Today was all about assessing the damage and clearing up
after the storm. It was only really once we got a proper look at some of the
wreckage that we could see how strong the winds had been. They had ripped down
huge trees over 6ft in circumference (Becki is saying I should say 2ft in diameter
as this is easier for people to picture – but it’s my turn to write the blog
and I think you’ll be able to do the maths anyway)
The drive was blocked by one of these trees, so cutting it
up and getting it cleared was the first order of business. To get an idea of
just how much stuff there was to clear, we created three dumper loads of logs
like this, not to mention the huge sections of trunk that were just too big to
lift so were dragged away by the Pajero.
In the mean time Becki was also on tree clean up duty,
cutting up the smaller branches into different sized piles ready for burning on
the fire pit. And as a bonus she got to drive them round in the Pajero.
That evening things were a little cooler than it had been
for the last couple of weeks so we decided to go out for a bike ride to explore
the French countryside. I thought we were having quite a casual relaxing ride
around what was a relatively flat area of the country, but Becki seemed to be
finding it really hard work and complaining a hell of lot. It was only when we
stopped the reason became clear, the front brake pads had been fixed on too
tight, meaning she had effectively been pedalling with the brakes half on the
entire time!
Back in the village we stopped for a drink at the bar, where
they brought us free chorizo and we discovered beer is cheaper than lemonade!
Over the last few days one of my other tasks has been to
carry tiles up the scaffolding on the hunting lodge building where Ian is
repairing the roof. The ridge is almost all the way along now, so by tomorrow
the work on the roof should be finished for a while.
There’s a great view from the top of the scaffolding,
especially of the storms when they come in from the hills over the horizon. And
at about 6pm that exactly what happened, once we heard those first rolls of
thunder coming our way we got down pretty quick, the tallest metal structure
for miles around isn’t exactly where you want to be standing when the
lightening gets close!
The weather round these parts doesn’t do things by halves,
round 1 of this new storm was a hail special. No wind this time, but hail
stones almost the size of golf balls started to rain down all around, even the
cats were smart enough to stay out of the way of these monsters. This went on
for over an hour, leaving the garden looking like it was covered in snow.
A short period of calm, it was just starting to get dark
when the whole sky was lit up by bright flashes. Entire sheets of lightening continuously
flowed through the clouds, at times the flashes were almost painful to look at,
like that moment when you momentarily look too close to the sun. Because there
was no rain, I went to stand right out in the field where you were entirely
surrounded by this lightening unlike anything I’d seen before and continuous
(sometimes deafening) thunder, and in between these great sheets, were
occasional horizontal forks that fractured across the sky.
A little later on when we were all sitting inside,
lightning struck very close by to the house. The gap between the flash and the
loudest crack of thunder of the night was less than a second, for a few seconds
all the power went down.
Round 3 of the storm arrived about 10pm and took the form of
torrential rain, and when we went down to our bedroom we found that a paddling
pool had been newly installed! With water coming in through rear wall, the boys
headed outside to dig a channel to direct the building water away from the
house, while the girls formed a synchronised sweeping team to push the water
out of the house and down into the channel.
Eventually the rain calmed, and we came back inside,
although the thunder and lightning carried on throughout the night.
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