What a Storm!!

Well Friday night and Saturday here was pretty rough. We were alerted by the meteo that a storm was passing through but we did not expect it to be so bad , and in fact with winds up to 170kph and torrential rain it was as bad as the storm 10 years ago. It was quite frightening lying in bed in the early hours listening to the roaring of the wind and hoping that the roof would not take off and all would be safe. We were very lucky and apart from a few tiles moved which H will need to go up and put right when all is calm and dry ( he is not to keen on going up there LOL ) and a plum tree at a 45 degree angle and various branches etc all over the place we and the animals are all ok. The electricity went early on and then later the water so it was a challenge keeping warm etc and made us realise how we so easily take for granted running water from taps, loos that flush and fridges that keep our food fresh. We had to buy masses of bottled water to tide us and the animals over but luckily we have a gas cooker so we could heat water and cook by candle light.

Guess what, yes we had visitors for the weekend over from the UK. They arrived Friday afternoon, which was unduly calm and mild and was not quite the weekend they expected. Good job they are old friends.





We also lost the phones, not unexpectadly but at least the mobile signal stayed on which was something.

All around the area trees were fallen and blocking roads but it is amazing how quickly they get sawn up and moved . The essential services and all the locals with a tractor were out and about putting things to rights. Many houses around had roof damage. Small holes and tiles blown off but the men soon seemed to be up there putting things to rights. We had a small blip of electricity on Sat evening and thought all was being fixed but in the end it did not come back on until Sunday evening, just in time for Lark Rise to Candelford!! All in the freezer was ok so luckily no hassle of getting rid of all that and no insurance claim although I am sure the insurers of Aquitaine will have many many claims.

So all in all we are glad to be more or less back to normal apart from the wettest soggiest ground ever and hope all our friends reading this are safe too. I notice quite a few of you are not back online yet so we are thinking of you.

Happy New Year to All

I know it is a little late. Have been meaning to update the blog for a few days and just got around to it, mainly inspired by all the white stuff lying about today. Yes, it has snowed already for the second time this winter, quite amazing for this part of the world. It surely will not last for long so I have been doing a bit of happy snapping just to prove it is cold in this part of the world and that global warming feels like a myth!!




















I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We did here and ate and drank too much as usual so now time for a bit of weight watching . We had some family staying over Xmas and then friends around too on Boxing Day which was fun. It even snowed a little then for a few hours!

The weaving has been neglected I am afraid, but as soon as we are restocked with oil and the heating can be turned up a bit I will be brave enough to use the studio again. At the moment times are very hard for expats relying on UK pensions, we are now a third worse off than a couple of years ago and things are getting worse. Lets hope someone with some sense takes charge in UK in the very near future and sterling goes up in value again. We can but hope!