....
There were 43 fully grown sycamores, horse chestnts, beeches, and the
occasional oak down across the road between our house and the edge of
town. There were a similar number down Bell Road alone once you got
into town. The ambulances and the fire engines could get only 20 or so
yards in any direction from their respective doors... For us, tree
clearance was a bigger priority than electricity.
show/hide quoted text
>
>
>> We have never been
>> more appreciative of the emergency service helocopter pilots as wer were
>> in those months.
>
> One of the few perks for me after the event, I was trained as an
> 'emergencies' observer so for several years got a couple of days every year
> doing line patrols by helicopter. None of your 15 minute joy rides, this
> was 6 hours flying each time!
Are you deaf? I sincerely hope not. That kind of hours of
helicoptering can seriously affect hearing.
--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!
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Posted by The Wanderer on October 5, 2009, 6:01 am
On Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:04:28 +0100, Kate XXXXXX wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> The Wanderer wrote:
show/hide quoted text
>> One of the few perks for me after the event, I was trained as an
>> 'emergencies' observer so for several years got a couple of days every year
>> doing line patrols by helicopter. None of your 15 minute joy rides, this
>> was 6 hours flying each time!
>
> Are you deaf? I sincerely hope not. That kind of hours of
> helicoptering can seriously affect hearing.
Nay, nay and thrice nay (Lurkio!) Heavy duty head sets worn at all times.
My dearly beloved also worked in the ESI, and it was the only jolly she
ever had, a day's flying as well!
Thing that struck me the most, I knew *all* the little byeways, green
lanes, farm tracks etc where I used to work, but a journey of 1.5 - 2 hours
by car keeping out of the way of traffic was done in a matter of minutes.
There were lots of places that I could recognise from the air, but others
(where one couldn't easily get by car) that were completely foreign to me.
I could go on reminiscing but this thread is waaay OT as it is! :-)
--
Richard
Meditate! It's better than sitting doing nothing.
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> 24 hours due to trees down across the roads, and power out for several
> days after that, then intermittently for several MONTHS as the guys
> traced all the lines and found all the faults and fixed them...
> Sometimes we lost power for a day or two while a particularly knotty
> problem was fixed. And as the months went by, lots more trees weakened
> by the tsorm came down and took more power lines with them...
>
> The power guys working on the mess were fantastic, and everyone TRIED to
> keep us informed, but it wan't always possible.
>
> And sometimes, for several days at a time, we had power but no phone,
> because the same poles that carry the electric power to us also bring
> the phone lines and were felled by trees just as they were...
>
> Fun, for certain values of fun.
>
> And they hadn't quite got that mess sorted by the following February,
> when we all got cut off by snow, and lots of the new power lines were
> felled by ice, and it all had to be done again.
>
> And folk wonder why we talk about the weather! :P