Getting the wind up

As I hammered yet another chock into the ground in an attempt to stop my fenceposts resembling a metronome in the wild winds earlier this week, I counted myself lucky that I was at the benign end of the blow.

This, of course, has been something of a crisis week for wind. In unlucky America twisters have been leaving a trail of very-much-not-CGI devastation on a grand scale across some huge States. At the same time winds have been blowing volcanic ash from Iceland towards Europe and towards Europe’s runways in particular.

The North of the country got the worst of it and listening to traffic reports brought home how vulnerable to climate the power and transport infrastructure is. As well as power cables being brought down cutting supplies to homes and railway trains, bridges, roads and passes were closed to high-sided vehicles, cars with trailers, motorbikes and – get this – pedestrians! They weren’t even trusting people to be able to cling onto the safety rail and make it to the other side of the bridge.

Also cancelled were the ferries that serve the Scottish islands

In this busy world, a lot of busy people seek isolation. But they seek it on their terms. Connected via their smartphone to their friends and by rolling news to world events, the idea of ‘turning off’ can mean a relaxing stroll somewhere with no mobile signal, or ‘Norfolk’ as it is commonly known.

However, it must take a particular sort of person not to be made anxious when the power goes down and the wind is shrieking. ‘Scottish’, is one description ‘Possessing a wood burner and an Aga’ is another.