h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If ever a date was designed to really rub up the wrong way a Scot from up at the pointy end of the country, it's the anniversary every b....y year of The Great Storm when Michael Fish said it wasn't going to come and it did.

We have storms like that every January (and other months) and no-one writes books about them. They appear with big arrows on the TV weather forecasts and no-one assures us they aren't going to happen. Roofs are built stronger because of it. Caravans are chained to the ground but still get blown away amusingly. Fish-farmers hope their stock will still be there when they go out in workboats after storms quieten down. Electricity supplies are cut and complaints start to come in if they're not put back within a week. Fishermen are lost.

In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes may hardly ever happen, except when some telegraph poles and trees were blown down on Oct 16th 1987. Watch the London-based TV programs this coming October, it'll be the 16th anniversary. Don't miss it.

Speaking as a (sort of) Northerner from Sheffield, where it was merely 'a bit windy' that night. We remain convinced that that storm was God's punishment on the South of England for re-electing Margaret Thatcher

Hysteria about the weather is an entirely English matter. Scotland does not gind to a standstill when the sun goes in, nor does mainland Europe.
We can't cope with bad weather at all in East Anglia. We had some high winds last October, which blew down some power lines (and my next-door-neighbours fence, which is still lying on her lawn!). Some poor souls in rural areas had no power for a week! Then we had a little bit of snow in January. An inch at the most. The whole of the East of England ground to a standstill because the gritters did not get around in time, Stanstead Airport had to close because the staff could not get in and the college where I work was closed for a day. I was a little irritated to find it closed after I had walked to work, but hey, at least I got a day off!

Yes, we heard about the snow. It stopped the traffic on the M25 (but how could anyone tell?) and the Minister for Travelling About, Alastair Darling who is a Scot and should know better, came out with a firm stance and demanded explanations from all the usual suspects who said Weather, Minister, Weather, to which he robustly responded Ah, humm, yes, oh, welldontdoitagainortherellbetrouble.

Ever notice how all sorts of weather happens in the 'Far' North, the 'Far' West, but never the 'Far' South-East?

That's why half the population of Britain lives there. And that is why it was the luckiest error of all time in meteorolical forecasting anecdotes. Imagine how many fools would have gone out especially to be killed in it.