Definitely a North/South divide when this storm occurred.
We lived in Folkestone at the time in a second floor maisonette. We could feel the chimneys shifting.
The following morning we awoke to see that there were trees down in the avenue where we lived, but we had no idea of the true extent of the damage until later.
We had to go on a journey that day, to London Colney. It should have taken about 5 hours to get there by coach and then rail and a short car ride at the end. It turned into an epic that lasted 12 hours. I was 2 months pregnant with DS1 at the time and feeling very sickly too.
On the coach we were amazed at the devastation we saw as we passed through the countryside whole orchards wiped out and we had to sit through road closures / re-routing and finally got off the coach after about 8 hours. Then faced train delays.
When we arrived at our destination (a theological retreat that was a 'must attend' for H who was an ordinand in training), everyone else there was bemused by the problems we had encountered as they had all travelled from the North.
The night of the storm, I also remember Sevenoaks became one oak. My brother had been out 'wetting the baby's head as his son had been born 2 days earlier. He had walked home in the wee hours and been overtaken by a shed hurtling down the road ...
Does anyone else have particular memories (apart from Michael Fish announcing ' Some say there is a hurricane on its way, but I don't think so...' )
Is there such a thing as delicious ready meals?