THE STORMS - Feb 2014

Nothing else to write about so this time I can talk about the storms, but the chances are that the rest of you have better storm stories than us!

Throughout the last few months I have been contacted by many of you kindly asking how we are coping with the floods/rain/winds/storms which have been forecast for or suffered by Wales.

We are well used to high winds/gales here blowing scarily across the peninsula and hurtling around the mountains, and up until last week, things stayed pretty much the same. No flooding or damage nearby, and the worst for us has been . . .

the Beast getting stuck in the mud and being towed out by the farmer with his tractor.

Otherwise, although we have had more than the usual amount of rain, our land is relatively dry. 

This is the deepest our stream became

Another stream running down the side of our path and our bog have remained dry

This is the most water we had in the lane

Further afield we have had fairly rough seas

which have unfortunately eroded away some of the coast line

But there has been a good selection of shells washed up on the local beach

Then came the violent storms of last week. We were hit by very scary hurricane force winds. Trees creaked and groaned all around us. Too dangerous to venture outside, we decided to light the log burner and stay inside, with power cuts threatening as the lights flashed off several times and the TV switched itself off with a pop.

Locally, thousands have had many days without electricity and the weather has left a trail of destruction in its wake with power lines and huge ancient trees scattered sadly around. But so far we have been lucky and come off quite lightly.

We were hoping for a few free logs around our property, but on inspection once the winds had died down we soon found that the most we had were a few twigs suitable for kindling.

The worst impact of the storm on us, was that the rubbish and recycling bins disappeared, with the contents last seen heading towards outer space. So Sandra Bullock if you see an empty Lynx shower gel bottle in real 3D hurtling towards you, you'd best watch out - it could be moving at hurricane force speed!

Next blog? I haven't a clue!