coldest i have been

christmas morning in maine, 1989 -25 F

hottest i have been

probably cycling in spain, the road to huesca

wettest i have been

cycling on the west coast, south island, new zealand

They say the wind has been gusting over to 150 km/h today.  That's strong even for Wellington. The harbour was whipped up, spray obscuring views. A ship came adrift just below us. The waves were crashing on the rocks and spraying up over the road as the bus I was on came home along the harbour.

I decided not to cycle into work this morning!

The wind is a constant noise, not even a background noise, but a real one. The vent has started banging again in the kitchen. We look out of living room windows and see them swaying. One pane has a crack lengthways all the way along it. It has been like that for months, with a piece of cellotape to strengthen it. Tonight I taped some thicker packing tape on it.

The tv reception was screwed up by the weather.

I walked up the hill home from the bus stop with my blue gortex coat done it up. The wind kept blowing the hood off. On the news tonight, they had pictures of commuters in Wellington walking into the wind. They were like crabs, shuttling across the road between gusts of wind, bodies bent double.

I rescued two tulips from our garden and gave them to Debbie.