Storm Lorenzo has passed by but it there is a long winter ahead and experts say last week’s weather alerts should serve as a reminder of the need to get your home ready for the worst nature could throw at us.

Following last weekend’s victory for Crosshaven’s Peter McCann in Kinsale at the ISA Junior All-Ireland Sailing Championships, attention switches to Dun Laoghaire this morning where Anthony O’Leary is set to defend his 2014 title at the National Yacht Club.

MY boots sank a little into the ground as I stepped off the farm roadway onto a grazing paddock last Thursday morning.