We had the mother of all storms on Tuesday night with gale force winds and loads of rain. In the early evening, the sky started going black and then very suddenly, the rain started and with the wind, it was coming horizontally. We’ve had heavy rains before but none at 90 degrees so we were surprised when it started raining inside the house as well. Although the roof tiles overhang the exterior wall a bit, there is still a gap between them, so rain was coming directly under the roof and into the loft spaces. In addition, the rain was coming directly towards the front of the house which drove it in around the front door. Will dove out to rescue two potted plants we keep on the door step and within seconds, was drenched and we could barely get the front door closed.
Inside the house, we had a huge puddle by the front door and leaks in the big room and both bedrooms. In the big room, water was coming through the narrow wood beams in the ceiling so that wasn’t too bad. The bedrooms didn’t fare as well since their ceiling is the floor of the loft so water was pooling up there and then leaking down. The ceiling in both rooms is wooden slats and not plaster so we don’t have to worry about visible stains. On the other hand, some of the wood is now sticking out at a 45 degree angle so there is still noticable damage. We used every available bucket/container to catch the drips as well as every towel in the house. The wind let up after about 20 minutes, leaving behind plenty more rain but it was no longer coming at us horizontally. We had water dripping through the ceiling in our bedroom the whole night because the house slopes down that way but it let up in most other places. Thankfully, the leaks avoided the tv, computer and all valuable electronic equiptment as well as the beds, with the exception of a corner of ours.
The main carnage was outdoors. We have a grapevine on a trellis in the front garden and that was basically lying on its side. There used to be a small nectarine tree but the main branch was ripped off so we had to amputate to try to save it. In the back, both apple trees and the pear tree lost the majority of their fruit, a large branch was ripped off one of the chestnuts. The neighbour came by to tell us we have two large pines trees down and that we’ll need to take a chainsaw to them at some point. Apparently, the wood isn’t useful for anything so we’ll also need to deal with that. The veggie garden coped fairly well although much of the corn was standing at 45 degrees and the tomato plants that weren’t tied to the trellis were flat on the ground. I manged to salvage most of that though.
Ben, Camilla and Wilfred came back on Wed evening after their week in Spain where they had a great time, mostly spent at the beach. For dinner that night, we had a Thai-style chicken dish that used to be a mainstay of ours back in London. We rarely have it here since it calls for a load of corriander (cilantro) and spring onions, ingredients which are very expensive out here. Fortunately, both ingredients are in season out back so we have both in abundance for the next few weeks. It’s a really easy but tasty dish that also has coconut milk, soy sauce and green chili and resembles a green curry but without all the exotic ingredients. The guests were suitably impressed and I will be sending them the recipe.
The next day, we headed out to Brantome for lunch where we met up with Alan, Ailish and her sister, husband and their child. Alan and Ailish live in Barcelona and stayed with us last year en route to Brittany on bicycles! Ailish’s parents have a place near Riberac so they are there visiting them for a few days. Alan cycled to Brantome, a mere 45 km and we were joined by the others later on. We ate at the cute waiter restaurant and got a riverside table where we stayed until nearly 5pm. I won’t recount every dish except to say that Ben had steak tartare (raw beef with a raw egg) which he really enjoyed. We came home and relaxed a bit before Ben helped us repair the storm damage. He is a landscape gardener by trade so he was very handy to have around given the circumstances. Mainly, we got the grapevine upright once again and then dealt with the trees. We also planted the butterfly bush that we were given as a housewarming gift which was a good thing since it’s never been happy indoors and is still at death’s door. Apparently, they’re a hearty plant so it will probably come back.
Speaking of plants, the garden is now bearing fruit (well, veg actually). One cucumber plant seems happy and I took one off it today with another one right behind. The broccoli is now ready so I must find something to do with it soon. One of the butternut squash plants has two specimens that will be ripe in another few days. Also, the green beans are producing again and the courgette and tomatoes are still in overdrive. On Thursday evening, we were all rather full from lunch so we had a simple meal of bread and cheese and served it with oven-roasted courgette and tomatoes with fresh herbs into which we mixed goats cheese and green beans. We got some patisserie from the bakery that morning that we had for dessert. Our guests set off the next morning, planning to stop somewhere on route before getting the ferry the next day.
Since then, it’s been a bit doom and gloom around here. Both Will and I are starting to get worried about our work prospects. He is also depressed about the weather which hasn’t been great although we did have a nice day on Thursday when our guests were here. It’s meant to improve for a few days this week but I can’t say the same for the work situation. Also, we have very little planned in August and no visitors, so it’s a bit dull around here, at least in comparison to our very social July. We are both doing some serious searching for income, both on line and potentially, in a shop or similar. I spent all of yesterday looking at iPhone apps and am now depressed since there already seems to be an app for everything that I’ve thought of, including a free video guide of London. I’m sure we’ll figure something out eventually but it’s been awhile since we’ve experienced stress and uncertainty so I think that makes it worse. I know job hunting is never fun, but it’s particularily difficult when there aren’t many opportunities in our fields, or not locally anyway.
I don’t want to sign off on a downer but I can’t think of a humorous anecdote so apologies for potentially exacerbating the pain of your Monday morning.