Wet. No other word for it.

There are more storms on the way but the gale ebbs just a little after breakfast. This enables us to get kitted out in wet weather gear and head off for a walk. Why is it rain trousers are so difficult to put on ? Angus, repeatedly, gets both feet in the same leg. On the shore we almost stumble over a deer and her two fawns. They're standing like awestruck statues on the side of the wheat field watching the waves pounding and foaming against the rocks. I guess being awestruck is something all sentient creatures have in common. The wind is coming in from the sea and has masked our approach. They're surprised to see us. We, for our part, are surprised at getting within a couple of yards of them. For all of five seconds they stand motionless before bounding away. 

No lobster boats to be seen this morning. In fact the seas are empty - even the large supply vessels for the wind farms ( they're the size of a cruise ship ) have headed into harbour. Down on the little sand beach below the house huge rollers rise up and spray leaps twenty feet into the air. No wonder the deer were transfixed. To our surprise the cormorants are in their usual spot on the rocks. It will take more than  a gale to perturb these masters of the ocean. Three large geese are paddling on the lake in the potato field. They look comical.  I'm guessing the high winds have caused them to pause their journey south on our little peninsula. Better to overnight in a lake in a potato field than not overnight at all. The stranded geese aren't alone. The lake is shared with a collection of terns, skuas and fulmars. Probably a couple of hundred in total. All seem focused on hunting for worms in the waterlogged dreels.

We seem to have escaped the worst of the weather. Further north, on the other side of the bay, there's been severe flooding and the power lines have come down. Scotrail has stopped running. People have been evacuated. Who would ever have thought that climate change would make Scottish rain more intense ? Perhaps October is going to be our monsoon season ? In town students can be seen hurrying between lectures looking miserable. Overheated lecture rooms and damp clothes are a 'steaming'  rite of passage. 

The sound of the worlds largest living thing :https://www.sciencealert.com/haunting-sounds-made-by-worlds-largest-living-thing-recorded