It started off as a warm sunny day as I laid out my cycilng clothes for
the 12 mile ride to work at 1400 today. I was in a quandary as to which
short sleeved jersey I was going to put on as I drank my tea. Then the
AM radio station I was listening to had the tell tale static crashes of
a thunderstorm coming out of the speaker. I thought it may have been
100s of miles away, so wasn't too bothered.
Then it started to get dark and going outside I could see dark clouds
in the west. Putting on a long sleeved top, I reckoned since I work due
east, I could outrun it. Wrong! Two miles down the road all hell broke
loose. Giant hailstones, a massive drop in temperature and gale force
winds appeared, but the lightning!
One bolt almost blinded and deafened me in one go. I would settle for
arriving at work in one piece now. Still, the bus shelters were full of
laughing people, whooping and cheering every time the sky lit up.
Fellow cyclists would talk to you and sympathise, even boy racers were
smiling at us and saying "after you mate". It must have been like it
was in the blitz; everybody smiling and in it together. Pity we can't
all be like that everyday and it takes something like the apparent end
of the world for everyone to get along!