To describe where we live as exposed is potentially an understatement, therefore we take dire storm warnings very seriously. Our neighbour’s weather station recorded a wind speed of 48 mph yesterday and that’s supposed to be nothing compared with what’s to come tonight. They’re saying gusts of up to 80 mph for the wee small hours.

So, when we got up and found bright but blustery weather we decided to get in a long walk before the storm so the dogs wouldn’t be pinging off the walls later. So far, so good. Although it’s been very blowy, I’m not sure it’s more than we see quite routinely here in winter. This is Daniel Gumb’s cave – the place where the local stone mason plied his trade before we had such things as heavy machinery to do it for us. He was an educated man for one living such a wild life – inscribed on the lintel over the entrance is a mathematical symbol done by him many centuries ago…except that it’s not actually his cave – the 19thC quarrying destroyed the real thing so the locals mocked this up with his lintel etc to remember him by – it’s basically a fake!

Now we sit, braced for the storm. We’ve got candles, torches, high viz jackets, waterproofs and dogs leads ready in case we have to evacuate. We’ve got emergency food and fuel – although if the power goes we’ll have to cook on the fire!

There’s crazy stuff abound – we have just seen the unconfirmed rumours of Lou Reed’s death – another one of our heroes bites the dust.

Let’s hope that by tomorrow we still have a home and we are all safe and well…