Well Usagi gave us a friendly wave and passed us by, missing Hong Kong by 100km. The winds took it North West of us. Overnight we had torrential rain and gusting winds. I woke at 3.30am and hear them. However we are used to T8s and a direct hit is much more frightening as the folks up the coast discovered. This was pretty standard in the end.
This morning we have been putting everything back in its rightful place and normality has been restored. I drove 10 minutes up the road to see whether any birds had been blown in but nothing of interest. The waves were underwhelming.
It is an anti-climax and a welcome one. Thank you all for your good wishes.
Just to add some context, here are 2 images taken a few days apart – before and after Usagi.
All downhill from here 
That is amazing Andrew.
Hi Andrew, I just read about the typhoon. So glad that everything is okay! The birds will find their way back soon I’m sure:)
Thank you Kaushal. I am off looking for birds tomorrow as it happens. I hope all is well with you.
Thank goodness for that, you must all be breathing a deep sigh of relief. The photographs are beautiful, Andrew. I especially like the first one. It’s almost metallic.
Thanks Lottie. BTW WP is driving me mad. All posts arrive in my reader in duplicate and most won’t let me comment. I’m close to throwing the towel in.
NOOOOOOO – Please don’t throw the WP towel in. You have one of the BEST blogs out there and I’m sure I’m not the only one who really enjoys your posts and photographs.
If it’s any consolation at all, WP also drives me mad at times. My biggest bug is that I don’t get notifications to replies to my comments left on other peoples posts. I also hate the new way of putting photographs on posts. For example sometimes I don’t necessarily want to use a photograph from that particular post as my ‘featured image’ I want to use one from another post or a new one. I’m either being very dim or WP is being way too prescriptive. Hang in there Andrew, maybe send a message to WP voicing your concerns and see what they can do to rectify it. On the whole, they are pretty good at ironing out the wrinkles and solving the problems.
I want to have a complete rethink about blogging Lottie. I look through my images and find some really nice ones. But they are lost in the mediocrity of the rest. The view rate is falling because I post less frequently and it seems more like a chore these days. I do it for my enjoyment and presently I’m not enjoying it. Fighting WP just makes it worse 😰
I understand that fighting WP would make it worse, especially if it’s becoming a slog. Blogging should be a pleasure, never a chore. I didn’t post anything for about 7 weeks a few months back and my stats went right down but I kept reading and commenting on other posts and when the time was right I came back to writing my own posts. Some weeks I may only write one post, it just depends if I have something that I think may be of interest or enjoyment. Both your photographs and your writing are excellent – why not have a dedicated Photography blog for your pictures and a separate blog for humourous writing, your thoughts and anecdotes? rather than combining the two. It’s just a idea. Another thing that you could do (and I see this a lot on blogs that I follow) is to invite people to talk about their work etc on your site. Even now just thinking about it I’m thinking that your Lulu posts for example are wonderful as they combine all the very best elements of your wicked humour but from a pomeranian’s perspective. People go nuts for both animals and humour, and Lulu is a fantastic commentator on life at Hardacre Heights. Whatever you decide to do, Andrew, I shall support you. Lottie
That was indeed a relief! Glad to here you’re ok
What a relief. I’m very glad that all is ok where you are. Hopefully some birds will come winging your way soon.
Thanks Yvonne. We were lucky. Lots of people were not, further up the coast where it finally reached land. Work today so no birding.
Great news, Andrew!
Great news for you and the rest of HK, Andrew.
What…no penguins rode the waves?
Just seen coverage on BBC breakfast news – looked horrendous, but glad it passed you by.
Great pics, by the way.