GONE WITH THE WIND

It seems hard to believe that it will be 20 years ago next month that the great hurricane of 1987 descended on southern England. Huge swathes of the country were affected, especially the part of the world I live in here in Kent. 23 people lost their lives and some 15million trees were destroyed.

A few days before the hurricane struck, I had been invited to speak at a conference in Ireland. I set off for Luton Airport and my first Ryanair flight quite oblivious of the dramas which awaited me. The first drama was to discover that, on arriving at Waterford airport, my baggage had not arrived with me.

Now, as well as my sharp suit, my luggage also contained the `visual aids,` slides and other presentational gimmicks designed to make my speech a memorable event for the 300 delegates to the conference. I was due on stage next morning, by which time my luggage had still not arrived. A frantic visit to a nearby shop replenished my `toiletries` so at least I looked well scrubbed.

Being the trouper I am, I simply had to stand up in front of the audience in my casual clothes and talk through my speech without the visual aids which would have given light, colour and added credence to what it was I was stumbling to say. I dealt with all the post-speech questions, narrowly avoided being booed off stage and breathed a sigh of relief that the whole thing was over.

Next morning, I awoke, turned on the radio and heard of the devastation that the hurricane had brought to southern England overnight. As high winds were still battering the UK mainland, there was some doubt as to whether Ryanair would make the return flight from Waterford to Luton but in the end they decided to risk it, no doubt partly out of a keen desire to see the back of me. We endured an interesting landing at Luton and I drove home to see the reality of the havoc wrought by the events of the previous night.

 

Three weeks later my luggage was finally returned to me, having been on a tour of European airports, with Vienna apparently being its final destination.

The hurricane was a once in 200 years event, but thanks to Ryanair those few days also saw any reputation I may have had for conference presentation blown away too. It is a matter of no surprise to me that I have never been invited to speak at another one....and I have never since dared to set foot in the Emerald Isle.