Friday January 30th
Telephone reconnected
Monday February 2nd
The sun showed it's face today and we spent time in the garden making a flower bed around the base of "The" tree. We are not walking too close to the house as there are a lot of loose tiles.
Photographs have been taken and the architect has visited so we wait, again, for roof repairers.
We have used 2 old oak beams as the borders of the bed. They have to sit on stones on 2 sides as there is a drop in land levels. Now have to fill it with soil.
Tuesday February 3rd
Happy Birthday Michael, 40 today. Happy Anniversary to us.
Had lunch with an old nursing pal who lives on the edge of the Landes forests and the drive there showed me, first hand, some of the devastation. I have tried twice to phone Michael, will try again tomorrow.
Returned home to find we have internet, yipee. They have replaced our live box which appears to have blown during the storm.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Sunday 25th,
Came home from the Inauguration Ceremony and following Vin d'Honneur to find we had electricity. Celebrated with a lovely cup of tea. Our village has been extremely lucky in comparison with many in the South West of France. The Forests of the Landes are now moonscapes having thousands of flattened trees.
Monday 26th
Went into the local town. Had to make several detours as roads are blocked by fallen trees and electricity poles. We still have no landline telephone or internet connection. Thankfully the mobile networks are working.
Tuesday 27th
Today we have a proper fire. The man has been and we have steel liners in the chimney for the wood burners. The second one was delivered and fitted in what will be the salon. It looks rather like a Dalek from the Dr Who series. Unfortunately it was missing one vital joint which will have to be ordered so another wait.
Came home from the Inauguration Ceremony and following Vin d'Honneur to find we had electricity. Celebrated with a lovely cup of tea. Our village has been extremely lucky in comparison with many in the South West of France. The Forests of the Landes are now moonscapes having thousands of flattened trees.
Monday 26th
Went into the local town. Had to make several detours as roads are blocked by fallen trees and electricity poles. We still have no landline telephone or internet connection. Thankfully the mobile networks are working.
Tuesday 27th
Today we have a proper fire. The man has been and we have steel liners in the chimney for the wood burners. The second one was delivered and fitted in what will be the salon. It looks rather like a Dalek from the Dr Who series. Unfortunately it was missing one vital joint which will have to be ordered so another wait.
Saturday January 24th, continued
23.00 The winds have now dropped and, for the moment the rain has stopped. Our wooden barn now has about 3 walls and one of them does not look too good. Our house roof has lost many tiles, and I have run out of containers to catch the water. We are spending our second night downstairs in the house but it is quite comfortable.
The dog insisted on an excursion outside just before 02.00 and woke me. Outside the sky was clear, not much moonlight but every constellation visible. It is hard to believe that 24 hours before I had difficulty even opening the door.
Sunday morning and we are still without telephone or internet link. I have walked around the back house, which took the full force of the wind. The storm has saved us some work as the old lean too garage now has no rear doors and very few tiles on the roof. Quite a lot of the house roof tiles have gone. Another part of the non-accommodation has lost quite a lot of glass complete with window frames. It will have to be a careful clean up and gardening in future as there are a lot of small bits of glass everywhere.
Have to get a bit clear as they are inaugurating ‘La Mairie” in the village. It has just been refurbished together with the Post Office so there is to be a little gathering of the village population.
23.00 The winds have now dropped and, for the moment the rain has stopped. Our wooden barn now has about 3 walls and one of them does not look too good. Our house roof has lost many tiles, and I have run out of containers to catch the water. We are spending our second night downstairs in the house but it is quite comfortable.
The dog insisted on an excursion outside just before 02.00 and woke me. Outside the sky was clear, not much moonlight but every constellation visible. It is hard to believe that 24 hours before I had difficulty even opening the door.
Sunday morning and we are still without telephone or internet link. I have walked around the back house, which took the full force of the wind. The storm has saved us some work as the old lean too garage now has no rear doors and very few tiles on the roof. Quite a lot of the house roof tiles have gone. Another part of the non-accommodation has lost quite a lot of glass complete with window frames. It will have to be a careful clean up and gardening in future as there are a lot of small bits of glass everywhere.
Have to get a bit clear as they are inaugurating ‘La Mairie” in the village. It has just been refurbished together with the Post Office so there is to be a little gathering of the village population.
Saturday January 24th, 2009
I wrote the first part of the following Saturday morning just before we lost all power. It was out for just about 12 hours but I will still post this as soon as the internet connection returns. It is trying to boot now.
I am composing this off line in the hope that later we will get a connection long enough to post. We are still being bombarded by incredible winds and have been since around 03.30 this morning (now 11.00.) We slept on the convertible sofa in the house as the campervan is on the side of the property hit by these winds. (NW to Westerly gusting 150kph). So far we have been lucky, we think, although we haven’t been around that side of the house yet, as it is difficult to stand. The barometric pressure has been around 950/951 for the last 12 hours and has only risen by 1 point this morning, so the winds may continue.
We have a very disgruntled cat that is using his litter tray but doesn’t like it. Dog took one look outside (on a leash) and reversed in the direction of the wood burner and has not moved since.
Houses in France have external shutters as the norm and it is at times like this when they come into their own. It makes it dark inside but protects the glass. We are getting intermittent electricity and internet so we are boiling kettle to fill a thermos , writing etc whenever poss.
Thank goodness for the battery pack on laptops, as I am typing this in alternating light and darkness.
I wrote the first part of the following Saturday morning just before we lost all power. It was out for just about 12 hours but I will still post this as soon as the internet connection returns. It is trying to boot now.
I am composing this off line in the hope that later we will get a connection long enough to post. We are still being bombarded by incredible winds and have been since around 03.30 this morning (now 11.00.) We slept on the convertible sofa in the house as the campervan is on the side of the property hit by these winds. (NW to Westerly gusting 150kph). So far we have been lucky, we think, although we haven’t been around that side of the house yet, as it is difficult to stand. The barometric pressure has been around 950/951 for the last 12 hours and has only risen by 1 point this morning, so the winds may continue.
We have a very disgruntled cat that is using his litter tray but doesn’t like it. Dog took one look outside (on a leash) and reversed in the direction of the wood burner and has not moved since.
Houses in France have external shutters as the norm and it is at times like this when they come into their own. It makes it dark inside but protects the glass. We are getting intermittent electricity and internet so we are boiling kettle to fill a thermos , writing etc whenever poss.
Thank goodness for the battery pack on laptops, as I am typing this in alternating light and darkness.
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