Stormy

It was so stormy overnight that this morning I had to retrieve a large garden rubbish bucket, which yesterday was tucked into what's normally a sheltered space between the patio wall and the back wall of the house, from half way along the front path. Which means that it didn't merely blow off the patio and across the yard, but got itself lifted over a five-bar gate as well. Meanwhile, four of our recent plant purchases - as yet unplanted, because R has hurt his back and I'm incurably lazy - had been overturned and were rolling around the patio. My first thought was that placing them inside the rubbish bucket would keep them and it anchored to the ground, but despite their combined weight I still wasn't fully confident they'd be safe against the 40mph gusts, so in the end I consigned them all to the garage. Which, being old and made of pine, isn't a structure in which I'd personally choose to shelter while the weather's doing extreme huffing and puffing, but if the garage takes to the air the fate of a few plants will be the least of our worries.

Despite the howling gale it was surprisingly warm, so I toured the garden in search of invertebrates, but rapidly realised that the only thing flying was a large quantity of petals, which were being torn from our cherry plum trees. I thought I'd better photograph some of the blossom while it was still in situ, and though it took me a while to find a spray that was neither wind- nor frost-damaged, I'm quite pleased with this image.

After lunch R went to Stratford to give blood, and I tagged along for the ride. Walking through the rec' on the south side of the river, I came upon the scene in my second photo: a mature willow tree destroyed by the storm, and a second one broken by the first. I'm always sad to see a tree in this state, but today my overwhelming feeling was gratitude that I hadn't been underneath that huge branch when it came crashing down to earth. This section of the river walk is lined with trees, and it's fair to say that I was a little nervous until I reached Lucy's Mill Bridge and crossed back over to the town, where I felt safer because of the density of buildings.