Tuar hong lo!

That's Hokkien for (literally), "Big (heavy) - winds - 'sentence-ender'."

[Over here, apart from 'lor', we also have 'lar', 'mar', 'meh', etc., and then the occasional grunt when one is too lazy to speak]

I was having headphones on the entire afternoon, and besides feeling extremely chilly (per usual), it was only until my mom called to tell me about the weather at home (and to drive carefully) that I realised I could hear the wind from inside my office.

So after the internet died and the lights flickered (really), I spent a half hour dallying around the office, looking out windows, seeing partially tile-less roofs (having got blown off), and incapacitated stop signs, my department and I decided to make a break for it.

The winds were so strong even the parking barrier was bent. I tried to tag my season card on the way out (because it's a one-entry-one-exit arrangement), but nothing registered on the screen (even though it was lit up) and that spot was directly in the line of firethe sea (read: where stronger winds originate) so I thought, "screw it," and just drove out.

Over here, there is a tendency for trees, branches, twigs and their ilk falling over and hitting cars and/or people where there are heavy winds, and I was kinda freaked by the fact that my route is 90% lined with trees.

Practical on hot days, but not so much in this instance.

It took me another half hour to reach home, on account of aforementioned fallen branches and the millions of cars trawling home at the same time.

The winds lasted around three hours. It was slightly frightening.