Rain & wind

What miserable weather! Since Friday afternoon it’s been ever heavier rain & ever stronger gusts of wind. The day is dark. Even now at around 11am it’s so dark I almost need to put the lights on to see.

Outside, a couple of weeks ago we affixed some horticultural fleece on a couple of trees that suffered somewhat last winter – an acacia & a magnolia. Since then the magnolia has been a great green sail. Finally yesterday I decided I just had to put a couple of extra ties, to give a more rolled-up umbrella look. This morning one of the ties had blown off & the tree is starting to poke out of the top. I’m not sure whether these fleeces are protecting the plants or making the potential damage worse.

Meanwhile we fairly regularly go out to the village pub to join up with some friends there on a Monday afternoon. However, today I’m beginning to wonder if it will be worth the effort. There is just so much rain & wind. On the other hand we are beginning to feel a bit stir crazy, having not been out since Friday.

Fortunately the rain hasn’t come in the cloudburst it did just before we went to Austria. Yesterday a bit of water seeped into the laundry room but it clearly depends on the wind direction. It’s almost drying as quickly as it appears. We’ve but down a pile of rags to absorb the excess. We’re beginning to think we’re going to have to invest in some sandbags if it keeps going on like this.

I’ve not ventured over to the garage so I’ve no idea of the state there. Certainly the water is nowhere near the bottom of the door so hopefully all is well.

 We had been intending to put a new bit of carpet down in the laundry room – we have a spare remnant from our lounge carpet of about the right size - but now we’re wondering if it’s worth the effort. If the room is going to be continually getting water in, that means a regularly wetted, & probably ruined, carpet. At the moment we’re leaving the concrete floor bare & I suspect that’s the way it will remain for the foreseeable future.