This weekend, we all enjoyed Storm Ciara. At this point, I would normally post a picture of a famous Ciara, in a bad attempt to make this blog post humorous. However, I can’t think of any celebrity Ciaras. There’s probably one in The Only Way is Essex or Made in Chelsea, but as I have never watched such rubbish, I wouldn’t know.

All I know is that on Sunday, the wind battered the windows and the rain was torrential. As I had no need to leave the house, I thought the wild weather was excellent.

Bath had an amber warning for wind, which presumably meant things were pretty bad.

One of the other three warnings is yellow – something about nothing, basically a storm in a teacup.

The other far greater and more severe warning is red. This is where you find the nearest basement or underground station. If this is out of the question, I suppose you have no option but to just shit your pants.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a basement. Not that I could get into one anyway, unless it came with a stair lift. Bath also lacks a tube network, so hiding in the underground is out of the question. Therefore, if we are ever unlucky enough to be trapped in a red weather warning, I’ll be sure to have enough underwear!

Yesterday afternoon, I found myself lying on the bed, in front of the television, enjoying a delicious hot chocolate. Can you blame me? It was hot chocolate weather at its finest!

I found myself looking towards the bedroom window at the trees, blowing in the gale force winds. I even saw ramblers walking up and down the hill – part of the Cotswolds Walk – are they insane?

Like my wife, Claire, I love cruising. I think anyone who has ever been on a cruise ship – however dubious pre-sail – feels the same. Once you’ve had a taste of it, you want to cruise again and again and again!

Despite my addiction to the high seas, this is one weekend where I am glad not to be aboard a ship. Remarkably, cruises are still operating in the storm’s path.

Everyone at sea right now must feel so poorly! If I wanted to spend 48 hours throwing up my guts, I can think of far cheaper ways…

Dine in one of Bath’s numerous eateries with a 0 or 1 star hygiene rating. The chicken liver patè would be a safe bet for catching something nasty – although “safe” probably isn’t the most appropriate word!

Being a sensible cruise operator, who, in my experience, make safety a high priority, P&O were forced to alter some of their planned itineraries in the wake of Storm Ciara.

Predictably, these changes resulted in customers complaining on social media. Presumably some of these people would have preferred it had the ship’s captain ploughed into the storm. At least the moaners would get to appear on television – although probably not on Cruises From Hell.

Not all customers affected by the changes demanded the safety of the thousands on board be compromised. Most were fully understanding of the reasons why avoiding certain ports during a storm, would be anything but a totally deranged decision by P&O.

Some still tried their luck at getting ‘compo’!

The weather is still windy today; so, wherever you may be – land or sea – stay safe!