Saturday
Barnsley
Woke up at 7am, after 4 hours sleep. Still no power.
Made my bed, and then fed Peggy and the cats. Xena turned up none the worse for wear. Then I took Pegasus for a walk to the other side of Barnsley to survey the damage. Considering what things could have been like here, things were not that bad.
The awning above the beautician's had collapsed (she picked a good weekend to go on holiday). There was a fridge on its side on the wrong side of the road, opposite where it could have come from. The landscaper's fence and gates had been caved in. There were two cars abandoned diagonally in the main street, and debris went up to about a metre above the footpath on the bridge.
Over the bridge, the power line was down in two places, surrounded by "traffic hazard / fire hazard" signs and quite a few trees were down. One person told me that they had a metre of water in their living room!
Spent most of the morning reading, as there was no TV or radio (other than the little earplug one I had for dog walking), or power on in general. Kevin woke up late morning, and I pointed out that we had to go shopping as there was only half a gas bottle left, no matches, no firewood, and no D cells for the lights. OK, if the power came on later in the day that wouldn't be a problem, but the best indication we had was that there'd be no power back on until maybe Thursday!
Despite not being keen to, we went to Stocklands in Jesmond. I knew after phoning Jenn that she had the power on there, and had heard that the shopping centre there had power, so it was the logical place to go.
Glendale
we caught the bus out just after noon. There was a bit of damage along the way (like the roof missing from a sports club house) and when we got to Glendale we heard that (only) Woollies and K-Mart were open (as they had their own generators). Taking a chance, we got off and checked out K-Mart for gas bottles and D cells. There weren't either there, and in the half light there were heaps of folk mulling around staring at where the D cells weren't.
However we did pick up a number of LED lights that either ran off two AA cells, or were wind-up dynamo types (Kevin's looked like it was a prop from Star Trek). Very effective at night While Kevin waited for the next bus, I went to a usable toilet and then into Woollies. It was rather eerie watching people shop in the gloom. No gas bottles or D cells there either.
Jesmond
Caught the bus to Jesmond. Wallsend looked very wet, and half of Nelson street was a disaster area with shop fronts blown out and debris lying in the middle of the road. There were reports of looting at the Plaza but I don't know how accurate that was.
Got to Jesmond, finally. Kevin went to the lay-by in Big-W and picked up the dozen D cells that he'd booked over the phone. There were no others left in any shop there. there were no gas bottles either, or so we thought. We went upstairs and checked the "Asian Supermarket" but they'd sold out. I went to Go-Lo and found eight butane bottles and bought the lot. We also bought two packs of a dozen " smokeless logs" for fuel for my wood/coal stove in the lounge.
Going back down stairs we bought take-away Chinese meals and waited at the bus stop for a bus that'd take us back to Glendale where we could catch the last bus home. Kevin bought some bags of ice while we waited and had to rush off because he'd left his mobile to charge at a phone shop.
The bus never came.
Or rather, it came way too late, so that we'd never make that connection at Glendale. Once we realised this, we went back inside the shopping centre and sat down out of the wind and rain on nice expensive leather couches, and ate the take-aways.
I went into the Woollies there for some things and it seemed rather odd - not like there was a disaster on at all. And yet there clearly was because there was a run on quite a lot of groceries and supplies. The bread shop was posting times up to 80 minutes away for fresh bread. I was glad I'd bought two loafs on Friday night (and the pet food too), even though they'd sat in the trolley six hours before getting them home.
After that, with 10 minutes to spare before they closed, we went back into Big-W and I bought a 10 litre pot for soups. The pot could be used on the gas stove just in case the power didn't come back on. Then, well it was waiting for a taxi and paying $30 or more to get home.
Only we didn't have to. I bumped into a couple of friends and they gave us a lift home in their 4-wheel drive - hurray!
Home
It was a relief to get home. I was glad that we'd had dinner at Jesmond. We packed the bottom of the fridge with the ice bags and Kevin lit up the wood/coal stove in the lounge with the fuel we'd bought that day. He started making pea soup to a Dutch recipe.
Sometime in the night - utterly exhausted - I fell asleep on the sofa, surrounded by dogs. I woke up at 4am to Xena's meows to be let out side. She'd been in since 7pm that night so I let her out, found my specs, and went to bed again.
