Stormy night

Argyll has been under stormy clouds since late yesterday afternoon. I joined a lovely bunch of people from the gym on a trip up to Fort William for an evening of ten-pin bowling and a meal. There were seven of us in a 4x4, with two more people travelling separately. It was a great evening out, with a few exciting moments.
Gale-force gusts of wind shook the car; fallen branches littered the rain-soaked, occasionally flooded road. Our driver was going cautiously, not least because he was driving his daughter's car.
At one point, he couldn't help going over a fairly sizeable branch poking out into our lane. Not long after, there was a noticeable wobble or bumping coming from the left-hand side of the car. As soon as he could, about fifteen miles into the journey, he pulled up to check what was going on. We all assumed he might have picked up a piece of wood, or that the gusts were shaking the big storage box on the roof.
Eventually, after one more stop, it turned out that the front wheel on the passenger side was not secure. The owner's husband had changed the tyre the day before and had failed to tighten the bolts properly. Luckily, we had a car mechanic's son on board, who knew exactly what to do. He spent at least five minutes tightening those bolts. Yours truly drew on childhood experience which taught her to light the mechanic's way in the dark by pointing the beam of a torch at the place of work rather than at the mechanic's face -- my Dad would have been proud! ;) Thank you, Al., for saving our lives. Our driver remarked drily that his son-in-law was better at tending to horses than to cars...
The rest of the journey continued well, past fallen trees and more branches, some quite big ones. At one point, a police patrol car flashed blue lights so brightly we could barely see the officer waving his tiny torch to tell us to proceed past a big tree obstructing more than half the road.
The bowling was fun. I must apologise to the team who had the misfortune to have me: it's been more than twenty years since I did any ten-pin bowling and my arms and shoulders need a lot more training up before I can be much use. Thank you, teamleader An., for being such a sport, and for an expert massage when a much-too-heavy ball almost ripped my arm off.
After much laughter, we went to the restaurant next door. The menu was truly international – Mexico, India, Spain, France, Italy, Thailand, UK, ... – so everyone had something they enjoyed. The food was excellent and the company very convivial. Too bad the gentleman who drove us up had to leave early and missed this bit of the fun.
If the journey to Fort William had been exciting, the drive back to Oban was interesting. The rain was bucketing, the wind was gusting at gale force and the goods were taking flash photography seriously: intense blue lightning lit up the sky time and time again. At the same time, half the sky was completely clear and I could see the Big Dipper and Orion and many, many stars.
On slightly higher ground, the rain turned into sleet and small-grain hail, which turned the road very slithery indeed. Luckily, it was merely old debris but no freshly-fallen trees that littered the road. Still, I was really glad not to be behind the wheel...
An. delivered everyone safely back to the gym where they picked up their cars (and me almost to my front door -- thank you for the service!).
My house was nice and quiet and I enjoyed a couple of hours of deep sleep.
At 2am, one of my young neighbours (for once it was not the one that has been giving me so much trouble in the past months, but the one across the landing), came in with a bunch of friends, all screeching and shouting and clacking heels on the lino in the close, sending my downstairs neighbours' dog into a barking frenzy. Lovely sounds to wake up to – ah, to be living in flat-heaven!
Fifteen minutes or so later, the first visitor left after what seemed like endless chatter, more laughter and hooting in the close.
Seems they've all gone now, the whole noisy gaggle of them, so I'm back to bed for another few hours' sleep.
As I write these lines, the storm continues with high winds and small grains of hail occasionally pelting the window-panes. A few moments ago there was another bolt of lightning followed by rolling thunder.
The weather forecast calls for more of the same, only colder, so road conditions around here are bound to get worse. I don't envy those who have to be out.
Nighty-night and cheerioh!