Is anyone else a little bit anxious about the storm tomorrow?

BRIGHTON/HOVE AREA: can anyone tell me what's been happening there? My daughter/son-in-law not answering our queries (hopefully just enjoying Friday night at the local with friends.

varian are they all safe?

Varian, how awful! Are the family safe and have they got good emergency accommodation - and was she insured?

madelaine45 you sound very sensible. And you're not alone, you will see that others on here have also been getting their emergency kit sorted. Stay safe

I was not worried too much until I read this post ?. We are in the red zone and not far from the sea and close to a huge tree. My GS cheerfully helped me hide away all plant pots and toys in the garden/ jungle. He lost his football tonight and is very sad about that as it was new. He was quite positive about the situation and glad to have a day off school.
Luckily he did not stay the night as our power went off, a large branch fell across the garden and we had no phone signal as we rely on a booster box powered by electricity. We are fixed up with a generator and an old gas cooker so we are fine.
I hope other folks are managing ok and all will be back to normal soon (or at least 6pm Saturday as promised by the electric company.)

The roof blew off my daughter;s house and demolished her neighbour's fence.

I was really looking forward to seeing Simply Red at the O2 tomorrow & an overnight stay in London. I was very upset when I received an email saying that the event was cancelled due to covid in the band. I am now relieved having seen that the roof of the 02 is in tatters. Stay safe everyone.

There must be a few of us looking forward to a good sleep tonight, it is fine here in sw now, still windy but normal. Feeling grateful not to have any damage

I had hail and snow earlier (South Gloucestershire, West Country).

Lol Sara

I must admit I've tried the kettle numerous times in power cuts

Definitely calmer now, but we have no power and it won’t be back till lunchtime tomorrow.
My granddaughter is completely lost without her gadgets, and when she realised no morning shower or hair straighteners, she nearly passed out with horror!
A few minutes ago she asked me if she could still watch television!!
Luckily we have three log burners and plenty of candles.

We have a very large very old cooking apple tree and I am very surprised its still there after watching the whole thing wobble earlier

I saw photos of the waves on a promenade Josieann - scary! I'm sure my local beach will be unrecognisable too, the anti tank defences might be back. I am sorry not to visit the beach and feed my seagulls today, they know my car when I arrive.

I've just managed to pack three boxes, feels like I've packed 30!

I've just been out to see the sea. We used to have a pebble beach, now it's a sandy one where all the stones have been dragged away by the waves.

Yes, we had loads of big trees - scary, although tree man checks them regularly

My peg bag, which for the past seven years has been my trusty wind sock, took off for the Midlands this morning. Has anyone seen it?

My son and dil’s garden has just got much larger, though this happened on Wednesday.

