At last the wind has died down a bit but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it comes back again soon. A lot of schools in Scotland were closed today because it was so wild and that is the first time that they’ve ever been closed because of the wind, in my memory anyway and I’m over 50. Fife schools closed at lunch time.

When I saw the weather forecast last night I thought that for once the east coast of Scotland was going to avoid the worst of it but the Forth Bridge was closed to all vehicles by 11 o’clock in the morning and all of the other big bridges followed.

I didn’t go out of the house at all because there’s not much point in putting yourself in danger of being hit by flying slates if you don’t have to. I know that some slates have slipped and are in the guttering but I don’t think there’s too much damage done to the house. Fingers crossed anyway – in the past it has been the more modern houses which can’t withstand those massive gusts of wind at over 80 miles an hour which you get around here. Gusts of over 160 miles an hour have been recorded on higher ground, I think that means up a mountain.

The loft hatches lifted with the wind which just shows you how draughty the place was! I don’t suppose it’ll be the last gale/hurricane of the winter either.

It’s at times like this that I wish we had a basement like Dorothy in Kansas. The best I can do is go downstairs to try to get some sleep if it gets too scary. We still have electricity though so we’re much luckier than thousands of other people – maybe I shouldn’t have said that, it could be tempting fate!