Bed time

Sunday 26th November comments: This is no ordinary blog post, but then again this is no ordinary place. The clock has just ticked past 01:39 during the early hours of Sunday morning and I'm wide awake, unable to sleep. I'm in Brownsman cottage, a building which has been here since the turn of the 19th Century and am I pleased they knew how to build things to last back then.

The wind is smashing the islands. It's not just a brisk wind, it's not even a gale, it's gone beyond that. This could be classified as 'severe storm force' and I suspect it is possibly now touching 70mph with nothing stopping it in its tracks. On the mainland, hills and woodlands, buildings and trees help reduce the force of the wind, but not out here, nothing.

Out here, its just brutal. We've living in a former lighthouse keepers cottage, standing on a cliff top, being battered, smashed and pounded from all directions. The main bedroom is built into the attic and we can hear every tile, as they are being almost ripped from their holdings. If I'll get any sleep tonight, I may be lucky and the cottage may be lucky if it escapes without any damage. This is one beast of a storm. I've experienced some big storms in my time out here, but this is up there with the best of them. Mother Nature is certainly dealing us a heavy blow tonight.

However forget my sleepless worries, the cottage will survive (maybe only just) and the islands boats are well tethered down, but our attention should focus elsewhere. This storm may not bring us problems but for one island resident, it could be really bad news. The bad news could be for our Grey Seals, as the pupping season is almost over and with the backing of big tides (currently over 5m in height out here - which is big), the pups could be in trouble. However we'll not know until dawn breaks. Fingers crossed this isn't bad. Oh boy.

Time for sleep...maybe.