Friday 2 December 2016

Being caught outside in a wild, electrical storm

After heading home from choir practice earlier this week, we were waiting at the bus stop when a storm started to move in.  It looked quite menacing and daylight began turning to dark.  That said, I was hoping we would make it home before the worst of it hit — BIG mistake!

Dark clouds approaching bus depot

I snapped the photo below just before we boarded the bus. 
It was 3 pm in the afternoon and, yes, it WAS that bad!

side view of huge, dark storm clouds

The wild storm hit a few minutes after the bus pulled out of the depot.  It pelted us relentlessly on the ten minute ride to our stop. The other passengers were looking just as nervous as we were. It was eerily dark. The wind was very strong and gusty! The rain was unforgiving and we had no umbrella — charming!  To be honest, an umbrella would have been a hindrance for me considering I was carrying my own — very full — tote bag, as well as, Bradley's heavy back-pack.  I also had the task of guiding Bradley because his white cane was not going to be of much help in the hazardous conditions.  

When we stepped off the bus at our stop, we were soaked through in literally seconds.  It was a 10 minute walk home and I had to take my sandals off because my feet were sliding and slipping all over the place inside my sandals.   Thankfully, I'd made sure Brad's hearing aids had been packed away safely before boarding the bus. 

If you can imagine it, the walk home was quite scary for poor Bradley considering his blindness and hearing impairment, not to mention the fact that he has a fear of water.  It was slow-going but, about four minutes from home, I spotted our knight in shining armour.  Okay, he wasn't wearing armour but my wonderful son, Aaron, was running towards us with a large umbrella. Our hero! He took the heavy back-pack from me so I could manage with the umbrella which did help protect our heads at least. 

I was so relieved when we reached the shelter of the entrance to our house...our sanctuary!   

I learned a valuable lesson — 

Next time, DON'T trust my own judgement when it comes to approaching storms.  They can be unpredictable and some of them move extremely fast. We learned later that one woman was struck by lightning during that very same storm.  Thankfully, she survived.  Also, a 13 year old boy was taken to hospital after sustaining injuries when a large tree branch snapped and fell on top of him. You can read about both incidents HERE.

On top of that, I ended up with a sore foot which was twisted from all the slipping and sliding inside my soaked sandals.

We took a little while to calm down after our experience but I'm feeling very grateful that we made it home safely and in tact.

On a happier note —

Bradley and I just finished week three of the 'Mater Sing for Health' choir practice. Three more to go before our Christmas performance day. We always look forward to singing with the Mater choir as all the members are so nice and friendly.  Our choir master is amazing too!  The Mater choir performs twice a year and is made up of patients, volunteers, and hospital staff. It is now on its third year and we still have some of the original members,  including myself and Bradley.

We both hope the choir will continue for years to come.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

12 comments:

  1. :( not good to go through that. Hopefully your foot isn't too badly damaged and Bradley isn't too freaked out from that

    scary pics of the storm clouds

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    1. I feel pain when I walk but not bad enough to make me limp. Hopefully, it will settle soon. Bradley is doing well now. :)

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  2. Hope your foot is better soon. That does look like a dreadful storm rolling in in that picture!! Scary! So glad Aaron came to the rescue. Sweet! Coming home never felt so good, I bet. Glad you guys were finally home safe.

    Glad you and Brad are back in the choir you love so much. Makes me happy to hear that. Enjoy!! :)

    Stay safe!! love and hugs

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    1. Still feel pain in the foot when I walk but I'm sure it will just need time to heal. OH yes, I was so relieved when we made it home safely.

      We are enjoying the choir so much.

      Love and hugs xo

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  3. I'm glad you both made it home safely. I can understand how it must have been for Bradley. I don't have the hearing issues to deal with, but even just the blindness is enough to make navigating even the most familiar of areas extremely difficult in a storm, and really strong winds make it difficult for even me to properly pinpoint noise directions, and my hearing is really good.

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    1. Thanks, Tori. Brad would not have coped being out in something like that alone. Even with me supporting and guiding him, it was quite an ordeal for him and he was so grateful when Aaron came to assist.

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  4. I don't think you said anything about lightning other than in the title to the post, and I was wondering why you would even get off the bus in an electrical storm.

    Your art is lovely.

    I have two active Australian followers at present and lost another to cancer several years ago. She went by Nollyposh, and I very much miss her, and live with the regret that I couldn’t be more supportive to her at the end.

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    1. Hello Snowbrush and thanks for visiting my blog.

      In hindsight, we should never have gotten on the bus. Apart from stating that it was an electrical storm in the post title, I did mention a woman being struck with lightning during the very same storm as well as another person being injured. I described the conditions we experienced personally and, thankfully for us, the lightning didn't start striking closer to home until after we were safely indoors. We couldn't have timed it better. One crack of lightning was so loud, the windows rattled and, we all jumped with fright. It was only a 10 minute bus ride and we weren't the only passengers nervously getting off the bus in those conditions. If we had stayed on the bus, we would still have had to get off when it reached the depot which was only another five minutes away. It's an open-style depot so we would have been stuck there with no real shelter from raging winds and torrential rain. Right or wrong, we felt getting home as fast as possible was our best option.

      Thanks for your kind comment on my art.

      I'm so sorry to hear about your friend, Nollyposh, passing away. Cancer is a very cruel disease.

      Have a lovely week.

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  5. Well having been in a cyclone myself recently I don't blame you being very scared. I am glad you arrived safely

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