Sandra Chapman: Storms are not for loving but do form part of family history

It’s the sort of weather I always remember from my school days, one year in particular when I was approaching my double figure of age. Our primary school in Castledawson had just re-opened after the summer holidays and I was hoping to see one boy in particular who had taken my fancy during the last term. On that first day we were sent home early as a storm was forecast and there weren’t many school buses then in our part of south Derry.

The storm eventually arrived when my siblings and I were safely home. It was fairly horrendous, so bad my mother wouldn’t let any of us out of the house. It abated overnight, enough to let us back to school the next day. I won’t ever forget that return to the classroom. The school hadn’t suffered much damage. But my heart was broken. I was stunned into silence.

One of the boys I had favoured in my class had not returned. He and some friends had been out playing in the storm. They had gone to the nearby river, presumably to watch the water rising as the rain pelted down. They must have been fooling around as one of them fell into the river and the others couldn’t retrieve him. If a child can have a broken heart then that is exactly how I felt.

The tragedy was soon around the district causing widespread shock. A child dying was such a terrible sorrow for all who knew his family. I couldn’t own up to the tragedy in my heart though my mother had a fair idea how I was feeling. She had kept us indoors during the storm.

I remembered the tragedy for years after. It put me off storms for life. So this week with a vicious storm expected my memory did a summersault and I was back all those years ago. How had his family fared? Did the storm this week bring back terrible memories?

This week we were delighted to have some family company from England. My husband’s first cousin visited with his wife, both avid motor cyclists who travel throughout Europe on a two-wheeled wonder. But with the storm forecast early this week I had grave reservations about their form of travel. What if it breaks when they leave us to go to Dublin to catch the ferry home? Could they not stay until it was over?

Such a little bike, facing a big storm at sea to boot. At one stage my heart was pounding and I was back remembering that childhood tragedy., Would we ever recover if anything happened to them?

But there I was standing in our hallway as they got into all the gear that motor cyclists wear these days, especially international riders such as they are. I searched my brain for a good luck charm they could take with them. But if you’ve ever watched motor cyclists gearing up to ride they take no chances. By the time they were kitted out in all black they were just two smallish adults, with helmets, goggles and the necessary equipment to talk to each other as they rode along.

Had they not have had a ferry trip at the end of their stay in the North I’m sure I would not have been so uptight and worried. They rode confidently out of our gate intending to have lunch somewhere around Newry, that ferry trip still ahead….

Mercifully they arrived home safely.

In this new era home is where the work is

Has Northern Ireland got into home-working yet? Have we workers in the tens of thousands slogging away in a make-shift office, keeping tabs on the boss who is almost certainly in the main office following the progress of his at-home staff who may either be working or on occasions taking it easy.

I see this week that famous businessman Mark Zuckerberg has ordered his staff back into the office three days a week. This coming from a man who is believed to be `one of Silicon Valley’s `biggest advocates of remote working’.

Those without permission to work from home five days a week `still have to come into work at least three out of five days starting this month’ he has declared.

Big tech companies were virtually the founders of tele commuting. Nowadays home workers are everywhere. I’m friendly with some myself. My experience is that such workers do respect the rules. The public sector in particular is now rife with home workers.

However I have heard of people on the outside who are not getting the service from the public sector they expect. My other half has been known to scream at the phone which refused to be answered when he needed specific information.

Zuckerberg, genius that he is was one of the early drivers of remote working giving `all staff the opportunity to apply for the system’. He did discover however that `new joiners had performed better if they regularly came into the office.’

In fact there is a suggestion that rival tech companies such as Google, Apple and Amazon prefer their workers to spend more time in the office. Let’s assume that one day styles of working will settle down keeping both sides happy. The old style office camaraderie may one day be laughed at by a new generation.