OMG, this post probably won't reflect the true scariness of what just happened but bare with me.

I was just sitting at the computer and the skies were looking a bit dark and I heard some thunder in the distance....obviously I didn't think much of it as it's not exactly rare in Manchester :)

Anyway the phone went and I was chatting to a friend and looking out of my parents bedroom window with my two cats sitting on the bed next to me. My dad was taking my nan to the airport to catch a train (yeah that sounds strange I know). So anyway we had been chatting for about 10 minutes when the _biggest_ flash of lightening I have ever seen struck something (I assume a house) right infront of my eyes....I'm talking 100 yards away. There was a bang so loud that my cats jumped off the bed in unison and landed about 5 metres away from their starting position. I've never seen or heard anything like it....to see lightening in the distance is one thing but to see it 100 yards away from your house right in your line of vision is quite another. To give you an idea that I'm not exaggerating, all the car alarms and house alarms within a few hundred yards of my house all started ringing. My dad came back from the airport and asked why loads of people were out on the street.

I was watching a tv show the other day on lightening and it said never to use electrical equipment in storms as the lightening can travel through wire networks so if it had been like 100yards towards my house I'd be dead right now.