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

Christmas is less than half an hour away, and it is already kind of strange.

I've had telephone conversations with some other people in the Trailer park, and they keep hearing scary stories about the wind gusts up to 75 miles an hour that we'll likely get overnight and next morning.

75 miles an hour ? Really? Not even the national Weather Service is predicting that, though 60 or 65 mph gusts are possible "in some parts."

When I search for weather conditions for my specific area, I don't see gusts of more than 45 or 50 mph predicted. And the steady winds won't likely exceed 30 mph. I just stuck my had out the door, where we're getting 20 mph and occasional gusts of 35 mph. These are not frightening speeds.

Of course, wind speeds don't have to be ridiculously high to knock trees and power lines down *if* heavy snow is sitting on them, making them topheavy. But we are expected to get two inches f rain in the next 24 hours. That will wash any remaining snow from tree branches. Temps will be as high as 58 degrees F., so ice isn't going to weigh the trees down either.

I don't feel like being Chicken Little. The sky is not falling. I'm tired of scary headlines, which have been almost nonstop for almost a year.

Can't we have a peaceful Christmas? We can't get together with friends and/or relatives. I expect to fix myself a special feast*, but I will eat it along.

*Feast:
Breakfast: coffee, spinach/mushroom/sausage omelet, with two slices of toast and a banana

Lunch: tuna sandwich with tomato soup, key lime yogurt on fresh blueberries

Supper: Turkey, potatoes, and carrots in tomato sauce. sliced apple with peanut butter. Pumpkin bread with remaining yogurt.


There may be some Christmas cookies and other goodies between meals. My neighbors have given me boxes of goodies.

Hold on to hat and glasses as we say over here when a storm is brewing

By glasses we usually mean spectacles, but should also be kept safe

The omelet was delicious. I used Carnation evaporated milk for it, and put some in my coffee as well. Delicious.

Snow is a very rare event for Southern England but it is more frequent in Northern England and in the Scottish Highlands including the Cairngorms.

Storm Bella will be arriving to Ireland and the British Isles due to a low in the Atlantic ocean which ramps up the jet-stream bringing storms galore with rain and wind for Ireland and the British Isles. The ramped up Atlantic jet stream is called the pest from the West.

Because I live on my own, I am allowed a visit from my support bubble which is my sister. She visited me today, and I supplied a buffet with smoked salmon, cheeseboard, Turkish cheese hors d'oeuvres, cheese and Indian snacks, chocolate orange popcorn, honey and mustard pretzels, after eight dinner mints and mince pies.

THat sounds really nice.

I just spent an hour visiting with my relatives in a Zoom session. It was the best Zoom session I've ever had.

I've made Christmas special in some small ways.

For breakfast I made a mushroom-spinach omelet. It was fabulous.

At lunch I had a tuna sandwich, and some blueberries with yogurt.

Supper will be turkey with potatoes and carrots, and some of the Christmas goodies my relatives and neighbors have given me

Thank you, Paul. I will be having some Christmas pudding with brandy cream poured over it.

Right now I'm watching a video that my great-niece gave me for Christmas: "Anna and the Apocalypse." It's about a virus (relevant to our times) that turns people into zombies. It's set in a high school in Scotland. It's like "Shaun of the Dead," but there are numerous songs, so it's a litle like "La La Land."

It's a little colder now -- thirty degrees colder than yesterday. It will be a little warmer than this tomorrow though.

Have you gotten our storm yet? You said yesterday that it was coming to your area. Lucky you! But maybe it lost most of its moisture by dumping it on us.

It will be a little windy here Sunday. Temps close to zero and a little rain. Nothing to worry about

Is that zero centigrade?

Yes. I just checked. It's +4C now, but Tuesday we'll be down to +1C.

Around noon today windspeed will reach 12 meter per second, with gusts up to 22. That should be 29 and 49 mph respectively so nothing to worry about.

We are having low temperatures under 6° but not below freezing, with snow predicted! Go figger, as jwf used to say.

We have also been warned to batten down all hatches and not leave anything loose lying around outside as strong winds are expected, but nothing yet. And that was a couple of days ago.

That sounds like the storm we had, with similar wind and gusts. it's about the right time frame, too.

Yep. Appears to have swept over the British Isles and then moving southerly. This in turn made wind blow up to us from Southeast if I'm not mistaken but I haven't checked

It was thirty-five degrees at 11:00 this morning. Now it's 45 degrees, at 6:00 p.m.

Strange weather.