That was it.... for now.

So in the end Florence came, made a mess but no real damage, and left.

It's Tuesday, 10am, the sun is out, there's a mild breeze, and it's back to normal, except that school's out for a second day.
We passed the day yesterday sitting around, the kids watched some videos and (grudgingly) did some homework. I tried to keep in touch with the world during the storm, and did so until our power went out at about 10am. From then on it was walking around, looking out the little window in the study room door, watching the storm slowly change direction, trying not to catch cabin fever.

That big bin with water came in handy, as the water pump was off (Bermudian houses have big water tanks underneath, where rain water is collected. The water is then pumped into a pressure tank to feed the house.) But now it's all back to normal.

In the afternoon some friends came to visit--crazy Bermudians, I thought. They stayed for a while and then we (yes, WE) walked back to their place, in the now slightly less strong winds. Still we got soaked by rain and the spray from the ocean.
The kids had a ball jumping in the puddles. And with the water quite warm (compared to English rain) nobody was too concerned about getting wet.
We visited some church folk, and ended up staying with our friends and their neighbours (all church members) till mid evening. Seems that a storm brings out the community spirit in this place even more.

So that then was our first taste of a hurricane. (This website has some more pictures etc. [not ours])

To think that the strong winds I had seen and felt were "only" a category 1, and it can go up to 5... there're some awesome forces in nature. I'm just glad that God is always larger than His creation.