We’ve had the most incredible stormy weather: gale force winds, hailstones and lashings of rain. It was with some trepidation that I set out this morning to walk the dog; what would the storm damage be? Well, actually very little. All the trees were still standing, as was the polytunnel (hurrah) and the chickens still had 4 eggs waiting for me. Only huge puddles gave a clue to the downpour. Or so I thought…

Emptying the rubbish into the compost bins I saw that their corrugated roofing had blown off despite being held down with heavy rocks, and then something caught my eye. What was that hanging in the corner olive tree? A large, black plastic bag? Approaching I saw it was part of the roofing from the potting shed. It been ripped off and blown into the tree, and another large patch was hanging off. So the next 10 minutes or so saw me clambering over the shed and trying to put it all back. Luckily I had just bought a new box of roof tacks, and luckily too the rain had briefly stopped but it was a battle against the wind and dark clouds were approaching. My first attempt saw the whole thing blow off again before I could tack it down but eventually I managed to bang it back on as large drops began to fall.

Now I have lived in a number of developing countries and got used to power cuts but no where, really, has been as bad as here. I knew that the electricity would go off last night when I heard the thunder rumbling overhead. Sure enough the first candle had just been lit when it went off. Back on and then off… and then this morning there was no water – again! I can’t believe that so much was falling from the sky and none was coming from the tap! I can (sort of) understand why the power goes but why the water goes too is a mystery. Ho hum!