When push comes to shove community spirit always shines

The brother isn’t exactly a survivalist but he’s a good man to make provision for a rainy day – or, quite literally in this case, an extremely windy one.

Because while he may not have an underground bunker insulated with tin foil and full of long-life canned food (yet), he had the foresight a while back to buy a generator – and boy has it earned its keep in the last couple of weeks.

First came the snow that hit the south and the mid-west where he lives in the heart of the countryside, a couple of miles from the nearest village.

For most of the rest along this rural road, the power was gone – but the generator had a good three- or four-days’ worth of juice in it, so the heat was working, the water was flowing and all electrical devices were fully charged.

No sooner had it earned its corn in the snow than Storm Éowyn hit with a vengeance and once again the electricity was first to go – but not for the lads who bought the generators who were once again entitled to feel just slightly smug with themselves.

If we laughed at his Doomsday preparations in the first place, we’re not the ones laughing now – and it was only when the rest of the world went to look for a generator of their own that they realised they aren’t as readily available as we thought.

It wasn’t just generators you’d have to hunt for; you’d search long and hard too for the positives of Storm Éowyn because there’s very little to be philosophical about when you’re freezing in your own home, without running water, heat or light…or a phone.

And yet by common consensus, the upside of the storm devastation was the emergence once again of a sense of community – the same thing that happened in a more socially distant way when Covid stopped us in our tracks.

This time shops that could open did so and allowed people to charge their phones so that, even if they couldn’t make calls, the kids could play electronic games.

Hotels offered free teas and coffees; in some cases, meals and showers, and a few even provided free beds.

Up and down the country, there were stories of people gathering in shops, not to buy anything really – just to use the heat and the electricity, but then to chat and share their trauma and somehow leave in a better mood than the weather might have suggested possible.