Stormy Weather

I often have a song in my head and since yesterday it has been ‘Stormy Weather’ because of the incoming storm Boelo. 

The song brings back a very strong memory of the time I organised for Scotland’s street orchestra to play in the cafe area of Western Isles Hospital, where they performed it. That needed a lot of risk assessments and meetings to clear but the joy of seeing doctors and admin staff stopping by and enjoying the music, people dancing together in the corridors, visitors getting a lift from the heaviness of managing life around a hospital made it all worthwhile. The joy of the musicians was effervescent and contagious, even if they were tired from a wild trip to play in St Kilda. They brought a little comedy and humour to the proceedings. 

The Nevis Ensemble is their name, if you get the chance to see them. They were so great that we went back to see them at the Callanish Stones that evening. Before it closed for a refurb. Before we left the islands a few days later. A last hurrah. 

Boelo is the second named storm of the winter season. Storm Austen was further south on Thursday and Friday and we had a lot of rain following that one.

The next named storm is Chloe. My niece will enjoy that one. The first big storm after moving here was storm Dave in April. It was chaos, much like being married to the other Dave. But no damage. He’s a good sort, if a tad dramatic. 

We’re as ready as we can be. Island life taught me resilience in keeping a dry store stashed. Spices, pulses, rice. We could live on bean chilli or dahl curries for quite a while. I can make bread and pastry, cakes with oils and seed based egg replacements. Warm grain salads, using what we have. 

This house has options built in. The Rayburn heats the water but there’s an electric shower too and a heated water tank under the sink for the summer, when Queen Rayburn is hibernating. In October, she gets a sweep and a service and she’s back in action, as she was yesterday, simmering soup and toasting dinner. Right now, she is warming the breakfast croissants. And she was very agreeable about keeping going all night, with a feed at midnight and 6am. What a legend. 

It’s not just food and heating resilience, we have a generator to power the freezers in a power cut. It will power the tv too and maybe the dvd player if the internet is down. We have a library of DVDs and real books. Digital products aren’t much use in a power cut or WiFi interruption.

The lounge has a real log burner but for now, because we haven’t yet recommissioned the chimney, it has a practical insert of a bioethanol burner. It’s surprisingly warm when it gets going and the stove casing holds the heat well. 

We don’t need electricity to stay warm and cosy. We have a few candles, battery lights, solar lights and rechargeable/wind up lights and torches strategically about the place. The recommended wind up radio and power banks. Some water stored in the bothy. Summer produce stored in a freezer. I could probably feed all of the neighbours for a month.

In a prolonged power cut we could make use of the Rayburn heated hot water with a hot flannel wash and a jug arrangement for washing hair. It’s no big deal. 

We have a few off grid alternatives to organise after the house is finished. A wind turbine. A few solar panels. Batteries. Inverters. That kind of thing. The idea was to  run the freezers and laundry to reduce the cost of power. We might still do this.  The garage has a solid fuel stash and a little stash of generator fuel. 

We’ve been careful to store emergency items where they can be found in the dark. Candles, matches, torches, battery lights. The generator. Cables. There’s not much point in collecting useful items if you can’t find them.

Messages from the government are getting a little louder about preparedness lately. I suppose we never know what’s around the corner but we have done our best to be prepared. It feels normal after living in places where supply chains can be disrupted. 

I’ve been working hard on local food and community resilience this year. Getting to know my neighbours, running the summer free shop, sourcing food locally wherever possible. Supporting local businesses. It all matters. 

I have a stash of seeds to sow. Microgreens, too. We are saving rainwater in barrels for the garden. A healthy curiosity is fun. As is the not knowing what’s going to happen next. 

Here’s Boelo now, battering the windows with wind and rain.

Stay safe out there!