It’s A Shame I Wasn’t More Awake

The hot weather of the last few days has broken and I think it’s meant to be more “normal” over the next week or so. I don’t mind really. As long as I can drink enough water I’m generally happy in any temperature. So, last night I woke with the clapping of thunder and I pulled my window shut. I slowly decided whether to properly get and and watch the lightning as there is a decent vista from the back bedroom but my decision was – go back to sleep. I’ve seen storms before.

When I woke and eventually checked my phone there were loads of notifications of movement detected from my home security system. I wrote about this in this communication. It turns out that the lightning set off the record feature of the cameras and I got some shots of the sky being lit up by electrical discharge.

https://youtu.be/BKmHXTR2eLc

The green bits and pieces in the video are where the camera thinks there is movement so generally they are best to ignore. Of the videos the camera recorded this one was the best with a decent image of the strike.

This is communication number 1958 and so here are some things, curated by me, that happened in that year of the common era:

  • Sputnik 1 falls to Earth and burns up.
  • Bertrand Russell launches CND.
  • BBC Radiophonic workshop is established.
  • The last fully rigged sail trading ship sinks carrying guano.
  • The first motorway opens in the UK.

Storm

The 18th July was a good day. It was the end of my twentieth year of my teaching career. It was also the hottest day of the year. My car said 33C at one point.

That night there was also the most almighty storm. I was sitting watching television when it went darker than normal and so I went into the garden. I saw a sight I can tell you. The sun was setting in the west and it was bright in that direction but to the east and south it was dark and foreboding. There was no noise but there was a lot of lightning over towards Maidstone.

Before The Storm
Before The Storm

 

Lightning
Lightning

After a while I could hear what I thought, at first, was rain but it was a slight breeze going through the nearby trees. Then all of a sudden the wind really picked up. It became a constant driving wind and then the rain came, large spots at first and then torrential. The lightning and thunder was just spectacular.

An Evil Arrives
An Evil Arrives

These are two videos I took to show the electric storm over the Weald of Kent.


Sandy

My Shatism on Storm Sandy.