A mighty gale

Well, it is hard to believe that one week ago we were in the midst of gale force winds and very heavy rain.  All just a dream now, except for the empty conservatory, and damaged wooden floor.

But back to last Sunday.   As the day progressed the wind grew stronger and stronger, from the south west, accompanied by heavy rain.    What an alarming noise!     

We looked at our conservatory, catching the full blast of the wind and rain.   Will it stand up to the storm?

First the rain started to come through the edge of the roof, under the flashing, where it was attached to the wall of the house.   

Then at midnight Walter heard a bang, and a thud, thud, thud sound.   The roof was starting to come away from the frame.   So Walter, brave man, put on his tracksuit and rain jacket, got the ladder and drill out, and attempted to put some more screws into the glazed triple polycarbonate roof.   Success.  No more flapping.

All that can be seen of Walter is the light from the torch, held in his mouth of course.   He only had two hands.    The wife stayed safely inside the house, and gave encouragement.

Buckets, buckets everywhere.

The furniture stacked up inside the lounge room.  Luckily they were removed before the roof started to leak.

The next morning all was calm.   We mopped up as best we could, and stacked up the outside patio chairs against the wall,

and left our cheap charity shop table, covered with a plastic tablecloth.

We looked at the floor, and thought 'Nothing we can do about this for three months'.

We moved all the furniture into the spare room, which had just been cleared of Scott's television, speakers and filing cabinet.   And there it will stay until we return from Australia.

But the conservatory was not the only casualty.    The pebble dashing coating came off our chimney, and landed on the neighbours car, cracking the windscreen.    But luckily for us, anyway, we share this chimney with the people who live in the maisonette above, and they are going to sort out the repairs.   Shared cost of course, and not cheap.

The back garden looked largely untouched, until five days later.   Now there are piles of branches and twigs from our hedges.  Thrown over by our neighbour, no doubt, when she cleaned up her garden this week.   She also threw the pieces of pebble dashing from the chimney into our front garden.   She is not a happy bunny. Not that I can blame her.  I think I will keep a low profile for a while.

But on a lighter note.   Our little shed at the back, the one that looks like an Australian outback toilet, remained upright.   It must have been due to the stick that Walter wedged against it, in order to keep it upright.

Well our conservatory roof has had some roofing and gutter sealant applied under the worst parts of the flashing, so fingers crossed it will survive until we return in April.    A new roof and floor, will be our first task.   Our next project, unplanned.   Nice to have a project to come back to here.   Something to look forward to.