Waiting for the wedding party on a fine day in the Esk Valley.
I am thanking my lucky stars right now. We’ve all heard the saying ‘the calm before the storm’. Never a truer word was said.
My son got married on Saturday. In the Esk Valley. It was a stunning day - the sun shone, there were a few clouds, the slightest
of breezes. In other words, it was perfect.
We’d all heard the forecast so, as with any wedding, we were a little worried about the weather. The bride was beautiful, my son’s speech was heartfelt and my husband’s was full of embarrassing anecdotes. The bubbles flowed, the cake was cut and we all showed off our best dance moves. The following day we returned to the venue to carry on the celebrations, with the last stragglers vacating the premises on Monday morning. And we all know now what happened on Monday. Cyclone Gabriel unleashed her best, devastating the Esk Valley and so many more areas, bridges and lives. We cannot believe how lucky we were to have pulled off the wedding in the nick of time.
But as we know, there was so much more to come - losing power being one more challenge. So much in our modern world relies on it, and without adequate back-up systems, many have felt isolated and frustrated. Some of us have enjoyed a slower pace, cooking with gas and going to bed by candlelight. Others are alone, relying on the generosity of family, neighbours or strangers. Once again, I am realising how lucky we are. Our stovetop runs on gas, and thankfully we had just changed bottles. We can cook all our one-pot meals, boil water and even toast over the flame on an old cake stand.
And we wouldn’t be cooking or toasting anything if we didn’t have a plentiful food supply trucking through damaged roads to our supermarkets. There may be long queues outside the ones who had the foresight to install a back-up generator system, but how lucky I feel to be able to stand in a line with my trolley and fill it full of the necessities - and a few treats.
