The weather here in the South of England has been pretty poor over the last couple of weeks. Even the TV weather presenters, who are apt to describe our weather in euphemistic terms, described Christmas Day as "the lull between the storms". December 25th was in fact a very nice day in our part of the world, and we, in common with many other families, were able to get out and take a walk in the sunshine after our Christmas Dinner. The previous 48 hours it had rained so much that there was widespread flooding in our area and lots of trees fell over. The wind didn't seem spectacularly strong, but I think many trees succumbed simply because the ground is so soft and waterlogged. And now they are talking about more strong wind and rain coming our way!
Getting back home today after spending Christmas Day with my daughter Emma and her family I was of course anxious to check the state of my property and garden. Fortunately there is no sign of any damage, but the garden is in a bit of a sorry state. For a start it is absolutely littered with twigs and pine-needles blown in from the trees at the other side of the road:
There are twigs everywhere!
This is not staged; this is for real.
The wind has gathered-up piles of fallen leaves, but they are horribly soggy:
Most of the purple berries have come off the Callicarpa bush. Looking on the bright side, at least this will make it easier for the birds to eat them. The Blackbirds seem to be the ones that like them most.
Next time we get a dry day (not looking imminent, I must say), I'll have a lot of tidying-up to do!
We didn't do too badly here - rain but not excessive, windy but nor excessive.
ReplyDeleteThat kale looks quite festive Mark.
ReplyDeleteIt was very windy here but we survived with little damage. Hope you both keep well and wishing you a merry Christmas xx
ReplyDeleteHappened the same to us after back from my husband 'kampung' last weekend.
ReplyDeletemost of the tall blooming flower were kissing the ground.
Happy Holidays!
Glad you suffered no damage, we have gales here today, like you I am hoping for a dry day shortly to do some serious tidying up.
ReplyDeleteIt's very windy here today, definitely a day for hunkering down and getting out my knitting.
ReplyDeleteIt seems bad weather is hitting everyone. We seem to be in the calm spot this time. Just north of us got a terrible ice storm, but we stayed just warm enough so the rain didn't freeze.
ReplyDeleteGlad you survived unscathed save a few twigs. Been in the deep freeze here, looking for a break.
ReplyDelete