It's nearly the end of October and there are many trees with leaves still on them.

Come Monday morning it may be a different story as it seems a humongous storm on a par with the Great Storm of 1987 is on the way.

The late 1980's saw two major storms, one on the 16/15th October 1987 commonly refereed to as the Great Storm of 1987 and the other on 25/26 January 1990 commonly referred to as the Burns Night storm.

Of course the 1987 storm weakened trees and structures which blew down the 1990 storm.

In 1990 there was large scale destruction in the High Wycombe are with many areas of woodland affected in particular Rowliff Wood and Castlefield Wood which were completely flattened.

Indeed the Burns Night storm all but destroyed a large area of woodland on my own estate resulting in the loss of many fine specimens in my private arboretum.

Even now I have nightmares in which your humble servant sees the lovely mature trees which had graced my estate uprooted and laying on their side.

With so much destruction on my estate it was several weeks before the lumberjacks could move in with their tractors and chainsaws to clear the land. Afterwards I decided not to replant and instead grassed over the area where the trees had been.

Now it seems another storm to rival the 1987 one is forecast for this coming Sunday evening and Monday morning.

Even my trusty barometer in the hall, which is never wrong, is prediction a storm indeed I have never seen the need so far to the left before.

No doubt there will be many weak trees, chimney stacks and other structures which may succumb if another storm hits.

Naturally storms are very unpredictable and it's possible nothing may happen but then again we may take the full brunt of the wind and damage may be widespread.

Those, like my good self, who have to go out work on Monday morning may find travelling difficult and all but impossible if there is disruption to services.

I just hope the electricity stays on. Just to be on the safe side on Friday evening yours truly got my old paraffin oil cooking stove out of the shed and checked it was working.

At least I will be able to have a hot meal if energy supplies fail.

I also fired up my emergency generator and ran it for ten minutes or so until the engine warmed up. The steady beat of the genset was most reassuring.

Being able to generate your own electricity is a wise precaution after all if the power goes off so will the freezers with potential loss of food.

If anyone does lose a freezer full of food they may be glad of the new brown food recycling bins provided as part of the new refuse collection scheme by the powers that be.

So what can you do to help protect yourself and your property if a storm does hit?

Well, make sure your car is not parked close to a building so falling tiles do not damage your vehicle.

Make sure you have plenty of food in stock preferable which requires little or no heating up.

Also if driving be careful when overtaking high sided vehicles in case they are blown into your path or even topple over.

If walking on a pavement make sure you stay away from the edge of the pavement in case a lorry or car is blown onto the pavement.

Should you hear a tile fall from your roof what every you do don't go out to look in case further tiles fall and hit you.

Maybe you have some other good hints and tips for surviving a storm that you would like to share with us? If so just leave a comment below and let us know.

What do you think?