Was inbetween jobs so was helping a mate on his milk round and our float got overtaken by a shed!!! We were stopped by the police and sent back to the yard. Never found out what happened to the shed lol.
I was working in The City - still am same job and back at the same company now.
Woke up and wondered why my clock radio hadn't gone off. There had been a powercut in the night and so it had reset.
Decided to drive to work, Blackheath was wild,fallen trees everywhere. I remember my old Vauxhall Cavierler wobbling form sode to side as I went over London Bridge.
Got into work and was treated as a hero,one of only a handful who got in. The boss paid my car park fee and we all went home again as the BOE declared it a Bank Holiday for trading purposes.
I was doing an overnighter for work in Nottingham, got up in the morning and switched on the TV.....a dimly lit broom cupboard of a studio as someone mentioned last year was all that appeared...I rang home, and the whole family had slept through it....we only lost one tile. The M11 was strewn with debris and overturned caravans.....terrible mess. I went up to Ide Hill when the roads had finally been cleared and it looked like pictures of the battlefront of WW1. I was commuting from West Kingsdown to Croydon for work and it took weeks to clear all the roads. We lost power at home for 4 days, but at least the house wasnt damaged. I also remember the re-planting of 6 of the 7 oaks in Sevenoaks sometime later.....looking around at the devastation at the time you found it hard to imagine that the countryside would recover.....but look at it today and you wouldnt really know it had happened.....I must be one of the older posters reading back over the thread....lol
I remember waking up, seeing the chimney of my house had fallen off, the fence had blown over and the T.V arial was dangling from the roof. I had the day off of school, I had to listen to a battery powered radio in the day for entertainment, I recall "Got My Mind Set On You" by Harrison was played all day, the song always reminds me of the storm to this day.
I also remember seeing a house with it's front blown in, was cut in half, about 4 houses up the road from mine.
went to work in it -- drove in mostly on the pavement behind the Old Bill stopping every so often trying to get a way through. The traffic light were all pink !! no Red/ Amber/Green. Must have been mad driving ! things flying all over the place. Got to Hotel in Nightsbridge where i worked and found the cleaning craddle hanging off the building over Sloane Street 8 floors up. had to lash it onto the building. Sat dishes on the roof gone for ever windows blown in everywhere---- great fun.
If you slept through it thats a shame only once in 200 years. Mind you I think the Uk was so lucky it happened in the small hours 3.30 AM ish. If it has been mid morning i think hundreds would have died.
Me i got a Employee of The Year -- hung the plaque in my toilet at home !
I remember laying in a field on a lovely windless, starlit night in Germany on exercise with the Army. Got back to England the following Saturday and my brother told me he had nearly been killed by a falling tree at St Mary's Cray!
I worked in the City (as I still do)...obviously no trains so had the day off but drove up to the Stock Exchange to pick up then GF who lived in Bermondsey amd could walk to work.
Lived on the Ferrier at the time, 11th floor, played snooker with the ex g/f dad & uncle in the old metro gas club in Tunnel Avenue in the evening, woke up about 6 in the morning wondering why we had no electricity, slept throught the whole lot. My mum told she hadn't slept a wink, high winds and windows nearly coming in, bulding swaying.
Got a lift to work across Blackheath common, as I worked in Lewisham at the time (GEC Elliots, now Tescos & DLR site), the common was a site to see, with trees around the edges and ponds all on the deck.
I was six and it was my birthday. I slept through all of it, I awoke in the morning to play with my new thunder cat toys!! haha we were living in plumstead at the time and walked over the common. Trees were down all over the shop. No school for days....just me and my thunder cat toys! Best birthday present ever haha!
The night before, was the first time I ever took my wife out (anyone remember that little wine bar down by Eltham Church?). I drove home that night and slept through the storm. Got married a year later on my birthday (very handy for remembering your Anniversary!) and we've been married 21 years today!
I was living in Walderslade then, anyone with a chainsaw earnt a fortune from the council that day.
Remember it well. I was at Uni living in a hall in Bunhill Row and I woke up early morning with all the racket so I looked out the window. The place next door was having it's roof replaced following a fire and there were sheets of corragated iron being ripped off the scaffolding and flying down the road at head height... No college due to a tree blocking the door. Couldn't find a working cashpoint. Remember walking round a deserted City looking at the damage. It was about the time of BP's share issue/floatation thing and there was a big scaffolding stage just off Moorgate that had been twisted completely round and a large road sign near Monument that was completely flat. Took the train home a week or two later and couldn't believe the devestation to the countryside out the window.
I was on a working trip to India and the wife phoned and told me about it. She had no electricity for four days, I arrived home on the 4th day and as I entered the house the electricity came back on !
This is easy for me to remember because its my birthday on the 16th October (tomorrow) and on the night of the storm I remember standing in my drive at 2 in the morning watching my roof tiles slip and crash to the ground thinking "what a great way to start a birthday"
Stuck for 24 hours at Alacante airport with no money and nowhere to sleep but the floor , returning from my first lads holiday in Benidorm. I was 18 . Then when we did fly into Gatwick . Seeing the devastation the storm had caused from above.
