Thankful Thursday

My brother, Scriptor Senex aka CJ talked last Thursday about noise: his favourites and his least favourites and he invited people to name theirs.  Which a number of people did.

I commented that amongst my favourites are the loud and clear songs of the Bellbird and the Tui outside The Cottage and rain on the roof or windows when I am snug in bed. One of my dislikes is the adverts on TV (particularly in NZ) when the sound is ramped up so much over the set level for the programme.  (This is denied but I don't believe the denials!).

The more I've thought about sounds since then the more I have realised that most of the sounds I really love are either sounds of nature or sounds of music.  I think that most of us dislike the man-made sounds that intrude into our lives but there are also some natural sounds which frighten or even terrify us.  Having lived through a hurricane which destroyed part of my house on Lewis I can say that it was one of the most frightening experiences of my life.  How the people of Tornado Alley in the US including at least one follower of this blog (I hope you are OK Cynthia - I've just seen more Oklahoma tornados on TV).  So the sounds of hurricane force winds would be amongst my least favourite sounds of nature.  As is the sound of an earthquake - and I've only experienced the noise resulting from a relatively small one.

What I really love, though, is that I live in environments with few neighbours and only the noise of the countryside to listen to (other than, of course, my music which I can play without disturbing anyone).

So today I am thankful for the fact that I have the gift of hearing but that I also have the option of silence in the places where I live.

The Hurricane Has Passed

Well the weather reports which said that the wind had reached less than expected seem to have been somewhat misleading. According to View From The Island's posting The Morning After the winds reached 113mph (182 kph) which, though less than 2005, is still rather more than a stiff breeze. First reports of loss of tiles on the house were unfounded and the house seems to have escaped unscathed. Oddly the garage window blew in. The kindness of neighbours, however, meant that by the morning's end the window had been made weatherproof and will await my return. I am such a fortunate person to have the neighbours and friends that I do.

So Near, Yet So Far away

I know from emails from Pat and friends on Lewis that another huricane was forecast last night. I use the word another because since I went to live on Lewis in the 1970s we have had quite a few hurricanes. None, though, had the strength and longevity of the one that hit the Island on the night of 11-12 January 2005. It has been said that the strongest measured single gust was 146 mph at Ness. It destroyed my conservatory. I was in the house and it was one of the most frightening moments of my life.

The conservatory was re-built and is supposed to be much stronger than the original one.

It is at moments like this that, no matter how small the world has become, I am still a long way from my Lewis home. Fortunately I am not a worrier but I cannot help being happy to read this evening (the UK's Sunday morning) that the winds did not seem to have reached the severity expected. I await emails and news on the blog View From The Island which had posted on the forthcoming storm.