Blowin' in the Wind

 Storm Éowyn, an extratropical cyclone, blew through yesterday, bring record breaking sustained wind and wind gusts. This was apparently a sting jet event. The entire island--both the Republic and Northern Ireland--was under status red warnings and we were urged to shelter in place. We prepared as best as we could, charging up lamps and phones (and my e-reader), filling containers with water, and making sure we had food that didn't require cooking. We knew the power would almost certainly go out and we'd have no heat as a result, but fortunately, we do have lots and lots of woolly garments and plenty of blankets. Those, combined with the excellent insulation we have in this apartment, left me confident that we could deal with the cold. And we did.

At 4 am on Friday, we lost power and phone service. A few hours later, we lost water. At about 9:30 last night, the power came back on. That was a surprise because we thought it would be out longer. Nationwide, 725,000 people were without power and we expected it would take longer for ours to return. The streetlights didn't come back on last night, but buildings on both sides of the street had their lights on. We still have no phone service and no water. Once we got our power and WiFi back, I was able to go to the Irish Water website and check on our area. I'm signed up for text alerts, but with no phone signal, I'm not getting those. On the website, I discovered that there's a boil water notice in place again, but no reported outage. In order to report an outage, I have to call. I clicked around for a long time looking for an alternative, but there were none to be found. I tried the perky 'Chat with Us!' button, which got me into a 'conversation' with a bot named Ami who was useless. Ami informed me that there's a boil water notice in my area, provided me with phone numbers to call to report an outage, and, when given the information that I couldn't call, spend a minute 'thinking' before apologizing for not being able to help me. So I have no idea what's going on with that or when we will have water again. I don't know whether they're aware of a wider issue or if there is no wider issue and it's an issue with this building. I can try to contact the office of the guy who manages this place, but if I send an email they're not likely to see it until Monday and without a phone signal, I can't call anyone. Right now it's icy out, but it should melt in a while and at that point, we'll venture out both to try to buy some water and get any information we can about the situation. I'd love to have a shower and some coffee, not necessarily in that order. The coffee I can have once we get back with some water, assuming the power stays on. Not sure when I'll get the shower.

Sadly, there is one reported fatality--a man in Donegal was killed when a tree fell on his car. We're being warned that more wind is expected tomorrow--nowhere near as strong as Éowyn, but possibly enough to bring down structures and trees already weakened by the storm. I hope no more damage to life or property occurs.

I hope the weather is calmer in your neck of the woods!

Update: We went to the store and joined the water-buyers queue at the till. We bought 5 jugs of 5 litres each and lugged them home and up the stairs. I was thinking, 'I bet now that we've lugged this lot home, we'll have water pretty soon.' I turned on the faucet. Water came out. We can still use the water we bought since we have the boil water notice in effect and it may last some time. Last month it was 2 1/2 weeks. I will probably not use it all and I will save at least a couple of the large jugs so that when the next storm approaches, I can fill them in advance. I've lived in places without running water, but there things were set up for it. It's a challenge here. But of course, we should always be thankful for precious water. I'm grateful all over again to have it flowing from the tap. Bill is doing the dishes. The coffee is brewing. I'll be having an extra layer of appreciation for that this morning, too.

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