Woke up at 7am, after 4 hours sleep. Still no power.
Made my bed, and then fed Peggy and the cats. Xena turned up none the worse for wear. Then I took Pegasus for a walk to the other side of Barnsley to survey the damage. Considering what things could have been like here, things were not that bad.
The awning above the beautician's had collapsed (she picked a good weekend to go on holiday). There was a fridge on its side on the wrong side of the road, opposite where it could have come from. The landscaper's fence and gates had been caved in. There were two cars abandoned diagonally in the main street, and debris went up to about a metre above the footpath on the bridge.
Over the bridge, the power line was down in two places, surrounded by "traffic hazard / fire hazard" signs and quite a few trees were down. One person told me that they had a metre of water in their living room!
Spent most of the morning reading, as there was no TV or radio (other than the little earplug one I had for dog walking), or power on in general. Kevin woke up late morning, and I pointed out that we had to go shopping as there was only half a gas bottle left, no matches, no firewood, and no D cells for the lights. OK, if the power came on later in the day that wouldn't be a problem, but the best indication we had was that there'd be no power back on until maybe Thursday!
Despite not being keen to, we went to Stocklands in Jesmond. I knew after phoning Jenn that she had the power on there, and had heard that the shopping centre there had power, so it was the logical place to go.
Glendale
we caught the bus out just after noon. There was a bit of damage along the way (like the roof missing from a sports club house) and when we got to Glendale we heard that (only) Woollies and K-Mart were open (as they had their own generators). Taking a chance, we got off and checked out K-Mart for gas bottles and D cells. There weren't either there, and in the half light there were heaps of folk mulling around staring at where the D cells weren't.
However we did pick up a number of LED lights that either ran off two AA cells, or were wind-up dynamo types (Kevin's looked like it was a prop from Star Trek). Very effective at night While Kevin waited for the next bus, I went to a usable toilet and then into Woollies. It was rather eerie watching people shop in the gloom. No gas bottles or D cells there either.
Jesmond
Caught the bus to Jesmond. Wallsend looked very wet, and half of Nelson street was a disaster area with shop fronts blown out and debris lying in the middle of the road. There were reports of looting at the Plaza but I don't know how accurate that was.
Got to Jesmond, finally. Kevin went to the lay-by in Big-W and picked up the dozen D cells that he'd booked over the phone. There were no others left in any shop there. there were no gas bottles either, or so we thought. We went upstairs and checked the "Asian Supermarket" but they'd sold out. I went to Go-Lo and found eight butane bottles and bought the lot. We also bought two packs of a dozen " smokeless logs" for fuel for my wood/coal stove in the lounge.
Going back down stairs we bought take-away Chinese meals and waited at the bus stop for a bus that'd take us back to Glendale where we could catch the last bus home. Kevin bought some bags of ice while we waited and had to rush off because he'd left his mobile to charge at a phone shop.
The bus never came.
Or rather, it came way too late, so that we'd never make that connection at Glendale. Once we realised this, we went back inside the shopping centre and sat down out of the wind and rain on nice expensive leather couches, and ate the take-aways.
I went into the Woollies there for some things and it seemed rather odd - not like there was a disaster on at all. And yet there clearly was because there was a run on quite a lot of groceries and supplies. The bread shop was posting times up to 80 minutes away for fresh bread. I was glad I'd bought two loafs on Friday night (and the pet food too), even though they'd sat in the trolley six hours before getting them home.
After that, with 10 minutes to spare before they closed, we went back into Big-W and I bought a 10 litre pot for soups. The pot could be used on the gas stove just in case the power didn't come back on. Then, well it was waiting for a taxi and paying $30 or more to get home.
Only we didn't have to. I bumped into a couple of friends and they gave us a lift home in their 4-wheel drive - hurray!
Home
It was a relief to get home. I was glad that we'd had dinner at Jesmond. We packed the bottom of the fridge with the ice bags and Kevin lit up the wood/coal stove in the lounge with the fuel we'd bought that day. He started making pea soup to a Dutch recipe.
Sometime in the night - utterly exhausted - I fell asleep on the sofa, surrounded by dogs. I woke up at 4am to Xena's meows to be let out side. She'd been in since 7pm that night so I let her out, found my specs, and went to bed again.