Storming

Bloody awful weather. Took the kids to school this morning before going into work, and got pretty much soaked. Which i could live with, but expecting summer storm, I wasn't really prepared for the cold on top of the torrential rain and high winds.
I'm a geek for this stuff, and someday want to do a bit of storm chasing. The only twister I've seen so far was here in Holland, and was a minor one. But there are, occasionally, very serious twisters that hit.
40 years ago, on 25th June 1967, 7 died in the tornado that went through Tricht and Chaam. (Both these photos are from that tornado, approaching a roundabout near Deil).

On 23 August 1950, an F4 was on the ground for 46km in the Veluwe forest. 25th August, 1925, three died in the Borculo "Cyclone". And the worst death toll came in the Neede tornado, on 1st June 1925, when ten died in the destruction.

And extreme events will become more common. The flooding in the UK now is extreme: both my old schools, in Alkborough and Winterton, were closed today due to flooding. But they're both on hills- they shouldn't be flooded! I haven't heard enough from there to figure out how that's possible.
Over here, we haven't had a heavy tornado for a while, but Esther's hometown of Hoogeveen was mashed up badly by what at first was thought to be a twister, but is now thought to be a downburst just a few days ago.

Mind you, my mum was telling me about when I was 6 we had a week in June that began hot, became wet, cold, foggy and ended up snowing! So the climate will always mess with our heads - I still think it's advisable that we mess with it as little as possible in return...

Birth

The girls are all to bed.
It's nearly 9:30 in the evening here and the girls are all to bed. All four of them now, after River has joined us.
I'm drinking a glass of wine and recovering, letting the last of the adrenaline seep away and allowing me to sleep too. No doubt I'll be awoken several times in the night, and will be up and about early again tomorrow.
SO, we've been through a birth again, for the last time. This was different than the other two. The adrenaline rush was very intense because the baby decided to come so suddenly. It was touch and go whether the midwife would make it in time for the delivery. As it happened, she walked through the door about 30 seconds before the head appeared.
It's a visceral, overwhelming experience no matter how you approach a birth. I can only imagine what it must be like for a woman: something so animal, so real, in our world that is so distanced from the animal and the real. No wonder so many women these days give birth doped up and by caesarian. The reality is hard to deal with. For men too - I think most of us have times when we wouldn't mind the old days of "show up with cigars" when all the blood and screaming have been washed away.
She's a beautiful child. I'm lucky - I am abu el banat - "father of daughters". And I know it's a sort of insult in Arabic - comparable to being called impotent - but I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'm kind of dreading in a dozen years time having three teeenage daughters and a menopausal wife mind ;-)

June 1st

Arseing internet connection is down. At least, ASDL from useless Tele2 arseholes is down. I'm pretty pissed off about it, but you can't slag the poor sods at the Customer Service call centre, so at least they're nice, even if there's bog all they can do.
Luckily, i do have wifi connection, lifting on a free one, but unfortunately it's only available in the office, and my mother-in-law is sleeping here soon, so I shall have to move. She's buying us a dishwasher: something I always swore I wouldn't get. But my brother-in-law Richard and Esther's studying and a blocked sink persuaded me that it wasn't the work of the devil after all :-0
It's the first day of the North Atlantic Hurricane Season today, and I'm being impressively geeky already, as the NHC is about to announce Tropical Storm Barry in an hour or so's time, and blog contacts inform me that the name will be given before it's officially made known. That's geekdom for you.
But if I have to leave my connection before 11, I won't \see it officially till tomorrow probably.
Looks like it may be another cracker season. Interestingly, Jerry is in the list of names this year. And falling where it does in the alphabet (alongside Jeanne, and next to Katrina, for example) - well, I met get a few comments at work if Hurricane Jerry destroys Tampa.