There's been a violent thunder and lightening storm going on for the last couple of hours, providing us with some much-needed relief from the sweaty humidity of the last few days.

I am safe from it up here in blog HQ, and not just because I have my earphones in and music blaring at maximum volume.

Yes, I am a little uneasy about wild streaks of pure power flashing through the sky, followed by inexplicable (keep out of this, scientists amongst you) rolling growls of brute force.

I think it stems from the behaviour of the dog we had when I was a kid, who would positively lose his mind before the storm had even started. He was a pretty big guy, and caused no small amount of panic in the youthful Rampage household upon deciding that he wanted to jump out a (closed) window.

Quite often, he'd succeed in escaping and would be absent for several days. My folks would drive around the neighbourhood, looking for the insane and bedraggled figure of Shep, still trying vainly to outrun the danger. After a few unsuccessful forays, they'd have to gently start preparing us for the worst.

He always turned up though, either of his own accord or recognised by a neighbour who would either try to catch him or let us know his vague whereabouts.

Shep's in the Happy hunting Ground now, and I hope he has enough sticks to chase and arses to sniff to distract him from what's going on down here.