Just utter those magic words, ‘No access for emergency services…’ The phone went at about 10.30am last Sunday, and our next-door neighbour Sandra wasted no time in the usual idle chitchat, like, ‘I hope I’m not interrupting,’ or, ‘Lovely bit of weather we’re having, although I understand that scattered showers are moving in from the east and snow is expected on higher ground,’ or even, ‘Hello, it’s Sandra.’
‘Did you just hear that noise?’ she demanded, abruptly.
‘Sorry about that,’ I explained. ‘I tripped over the dog and dropped a cup.’
‘Not that sort of noise,’ said Sandra, without inquiring about the health of the dog, me – or, indeed, the cup. ‘It sounded like thunder.’
‘Perhaps it was thunder,’ I suggested.
‘I didn’t say it was thunder. I said…
