Probably every studio owners' worst nightmare...
Last Wednesday (12th August) at about 3:30 in the afternoon, we experienced heavy thunder and lightning accompanied by the most horrendous down-pour. I had popped out for a cigarette and the wind was seriously blowing. Then it went dark. I figured on making a dash home and swapping my cars over.
While at home, I received a phone call from Yvonne, the manager of BlueBox Storage Limited, Hemel Hempstead (where my studio is), requesting that I return as soon as possible. I grabbed a pair of wellies, while my heart sank as I just knew what had happened.
It was some time after 5:00 by the time I arrived at the BlueBox Stoage building and standing at the top of the steps leading down to the entrance of my studio, I was horrified to see the water gushing out of the building.
My vintage 1979 Roland JC-120, vintage 1969 Fender Vibro Champ, my collection of vintage pick-ups, my Marshall Silver Jubilee cabs, thousands of pounds worth of custom multi-cores and other cables, all hand-made and so, so much more that I haven't even seen yet, all gone in minutes.
I simply can't begin to properly convey my heart-break and sense of devastation but even now, I'm not sure if the gravity of it all has actually sunk in yet.
I'd just like to give out a big THANK YOU to my wife Julie, my daughter Tsunami, her boyfriend, Ayyaam and my friends Tony Burlinson, Adam King and Mike Barrett for responding so quickly and helping me move as much stuff to safety as quickly as possible. I think we got pretty much most of the studio gear out by the early hours of the next morning.
I'd also like to thank all of my Facebook friends for their kind words of sympathy and support.
I must also thank Yvonne Forecast and my landlords who were just so helpful and who responded really quickly. Dehumidifiers and outside storage began to arrive really quickly and a professional clean-up crew was organised.