Vigilance!!

Phénomènes dangereux.

At least, that's what the weather forecast says. It's been a bit windy here the past couple of days: the wind has been whistling through the telephone lines, and the leylandii trees visible when I turn away from the computer desk have been rocking and rolling.

This was todays official forecast, yesterday evening.
Since then the forecast gust speed has been increased.

Today we are being vigilant for even greater wind, with gusts up to 140kmh forecast. We are in an orange vigilance area, but the red zone starts only 10km away.

Last night at 10.00pm it was very quiet - no wind, a little rain, but some very ominous clouds. At midnight there was still no sign of anything out of the ordinary, but by 3.00am the wires were whistling again. At 5.00 Susan and I got up and did a patrol of the house, which was just as well because one of our barn doors had blown open.

By that stage wind had joined the rain, and sticking one's head out of the door was rewarded with the sound of someone's garden shed in trouble, and the occasional roofing tile hitting the ground. Once it all quietens down I will have a wander around town to see what sort of damage the wind has caused. Growing up in an area where most houses were wooden with tin roofs, I will be interested to see what high winds do to stone houses with tile or slate roofs.

This wall, however, was not the victim of the wind, but either someone cut the corner just a little too fine, or it was just feeling its age and fell down of its own accord. These wall are often made like a sandwich, with the outsides of the walls being mortared in place, then the gap between them filled with rubble and earth (our garage wall was the same). Over time water gets into the wall and washes out the filling, and that's when the wall collapses. It has been down for about 6 months, and apart from the witch's hats, nothing has happened to it since.

Anyhow, tin hats on, and hope for the best!

Simon