We lost our roof but found our caravan in next door's garden. I left home at seven to drive to work (in a hospital). It took me four and a half hours to drive what should have been 12 miles, and to this day, I have no real idea of what route I actually took. I lived out in the sticks and we were without electricity for 13 days. At first we were mightily fed up but when the lights came back on the kids were really annoyed. They had loved the days of playing endless family board games around a real wood fire. There were many hours of sharing gas ovens and camping gaz appliances, making bread and soup and checking on elderly neighbours. In many ways, it was one of the most sociable and community minded times that I have experienced.
I was only 5 at the time, my only real memory of it was walking to Primary School a few days later and seeing tree stumps line the roads, surrounded by destroyed cars.
Eaststandmike, my birthdays today and was 35 when the storm struck, so today's a big birthday, Infact 1 I would like to forget, but at least I will get my season ticket cheaper next year.
My memory is being woken by this noise, looked out the window to a see a shed going passed the bedroom window, that was followed a dustbin, at which stage I thought sod it, I go back to bed. Get up about 6 to watch various neighbours roof come off, out of the 60 houses around our crescent, ours was the only un damaged one.
Somehow drove to work, around the M25 to Orpington come off at the junction as I rounded the bend a large tree was across the road, slammed my brakes on and just managed to stop, a bar steward photographer took the photo showing my car skidding to a halt, it appeared in the local paper, been nice if he warned me, that I was about to die. Got to work and a massive great tree was across the drive, so we couldn't get in.
Eaststandmike, my birthdays today and was 35 when the storm struck, so today's a big birthday, Infact 1 I would like to forget, but at least I will get my season ticket cheaper next year.
My memory is being woken by this noise, looked out the window to a see a shed going passed the bedroom window, that was followed a dustbin, at which stage I thought sod it, I go back to bed. Get up about 6 to watch various neighbours roof come off, out of the 60 houses around our crescent, ours was the only un damaged one.
Somehow drove to work, around the M25 to Orpington come off at the junction as I rounded the bend a large tree was across the road, slammed my brakes on and just managed to stop, a bar steward photographer took the photo showing my car skidding to a halt, it appeared in the local paper, been nice if he warned me, that I was about to die. Got to work and a massive great tree was across the drive, so we couldn't get in.
Happy 60th today CharltonKerry, like myself it is very easy to remember these events as it was tagged on to a special day.
I remember by Dad telling me about his friend who had a vintage sports car. He loved that car and would get it out every Sunday to polish it and take it for a short spin. He had to keep it garaged for insurance purposes and in the storm a tree fell on the garage, crushing the car. He actually cried!
Comments
Woke up and wondered why my clock radio hadn't gone off. There had been a powercut in the night and so it had reset.
Decided to drive to work, Blackheath was wild,fallen trees everywhere. I remember my old Vauxhall Cavierler wobbling form sode to side as I went over London Bridge.
Got into work and was treated as a hero,one of only a handful who got in. The boss paid my car park fee and we all went home again as the BOE declared it a Bank Holiday for trading purposes.
I also remember seeing a house with it's front blown in, was cut in half, about 4 houses up the road from mine.
Had the next day off school aswell............Happy days!
If you slept through it thats a shame only once in 200 years. Mind you I think the Uk was so lucky it happened in the small hours 3.30 AM ish. If it has been mid morning i think hundreds would have died.
Me i got a Employee of The Year -- hung the plaque in my toilet at home !
Yes, she was a slag.
That's what I remember most - that and the fact that all of my mates managed to get to school but none of the poxy teachers bothered.
Got a lift to work across Blackheath common, as I worked in Lewisham at the time (GEC Elliots, now Tescos & DLR site), the common was a site to see, with trees around the edges and ponds all on the deck.
Happy 22nd Birthday Live By The Sword :-)
I was living in Walderslade then, anyone with a chainsaw earnt a fortune from the council that day.
My memory is being woken by this noise, looked out the window to a see a shed going passed the bedroom window, that was followed a dustbin, at which stage I thought sod it, I go back to bed. Get up about 6 to watch various neighbours roof come off, out of the 60 houses around our crescent, ours was the only un damaged one.
Somehow drove to work, around the M25 to Orpington come off at the junction as I rounded the bend a large tree was across the road, slammed my brakes on and just managed to stop, a bar steward photographer took the photo showing my car skidding to a halt, it appeared in the local paper, been nice if he warned me, that I was about to die. Got to work and a massive great tree was across the drive, so we couldn't get in.
Enjoy what is left of the day.
It also happens to be my birthday today, great way of remembering the anniversary!
Looks like there's a few of us with birthdays today, happy birthday to the others. Me and the wife out for a romantic curry tonight.