Used Fireworks

All was quiet and still early this morning. Storm Eunice had passed on and the sun shone.

We began by shopping at Tesco. After half an hour the skies darkened, the wind speed rose seemingly faster than the predicted 46 m.p. h., and heavy rain steadily descended throughout our subsequent forest drive.

A team must have been on standby to carry out the amount of early clearing up that was in evidence.

A fallen tree on Silver Street had brought down a telephone line which stretched along the verge and across the road. Everyone drove over the cable on the tarmac. Open Reach engineers were in evidence throughout the day.

Broken branch debris, like this on Agars Lane and along Brockenhurst Road remained scattered.

Some fallen limbs, such as these either side of Silver Street and Brockenhurst Road had clearly traversed the thoroughfares.

On the corner of Silver Street beside the bank of snowdrops at Congleton,

lay a burgeoning branch ripped from a tree that was nowhere in sight.

Trees had fallen in South Sway Lane;

and in Mead End Road.

This fallen and sawn tree along Brockenhurst Road had already been well chewed by an ungulate, but I don’t think that is what brought it down.

These smaller branches were nearby.

As we kept our eyes open for fresh fallen trees we remembered our childhood searches for used fireworks along London streets the morning after bonfire night. Chris and I simply salivated over them as we sorted and graded the empty shells; Jackie and her sisters had scraped out powder residue and attempted to light it on the open fire.

The rain kept up into the afternoon. When I woke up after dozing with my hand on the mouse the sun shone once more and the wind had lessened, enabling me to photograph

scenes of the garden from above, showing that we had come off quite lightly really.

Today’s sunset was much more cheerful than that of yesterday, although when walking down to the back drive to find these shots I did discover

a displaced section of fallen fencing fortunately not our responsibility.

Elizabeth is experiencing a lengthy power cut so she came to our house to warm up and have dinner which consisted of more of yesterday’s with more chicken and more rice and tender green beans with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and Elizabeth and I drank Azinhaga de Ouro Reserva 2019.

Later my sister discovered that the problem would not be fixed until tomorrow. Fortunately she had brought her pyjamas just in case.

85 comments

  2. A friend of mine, who lives with his family in Hamburg, Germany shared pictures of their local forest with me. The storm, left terrible devastation everywhere. Strong winds broke old trees like matches. I am glad everything in your house and garden is still intact.

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  3. I’m glad there’s not more damage. Another blogger shared a BBC video of a church spire that broke off from the wind. It is fortunate Elizabeth can stay with you. That sunset does look cheerful. 😊

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  5. As I read about destruction in the forest parts, I thought how had your garden feared…strolling down through your words, “spared”. So glad you could take care of Elizabeth.
    Yes storms cause much anguish.

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  6. I think you need a working bee to fix your garden. If I were closer I would be there in a jiffy. I do hope the storms have past. Pleased though to see you all are safe.

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  7. So glad Eunice went on her way. Sorry to see the damage left behind her. Glad most of it was little and light. SO glad you all are safe!
    I see an owl is “down”. Hope it will be standing up again soon. (If not already. 🙂 )
    Yes, the sunset and sky are more cheerful and bright tonight! 🙂
    ‘Tis wonderful that Elizabeth can be safe and warm with you 2. 🙂
    (((HUGS))) to each of you!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  10. What a destructive storm! I am glad your sister had a warm place to visit for dinner and overnight stay. You were lucky not to have lost power. Except for the section of fence, the damage looks fairly light at your house. I hope you did not lose any roofing tiles?

    The sunset does look a bit more friendly tonight. 🙂

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  11. I’m happy Elizabeth will stay with you and Jackie. Some of those trees were huge! Is your roof okay? The garden seemed to have weathered the storm without too much damage. Thanks for sharing your photos, Derrick.

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  14. Quite the storm, Derrick. If I may say so, my imagination must have run wild because, in my mind’s eye, the one picture (the same one which displays on the story intro on my phone) looked like detached feet from just above the ankle. Now, I don’t think they really were feet…we’re they? After all, it did appear to be a strong storm….🙀😉😂

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  18. The northern hemisphere appears to be tormented by vicious storms at the moment … one after the other. It must be very unpleasant to sit through them wondering about the aftermath. You have provided us with a good idea of the damage wrought.

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  20. Eunice has given the flora a sweeping haircut of limbs, an operation that your garden has somehow wriggled out of. The photos look exceptionally good. I hope power was restored early at Elizabeth’s house.

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  22. After seeing the news on TV tonight of the widespread damaged caused by storm ‘Eunice’ throughout England, you certainly faired reasonably unscathed compared to some other areas Derrick …

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  23. I hope your sister’s power is now back on. Lucky you don’t live too far apart.

    And I am pleased the storm did not cause too much havoc in your garden. Fingers crossed for new storm today.

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  25. So glad the storm is over and wonderful that you didn’t lose your power. Especially as Elizabeth lost hers. Great that she can stay with you until her power is restored. Are most of your power lines above ground, or are they mostly under ground?

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  27. That is some storm you had, Derrick, and so sad to lose beautiful trees. We had a storm rumble through last week, however, it hit just a little east of our area. We were lucky this time.

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  31. That’s a lot of damage. So glad the cozy enclave of your yard has been spared the worst of it. Isn’t it nice that Elizabeth is close enough for an impromptu sleepover?

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