Almost gale force winds again today. The gusts are strong enough to unsettle the walker or topple the unwary. Birds remain on their branches or bound to the earth. Choir is cancelled tonight due to a blackout.

We are hunkered down. This old cottage still has its roof intact and the walls have yet to blow in. Ah, such blessings from God! I wonder if the possums will do their high-wire act tonight, or if they will find less tortuous routes to their destinations.

Tonight, too, we may 'feel the roots of the house move,' or see 'the window tremble to come in.' We may indeed.

Well I hope not, but there is a wildness abroad that will not brook the foolish or the gullible. Think of the storm in King Lear, and the madness that ensued.