Wed 16th Nov 99: It became clear this morning that we were going to have to take hurricane Lenny seriously. This weird storm which passed us as a little bad weather a week ago turned into a hurricane just short of Jamaica and stopped. When it started moving again it did the unthinkable by heading South East! We all expected it to turn North but the best it could do was to head East and now it's coming straight at us.

In the early afternoon I went down to Jolly Harbour where we keep the precious "Pumkin". One of our stern lines was on a piling that vanished in hurricane Jose last month so Doug, my partner in the boat, and I ran around laying a new line to another post. It seemed like everyone had learned the lesson Jose had to teach and were taking the likelihood of a hit from Lenny seriously. The atmosphere was grim with tempers running high and a lot of individual boat owners feeling pretty glum about preparing for yet another hurricane. The harbour filled up very quickly and by 4.00 pm there was half a dozen Sunsail boats circling like vultures looking for a space.

Driving back to St. John's there were queues at most gas stations.

At Heritage Quay there were more glum faces as many store operators surmised about what another direct hit might do to the coming tourist season.

Back at Aiton Place my staff had completed the ritual of packing water damageable paintings plus our stocks of prints and mat boards in industrial grade garbage bags. I checked the net again. Lenny was still coming.

Wed 17th Nov 99:

7.00 am: Our TV has been out since hurricane Jose so we rely on the net for info. I was pleased to see the storm finally shifting to the North. The storm is becoming more intense.

8.00 am: The weather was bright and cloudy. Since the current position of the hurricane makes it clear that storm force winds are still 8 or 10 hours away I called one of my staff to arrange for them to do half a day in securing the gallery. It seems like panic is setting in. The warnings of winds from the South West and the possibilities of tornadoes have sent a few people into a flap. The suggestion is that boats in Jolly Harbour and St. John's are not safe.... well what can be done about that now? The time for speculation has passed. The decisions have been made and we have to make the best of it. There are no tornado proof shelters so why scare everyone with predictions of doom? We just have to get on with it. Somehow the met office words have been interpreted in such a way that some folks expect storm force winds by 10.00 am.

12.00 pm: Well about 9.00 am a thunder storm looked pretty threatening. I was on the roof doing a bit of last minute re-enforcement as it approached and the heavy rolling black clouds were alarming. By 10.00 am it was bright again and we continues boarding up. We moved our 4 dogs, 4 cats and 35 parrots into the house... the turtles will forage for themselves. We laid down most of our potted plants so that they could roll around without too much damage. It seems incredible that we should have a set procedure for something as bizarre as being run down by a hurricane.... but here comes #7.

8.00 pm: The storm appears to be skirting us. The eye is threatening to run right over St. Croix and is now a category 4 with sustained winds of 150 mph. I'm glad it's not there. We have experienced light rain only, though the sea has looked angry a few times. I don't think Lenny will be calling here tonight but I don't want any surprises so I broke down my system end moved it (and other water sensitive valuables to a safe room in the house with stone walls and a concrete roof. Now we are settling in with a movie. The storm is slowing and my only real fear is that it could stop altogether.

Wed 18th Nov 99:

7.00 am: Woke to find the weather moderate and all internet connections down. We are clearly still on the fringe of the storm. there is NO appreciable adverse weather so it could have gone right past in the night. I won't be comfortable until the net connection is back in place and I can check for myself.

11.00 am: We are back on-line but unfortunately the storm has stopped moving as I feared it might. There is no way of knowing which way it will turn when it moves off again. Although the eye is about 150 miles North West of us and we are only getting constant moderate rain and light winds I'm told it was very gusty in Montserrat only 40 miles away and if the hurricane turns East we can expect storm force conditions. If it turns back towards us for the second time I'll start thinking God is trying to tell us something! We are in limbo not knowing whether to act as if its over.... or about to begin.

12.30 pm: Gloria took a ride out to Epicurean at Woods Center. Although rain has been light it has been constant and there are signs of flooding. She watched a mongoose swimming across a large puddle on the Friars Hill Road.

My mum called in a panic. Apparently the press in Europe is already full of tales of a killer storm smashing into the island..... but don't say which island! Here we go again.

5.30 pm: We were pleased to see Lenny start moving again. Hours of anticipation as he staggered towards St. Marten. The guys up there must be really getting a hammering. It's been sitting on them for hours just as Luis sat on us in 95. It's hard to tell from the abstract reference of a map just how close together Saba, Anguilla, St Martin and St. Barts are. When you have sailed around them you realize that they must all be getting it right now.

11.00 pm: Spent the evening working on another net project. Weather has been VERY VERY wet but moderate all day. It reminds me of the time I spent in Scotland making the movie "Highlander" in the pouring rain.... except it's not as cold and Sean Connery isn't here. So pleased to see that the storm is back down to 115 mph.

Thursday 19th Nov 99

4.30 am: Woken by a violent thunder storm. Torrents of rain. Flickering lights. Spooky. It made me check the 1.00 am update. What is this! Lenny is headed back at us! It sat on St. Martin then Anguilla. Now it's on St. Barts. This storm must be a sadist.

6.20 am: Stayed up for the 5.00 am update and the internet is down again. It went down Tuesday night too. I have this secret belief that Michael Myers is the night janitor at Cable and Wireless... lurking in the bowels of the building and creeping out in order to maniacally pull the plug whenever unsuspecting citizens need to connect most. Then in the morning at about 10.00 am Donald Pleasance comes in and repairs the mayhem. If any of you see Donald please tell him to go in early today.

At this point Michael Myers struck again and my system went down. I currently working on a very old/slow machine. Once the storm had passed it took me a while to configure it for the net. Then the phone went down again. I was gone for some days. I WILL complete this page in due time but right now I'm concentrating on getting damage reports in place.

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