The Aftermath

The storms continued all day. Even this morning, the rain may have stopped but the wind continues to blow at what I would think is gale force. 

Our garden is looking a wreck. The first thing you notice is that the Fox's veg raised beds have been ruined. The lightweight aluminium framework is twisted. The netting supporting the beans & peas lies strewn across the patio. The lining, full of soil & plants, is halfway out of the frame of the bed. The tomato bed also looks severely battered, rods & canes everywhere. Whether anything will survive is debatable. Once the storm finally stops we will have a look see if anything can be salvaged.

The potatoes, at least, don't look too bad. The same can be said for the sugar snap peas - a couple of these edible pods have formed - & the few beans that he tried to grow in a compost bag as he'd run out of space in the raised beds. 

It's the tomatoes we are particularly annoyed about. A couple of years ago the Fox first tried growing tomatoes. The result was wonderful. We had a good crop of really tasty tomatoes. We were hoping for the same again. Going back to the usual tasteless supermarket tomatoes has been very uninspiring. Still maybe something can be salvaged.

Further up the garden I see something that looks like a bough from one of the trees on the lawn. It will just have to stay there until the lawn has dried up a bit. I couldn't be bothered to squelch my over at the moment.

PD & his grandson got to see the Olympic torch. In the 20 minutes they were out they were soaked right through to the skin. Little Adam, still of pre-school age, was full of it. The torch swapped runners just where they were so they had ample opportunities for photos. And Adam was given a flag to wave, as he excitedly told me over the phone later.

By the evening the wind had made it really cold. We had to resort to putting the fire on just to keep warm. I don't think I've ever had to do that so late in June. All in all, it felt more like November than high summer.

Still when I got up this morning & put on the radio news, I gather we were very lucky compared to some parts of Lancashire. At least we are still dry inside - unlike PD whose roof has sprung a leak resulting in water in the lounge - & can put a fire on to keep warm. I tried putting the TV on to see the extent of the flooding, but got a message stating "No service. Bad signal". I presume that means wherever the signal comes from is also hit by the storms. The transmitter mast is maybe damaged.

I'm now just hoping the brighter skies of today mean the rain is over & the winds will soon abate, so we can see what, if anything can be rescued in the garden this afternoon. It's not worth trying to do anything until that wind dies down.