Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

Someone called down the stairs last night, saying that the moon was orange. And orange it was, which was more than slightly strange. I couldn’t help but feel that it was more like a sign of Armageddon or something: the first thing to burn was the moon, hanging like a dull sun in the sky.

There have been a lot of stories of lightning in the news recently. When such stories are so dominant, it’s no wonder my mind was somehow filled with dark thoughts when looking at burning moon, rather than comparing it to a Japanese painting or something. This poor woman was struck by a bolt of lightning whilst she was inside her home, simply going about clearing the breakfast table. The bolt, which must have been one very determined bolt, came through the ceiling, bounced off a pan, and “plunged” straight into her chest. Thankfully she’s now okay.

And there’s one here, saying how car exhaust fumes can not only increase lightning strikes, but increases them for miles around. Quite a scary thought.

Looking at the weather today, which was both beautiful and frightening in its savagery, the word Biblical came to mind. It was pleasant enough in the morning. My dog and I were even sunbathing at one stage. But then it started clouding over…

And as the day progressed, it became more than simply cloudy. It was a uniform greyness, menacing and promising rain by the bucket load. Thunder rumbled and our house shook. The roads in the surrounding villages began to flood, too; becaming one-way where they otherwise wouldn’t have been as cars tried to drive around vast, rippling lakes. In one area there was even snow. It felt like the beginnings of The Day After Tomorrow.
It was only when the thunder subsided that the lightning came. But oh my, did it come. It lit up the sky for hours on end; there was quite literally a steady stream of it all across the horizon and everywhere in close proximity as well. It was easy to see why people in ages past believed in Zeus, the great thunderer.

It was a spectacle; beautiful to see. Yet, at the same time, it felt dangerous. It was quite frightening in a way – certainly, I’ve never seen anything like it before. The news stories have already started coming in. Rather horribly, sixteen cows have died after being struck by the lighting. It serves as a reminder of just how dangerous the weather can be.