stormy times ahead

I have never seen it so rough. The winds were howling through the rigging. Screaming would be a better adjective. That metallic tinkling sound as lines rattle against metal masts.   

 

 

Even in Queen Annes Battery marina, boats tossed slightly as the currents found their way through the normally impenetrable outer wall. And what waves! I cannot ever recall seeing waves being driven down that narrow area of the barbican before.

 

 

Angry, foaming, grey waves with bright white foam tops......white horses on a mega scale! They piled up against the lock gate of the Sutton harbour entrance. No one in their  right mind would have attempted an exit or entry through those narrow lock gates.

 

 

At the harbour masters pontoon, the harbour launches rose and fell great heights, secured fore and aft. Even the pontoon was rising up and down on its steel pilings.

And this was the sheltered area! We drove around onto the hoe. No one was trying to walk along the hoe foreshore road. You'd have needed to be insane.

 

 

The breakwater was hidden under a maelstrom of malevolent breakers,  spume rising high in the air and being whisked shoreward. The sound was a boiling mass of white caps. Waves crashed against the base of the hoe, white water breaking high over the restaurants at the waters edge. It was genuinely quite impressive and awe inspiring. Nature's fury at its best.

 

And we have more to come. Christmas travel plans disrupted, many homes without power......flood warnings out everywhere. Railway travel severely restricted. I'm glad we live on a north facing hillside!!!

My thoughts and prayers and best wishes go to all those travelling, to those affected by the weather......take care in your Christmas journeys. And thank you to all our emergency services, from the fire brigade to the RNLI, from Police to the AA and RAC, from council workers, to environment agency and electricity board workers.....and those struggling to get our railways moving again. Thank you all for keeping us safe this Christmas

Steve