Dear LPG,

I was talking the other day to one of my oldest friends, in more than one sense of the word.  I have known Francis for more than twenty years and met her when she was in her late 60s. 

We got talking about what I regard as a classic film, ‘Back to the future’.  I know that there have been many films to earn the title which are many years older, but those who have seen this 1985 classic will remember the car which became a time machine and the hero, a young man named Marty McFly, who having become trapped in time 30 years too early, used a thunder storm to provide the power needed to transport himself back to his own time.

We then got talking about how powerful thunderstorms used to be at about the end of the last century and how we don’t really get bad ones anymore.  We talked about those days when we would hear that someone got struck by lightning and killed and how really bad, they could be not that long ago.

Francis told me that she did not like them and that she would turn the television up really loud until it had passed if she found herself caught in one, while another of her friends would have a nice warm bath until all the fuss died down.

What she said really left me alarmed because I thought that everyone knew that there were things you really should not do when there was a storm.  Another word for thunderstorm is electrical storm and I was always taught to turn off anything electrical and get away from anything that might act as a lightning conductor; trees, water, anything made of metal (umbrella handles), tall buildings etc.   I was horrified that someone would sit in a bath (often made of metal) full of water while there was a storm in progress.

I know we don’t have really bad ones very often these days but I thought it may be a good idea to remind readers what we need to do just in case there is a freak one in the near future.

WS, Crofton Park

 LPG found some information which bears out what WS has written

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