Late Afternoon

The 106 m.p.h. wind that ripped through The Needles overnight howled around our house and garden.

Numerous plant pots were blown down;

tables and the new pig hit the deck;

owls were knocked off their perches;

broken branches and scattered trugs tossed around;

an arch bent and a rose dislodged. I had the sun in my eyes when the rose accosted me and pierced both my head and my jacket.

Late this afternoon we drove to Milford on Sea watching wild waves whipping up spray, lashing wooden breakwaters and wetting glistening rocks. Gulls swooped overhead; numerous walkers braced the bitterly cold wind. One group descended the slippery shingle, then attempted to avoid the rippling waves licking their feet. One young lady had forgotten to cover her legs.

It was hardly surprising that no-one sat at the picnic tables of the Needles Eye Cafe standing in reflecting pools.

My fingers tingled enough to send me back into the car while I waited for the sunset.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s post-Christmas soup with crusty bread followed by gooseberry and apple crumble with which the Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Montaria.

72 comments

  1. Oh my, Derrick. 106 MPH winds, I’m surprised the greenhouse survived. Did your house come through ok? I sincerely hope your bout with the wind propelled rose has not left any serious injuries to you or damage to your jacket.

  2. In the first set of photos, the little cherub with its hand to its face seems to be surveying the damage and saying, “Oh, my!” It does look as though the new pig survived intact; I hope your injuries are minimal, as well.

  3. People are always talking about us and the gulf states and the storms we get, but by-golly Derrick – you sure seem to have us beat!!

  4. As shoreacres said above, the little cherub in the first set of photos really says it all! That’s a mighty hurricane you had — and I can foresee days of repair work ahead. I hope the other figures survived, and the plants recover well.

  5. I am sorry to see the devastation wrought by the wind in your fabulous garden. I hope the damage is reparable. The storm on the sea set reminded me of the famous painting “the Ninth Wave” by Aivazovsky. Poor forlorn picnic tables in black and white!

  6. Wow, those were hurricane-force winds. You’re fortunate no further damage was done to your garden. I hope your head is all right. You were able to capture some really good light with the seaside photos.

  7. Oh my word! We’ve had remnants of hurricanes pass through, but have never experienced winds that powerful. I hope your roof is okay! Your seaside shots are gorgeous, Derrick.

  8. I’m glad there was no serious damage from those winds. We had rain and winds gusting 60-70 mph late on Christmas Eve, which was bad enough. Your header photo is stunning!

  9. Righting pots becomes important business. Intense winds and nature’s barbs do shake us up … as they are meant to. Hope you are breathing easy now. 🙏

  10. That was a wild wind that came blowing, Derrick and Jackie. I am glad the damage was not more extensive. Come January, we will probably experience something similar here, and it will sound like the call of a Banshee when it comes.
    The photos from the shore are beautiful, though it looks so cold!

  11. U bent echt, wat je noemt: één gepassioneerde fotograaf, om bij orkaan Nelly … , of hoe ze haar ook noemen in Engeland … Men heeft het over orkaankracht en stevige winden.
    Aan de Nederlandse kust genoten de suffers met parachutes die hoog boven de golven vlogen … (Het heeft een naam, maar ik weet het niet.) Elfriede, 28-12-2020 * http://www.friedabblog.wordpress.com * Liefs from Amsterdam *

  12. Derrick, I can’t imagine what it was like to be home with those winds blowing through. It’s incredible how powerful they can be and the damage they bring. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I’m sorry about the rose piercings. Those thorns are particularly painful. I hope you can save both the arch and the vine it supports. We lived through a large earthquake in 1989 and I remember all my house plants tossed to the floor, dirt everywhere. It’s unsettling. I like the way you end your posts with the meals and wine you imbibe. It’s such a nice touch. Alys

  13. Thunder storms, heavy rain and wind here, even hail in some parts of the region.
    In the garden we just had containers and watering cans full of rain water, except for the few that blew over before the rain. No breakages. Hope it eases of for your area.
    It’s still in low 30’s. Celsius that is. over cast and very muggy.
    Take care, Derrick,

  14. I wonder why the storm of 1987 caused so much damage yet this one appears not to have reached those levels. In 1987 the highest gust was 134 mph, the highest sustained wind 87 mph.

  15. Oh, my gosh! Those be some strong wild and scary winds! 🙁
    Sorry to see all of the damage! I hope the owls, the cherub, and the new piggy didn’t have any brokenness or scratches. Mr. Dragon looks unscathed.
    Oh, my gosh! Are you okay? So sorry to hear you suffered a rose attack! 🙁 Sounds like a horror movie…Attack of the Killer Rose! 😮
    Your sunset photos are dramatically beautiful! 🙂
    ((HUGS))) 🙂
    PS…I thought you might capture a photo of Dorothy and Toto flying by! 😀

  16. Isn’t the wind so annoying! With most forms of weather there is an upside but I can’t think what it would be for wind. Your poor new piggy.

  17. What a storm. Thanks for waiting for the sunset to share with us – as dramatic as the storm. Salivating over the gooseberry and apple crumble. I haven’t had a gooseberry in over 55 years. We just don’t see them in markets here.

  18. 106 is not a great thing to be out in…
    Still not as bad as…. do you remember the hurricane of (I think 1986? 1987?) I recall seeing dustbins blowing round the inner circle of the circular road I lived in – several feet of the ground, round and round. Quite chilling in more ways than one. Let’s hope we don’t get a repeat of that.
    While the waves look fierce, the top photo has a beautiful light to it.

    1. Thank you very much, Val. I do remember Michael Fish’s famous hurricane. I slept through it and ran 9 miles across London wondering why the trees were down. 🙂

      1. Haha! My dad, and I think my sister, slept through it. I sat in an upstairs room with my mother while it was happening. All the power had gone down (not surprisingly).

  19. The wind has been more than naughty about your garden whose denizens have twisted about and toppled down. The rose seems to have vented its anger unduly on you —hope the jabbing you have received is minimal. Photographs from Milford confirm the blustery agitation of the wind. As if in sympathy, even our skies have drizzled intermittently.

  20. What a ruckus that must have been. So sorry to see your beautiful garden disheveled, owls dislodged, pot shards, and bent arches. That must have taken some work to clean up. You’re probably still working on it. The shots of the big waves in the sunset were a nice end to this post though. Wow. Each one of those shots is stunning. Thanks for freezing your fingers for us.

Leave a Reply