Friday 01/12/06

Bright and quiet start to the day. I receive a cheque in the post from the Co-op, for £1.01 in exchange for doing my shopping there during the first two months of 2005. Lunch was sausage rolls and mince pies. By then, the winds starts to pick up, cloud increases from the south and it gets colder. Go into the town centre, which is packed. Apparently, Thanksgiving was celebrated yesterday, not last week. Today is also the day that pensioners were paid their winter fuel allowance for Christmas goodies. Lots of kids throng Woolworths. A woman jumps the queue in the supermarket, nice one, lady. Mrs B returns after me from her own shopping trip from hell. Heavy rain commences after 6pm. Supper tonight is soup with rolls. Typhoon Durian has hammered the Philippines, leaving devastation in its wake. Winds reached 165 mph, and hundreds have died in mudslides. Strong winds accompany a thunderclap at 8.30pm, a rare occurrence here. Yesterday, a lightning storm in Sutherland (mainland Scotland) knocked out communications around Lochinver. One person's phone was struck by lightning.