2012 has brought some wild weather

In the three-and-a-half-and-a-bit years I've been in these parts of Scotland, the last eight days have brought the highest number of storms with lightning and thunder ever. It started at about 3am on New Year's Day (Sunday, 1Jan), when – in Oban town centre – distant lightning was soon followed by the rumble of thunder. Small hailstones followed. The night was unsettled, with rain, hail, wind, more thunder and lightning until daylight.
In the afternoon, I visited some friends up in the Benderloch area: they had been at the "epicentre" of the storm, with a bolt of lightning and a simultaneous massive crack of thunder taking out their entire communication system and their electricity.
It was to prove a devastating electrical storm that left vast areas of Argyll without power and without communications.
Elsewhere in Scotland, as BBC Scotland's very interesting review shows – here – things were a great deal worse, with the Isle of Bute probably worst affected as they were completely cut off for four days!
In Oban, I was fortunate enough to have just minor power cuts lasting mere minutes. And no damage apart from half the roofing of the garden shed having been ripped to shreds and flying through the garden, with a big piece eventually landing on my front porch!
But my BT landline and broadband were constant and strong throughout, and as I cook/heat with gas and have a woodburning stove in the sitting room, I was never too worried anyway.
But the Vodafone mobile signal was down, no coverage at all, from probably 2Jan (not sure because my visitor and I were out travelling in areas where I wouldn't expect to have a signal) until late afternoon on 6Jan – the longest down-time since I got my first mobile phone a few days after 11Sep2001.
Slowly, the news trickled through that a vast area was without Vodafone coverage – whereas O2 and other providers seemed to be doing just fine!
It was quite an interesting experience to try and find out what was going on with Vodafone. They have a clumsy website where you have to trawl through a lot of fine print to find what you need.
I ended up compiling a list of sites/masts/cells that had no Vodafone mobile phone coverage:

Faults Board: http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Faults-Board/bd-p/69 – accessed on 6Jan2012, ca 4:15pm:

Site 41693-KA9–Prestwick, Strathclyde - 3G Sit...
Site 6268-IV5-Portree, Skye-Site down
Site 3719-PA15-Greenock, Renfrewshire–Site W...
Site 06235- PH36-Acharacle, Argyll – Site down
Site 05486 - ML11 - Lanark, Lanarkshire – Site down
Site 8532 – G63 – Blanefield, Glasgow – Site down
Site 37831 – FK10 – Linlithgow, Fife – Site down
Site 6264 – IV48 – Sconser, Isle of Skye – Site down
Site 18014 – EH34 – Pencaitland, Edinburgh – Site ...
Site 07652 – PA34 – Oban, Argyll – Site down
Site 06268 – IV51 – Portree, Isle of Skye – Site d...
Site 31824 – CF44 – Hirwaun, Mid Glamorgan – Site ...
Site 10055 – KA15 – Beith, Ayrshire – Site down
Site 6216 – PA34 – Kilmelford, Argyll – Site down
Site 5466 – KY15 – Ceres, Fife – Site down
Site 32492 – KA18 – Logan, East Ayrshire – Site down
Site 72762 – PA14 – Port Glasgow, Inverclyde – Sit...
Site 6800 – PA73 – Kilninian, Argyll and Bute – Si...
Site 286 – TD1 – Galashiels, Scottish Borders – Si...
Site 8364 – KA19 – Maybole, South Ayrshire – Site ...
Site 3496 – PA2 – Paisley, Renfrewshire – Site down
Sites 38202 & 5988 – G75 – East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire –
Site 30146 – KA30 – Largs, Ayrshire – Site down
Site 5145 – DG8 – Sorbie, Dumfries and Galloway – ...
Site 3743 – KY11 – Dunfermline, Fife – Site down
Site 5439 – PA36 – Bridge of Orchy, Argyll and Bute – since 16Dec2011??? 4Jan2012: "This issue is still being currently investigated in association with the fault listed here." ==> leads to next item on list here:
Site 5432 – 5439 – 6294 6309 – 6910 – 10193 – PA33 – Dalmally – Site down – since 31Dec2011!!!
Site 6211 – PA22 – Glendaruel – Site down
[and on and on and on...]

If you're interested in more details, go here and here and scroll down – the two threads make for quite a bit of interesting reading (and have 191 and 473 views, respectively, as I type – a lot compared with other posts on the Vodafone eForum).
I'm looking forward to a phone call from the Vodafone guys to hear what happened and to find out how their service can be improved.
Of course these were exceptional circumstances, but why other mobile phone providers seemed unaffected while Vodafone went down all over Scotland needs to be investigated, surely!

One group of people who deserve our admiration is the firemen and electricians and engineers who were out there in the worst possible weather conditions, braving high winds and dangerously waterlogged terrain to restore power and communications, clear trees from roads and train tracks and help the country get back on its feet.

Finally, you may be reassured to know that the weather here is now mild and Thursday was like a spring day, with lovely sunshine and dry most of the day – and one lovely creature here thoroughly enjoyed the heat (see above).
Yesterday was a mixed bag, but a lovely full moon in a starry sky in the early night. Today was a bit wet in patches but getting drier as the day wore on. The cloudy sky was orange with an indirect sunset as a friend and I drove into Oban at about 4pm. Tomorrow looks set to be dry and lovely again – just right for a good day's work, eh!