I have lived through all sorts of things including in living in an earthquake zone and there were a couple of quakes and a few sort of rumbles. also sailed and took care but have been stuck in a force 11 when i was right out at sea and could not run for shelter. So my take is this. I look at all the information that I can glean, from reliable sources - this does not include internet sensationalists, or newspapers whose anxiety raising attitudes they hope to sell more papers and have less to do as they can fill the paper with trivia and what people thought of trivia. So firstly practicalities. Yes go round and pin down and sort out whatever you are able to do. so this to me would include cutting back large shrubs especially old ones. Not totally but I find it better to be in charge of what is cut so old branches and crossing branches. If the wind is going to wreck it all you might as well have a go at lowering the levels. Then do check round for any bamboo canes or clothes line holders or anything that could possibly fly off in a bad wind. Pack them all in an outside shed if possible . If not tie the whole bunch of whatever you collect together - I use a bungy cord to collect things together easily then also tie thickish string or thin rope round the whole lot. Go round and firm in any precious plants which should help them stay in the soil where you want them to be. Then inside I collect together my important collections from their normal place, so have a metal closing box into which I put passport, bank books, birth certificates,insurance documents etc. Lesser documents I would use your phone to get a picture of them all, so that at the worst you do have all the numbers and relevant dates etc on you if you have to suddenly leave. Whenever I have moved I always have a barrel style bag into which I put a clean set of duvet and pillow covers etc, also 3 sets of underwear, a comfortable old pair of shoes or trainers or slippers, a wash bag with basic needs and some older towels and a pair of easy to pull on trousers and t shirts and a good warm jumper - I have an ancient cashmere jumper, looks tatty, but is very light and very warm. In each bag make sure you have a torch with spare batteries. So it may seem a bit over the top. However I always feel that it is actually very calming. Once you have all this ready and near a door, whatever the storm does you know exactly where your things are, you are not panicked into putting yourself in danger trying to collect things. Any sense of danger and you can be out and away. Your lives are always more important than material things, but having your passports, wills, and in particular I always keep a spare prescription list in my bag. In a difficult condition, trying to remember the strength of your tablets when you are moved to a strange place and the chemist does not know you , is a lot of hassle. Once I have all the things I think I need, I will probably ring family or friend and tell them I am sorted and that my first port of call if I have to leave is to x hotel or whatever and that I will ring them and let them know what is happening. So now you are in charge , prepared and organised. that is the best you can do and if you do specific extra things like lifting things onto tables etc take photos so that in the future when the insurance is dragging its feet or trying to tell you that you did not do the correct thing You can prove that you did!! If you have 2 or 3 sets of house keys that you normally have one each, it might be worth leaving a set at friends or relatives who do not live on the same road as you. You can return the favour in case it is their property not yours that is affected. Look at your drive or garage. If you are near a river or large amount of water you need to look and see if the car is safer where it is or would be better moved to a higher area. well everyone to their own view. My friends think I go over the top, but they have not lived in the situation I have, and also having to explain in a foreign language , so having copies of everything is easier and better later on. i love my radio more than tv so make sure I have a battery operated radio in case the power goes and that is about all i bother with. if it starts to be very very windy I boil kettles and fill all the thermos I have so that if the power goes I still have some hot water.Havent got it now but used to have camping gaz stoves etc and a tilley lamp and used to have them at the ready too. Then you can dress warmly, make a decent drink and sit and read or play scrabble etc and dont let it get to you. I am 76 and have survived so far and intend to continue to do so, but I am not going to be frightened by such things as the papers. At that stage you can console yourself that you have done the best you can and can relax in as much as you can, prepared but not panicked!!

We're on the Isle of Wight, about 1 1/2 miles from the sea, but not too worried. We have a wind speed 'thingy' in the garden which is always a bit windswept, it recorded 98mph a couple of hours ago, usually the strongest winds we get in this spot are 70-80mph. One of the enormous trees at the back of the garden (on neighbouring farm) looks as if half of it may have broken off. Sections of the south coast road have been closed and across the downs. Dog won't be getting his walk today. We watched a Pheasant that had landed in the garden (or been blown in!) trying to take off again. It gave up and took shelter under a hedge!

Take care everyone if you have to go out, even if it's only in the garden. A large section of polycarbonate sheeting from someone's greenhouse flew across our garden earlier, just missing our greenhouse, and one of our obelisks has fallen over.

Our DS and family are due to visit tomorrow from London - if the ferry is running - we'll just have to wait and see.

Not me . Always look on the bright side of life????????

Never had a problem with trees with TPOs. Our arborist just contacts the local council and discussed what is planned with the tree officer.

In one case we were allowed to raise the crown of a tree and in the second case an elm tree was growing wound between the railings of our house in a conservation area and we were allowed to remove it, it was still not very tall, because it was damaging the railings and therefore the look of the conservation area at a prominent place and the roots were coming up through the pavement out side the garden causing a trip hazard.

This happened in two different places with two different councils.

Have woodland all around, not worried but I do have a look out the windows when I am going about the house just in case!

Next doors huge trampoline almost over our fence. Luckily the young neighbour managed to wrestle it back and somehow temporarily anchor it down.
Post just delivered, royal mail marvellous.
Wind and rain still bad here in East Anglia.

Spare a thought people for the linesmen who have to go out to sort power failures. Not only are they out in that weather but they have to climb poles to fix things!

Very gusty in Northamptonshire with a mixture of sunshine and showers. We're amber warning.
I'm amazed the bird table is sill standing!
Next door's trampoline hasn't flew over our fence, yet!