The storm hits

Lahinch in calmer times

It is 5:48 am on Monday 6, January, 2014. Coffee is keeping my comrade Ollie Coughlan and myself awake but it is not soothing my temper as I deal with the glitchy computer.

Outside the wind is picking up by the minute. The calm night has now given away to the beginnings of the storm christened the seasonably appropriate Christine. Lahinch people are a obviously hardy bunch. Ollie is very relaxed in his beachfront apartment we have dubbed ground zero. I step outside the balcony to smoke a cigarette and stare at the sea. With over two hours to high tide the and the wind predicted to gather momentum the high speed breakers are already starting to smash over the fences that were so hopeless a few days before.

A video filmed two hours before the start of the film shows the waves already have enough power to floor over anyone foolish enough to point a video camera at them. I m not going to get as close again. This is only the start.

I retreat to the flat for more coffee. As much to warm my hands which are struggling to type due to numbness. I probably should not be feeling this way but i am relieved that there is going to be something to write about. 

Only two hours ago the night was eerily still. The youngest of our trio, the now retired to bed Evan, joked it would be nice to go for a surf. Looking at the sea back then it would have been very possible. Not anymore.

 6:46 am.. A full ninety minutes from high tide and the waves are hitting harder. We can hear them thudding against the sides of the building in an ominous rhythm. 

6:52 am. The loudest crash yet. The force could be felt through the couch we are sat on. And another one

7.12 am. “Wooh that shock like a mo fo”


Ollie barely disguises his expletives as the apartment shudders. Still one hour till high tide and the wind is gaining in force. Another one hits with equal force.

“It didn’t shake that bad the other night”

says Ollie calmly. I am not so calm as adrenaline rises in my stomach.

7:21 constant thumping now as the apartment feels like its foundations are being hammered.

7.55 not quite high tides and the wind has dropped for now. They eye of the storm? 

8.20 Daylight has revealed the full glory of the spectacle. A public servant who got a bit close nearly loses a government vehicle.

8.31 I got a bit close there! At least my phone is waterproof. I wonder will Sony sponser me?