Decisions

After the big storm on Tuesday morning I found myself with some decisions to make - 3 in fact, with one right and two wrong.

The first was whether to travel back to Carradale on Tuesday as the storm subsided. Advice was to avoid unnecessary travel and as we knew the electricity was off in Carradale it was an easy decision to stay another night in Renfrew.

On Wednesday morning I phoned Scottish Hydro and was told that power would be restored in our area by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. On that basis we set off as food in freezers would have to be checked as the power would have been off for over 30 hours by that time. The journey tuned out to be one of the worst we have had due to the torrential rain and continuing strong winds. We also counted dozens of trees down at the side of the road that had been cut back to let traffic through. As it transpired the road had been impassible the previous day. First decision was definitely a good one!

Of all the hazards that had to be negotiated the possibility of a landslide on the Rest And Be Thankful was the least of our concerns. Yet there was the contractor from Contra-Flow watching in case any rocks should fall ont0 the road. Mind you he was sitting in his van well back from the "danger" area, where poor motorists sat at the red traffic lights. I wonder how long this will last and how much it is costing the tax payer each week? I had to negotiate lots of stones from potholes in the "Wee Road" that is the last 20 miles of our journey, without a contractor in sight. Health and Safety gone daft in my view!

Today's blip was taken on the A83 at West Loch Tarbert where a catamaran had been washed onto the road during the storm. It had been pushed back to the edge of the road, but still made an odd picture against passing traffic!

By the time we got to Carradale it was clear that my second decision was a bad one. The power was still off and the Scottish Hydro workmen hadn't even started repairing more than 80 faults in the area. So it was a candlelit evening by the fire spent reading and playing charades with Mrs B.

And the third decision, which I got wrong? Well, while sitting in the car in the pouring rain taking this blip, I decided to keep the window open to see if I could get a better picture of a passing car. I could hear a vehicle coming and prepared the camera with focus still on the catamaran. Then there was a whooosh and me, Mrs B and the camera got covered in dirty spray. Bad decision!