Pollyana

That guy is probably responsible for me being in my current career field, so I think I owe him a

DadAgain

I remember it clearly:

It was a dark and stormy night... but we all slept soundly. However, we woke up late (what with all the clock radios not working thanks to the lack of power). We rushed to get dressed and my mother drove me in to school.

In the car on the way in the news was full of stories of devastation which my mother dismissed as people making a big fuss about nothing.

I was dropped unceremoniously (and in a rush) just down the road from the school and I strolled through the underpass to be greeted by the view of a huge chunk of the school roof in the playground.

All the students gathered in the school hall where one or 2 teachers had actually made it in and after an hour or so we were sent home and told to find our way to buses.

Once home I was extremely bored - no power meant no TV and for the following week or so we remained completely without power (we lived in a fairly remote location). We borrowed a camping stove from some friends and drove to the local squash club (parents were members) for hot showers daily. I probably did more piano practice that week than I had in the entire year before.

On the wider scale of things (and vaguely relevant to this forum) 25 years ago I was excited about being in the County Youth Orchestra and the planned 5 week tour to Australia in mid '88. I became obsessed with researching the country - all our destinations (Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns and a couple of country towns along the way), reading all sorts of books, watching Neighbours and Home & Away religiously and generally setting up the foundations, unknowingly, for my future.

Jon77

What do you do? I work in Environmental Sciences and have been trying to get a job with the BOM.

Wol

We spent most of the night under the kitchen table, except for a brief foray into the garden to see what was happening. Bad move: I nearly got guillotined by the patio table which flew head-high around the corner of the garage as I rounded it.

Our neighbour was an air traffic controller at LGW: he tried to get in for an early shift but only got as far as the road so we spent the morning with a bottle of scotch.

Bibbs

I was sat on a Qantas 747 at Heathrow waiting to take off to head back to Perth.

Was delayed by several hours as they refused to take off.

Missed my connection at Singapore. Not great for a 10 year old.

Pollyana

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...7&postcount=43

Not the BoM I'm afraid...yet!!

My then partner slept through almost the whole thing. We had tiles crashing down into the basement yard outside, wind howling around like a banshee and he just lay there snoring. About 3am his two motorbikes, parked in the street, blew over. He woke up instantly, leapt out of bed, rushed outside, tied one to the front of his knackered landrover and the other to the railings around the yard and came back to bed muttering "bit blowy out there" - he then slept soundly till 7am and was stunned to find how much damage there was when he tried to get us to work!!

DeadVim

I was 16, so I was either having a wank or thinking about having one.

Not much has changed really.

ozzieeagle

Probably watching the news on TV re the event here in Melbourne, and thinking to myself "Heh they dont know what extreme weather is" ..... It sounds like I may have got that one wrong

ukecadet

Tell me what your're wearing right now?

northernbird

Camping with my Dad, new stepmother and 2 stepbrothers, only having met a few days prior. My Dad thought that a camping holiday in Great Yarmouth with the new family would be a good bonding opportunity. He wasn't bloody wrong!!

carolinephillips

Trying to drive to a far away station to collect my OH (then my fiancee) as there were trees over the lines at the stations closer to home. On my way back, a tree leapt out into the dark road and I scraped the side of the car.

Last time OH let me drive at night. (great for when we went to parties!!)

DeadVim

Fancy Dress - Jimmy Savile ... Got it cheap.

moneypenny20

Hope it had been cleaned first.

ukecadet

Whoa! I wasn't quite expecting that

Wendee

Living life to the full in Oz.