FALLEN TREE

Turned out to be quite a busy day today.  Didn't do much this morning but this afternoon I walked to the Co-op.  I did try getting a bus but even though the bus company app showed it was due it never turned up so I just set off to walk.  It was VERY windy and at times I had trouble staying on my feet.  My empty shopping trolley was lifted off the ground  on more than one occasion. Better coming home with the full trolley.

When I got home it was  almost 3pm and time to listen to the match on the radio.  Newcastle were playing away at Fulham.  Newcastle were poor in the first half.. They had no shots on target and no corners.  Fulham on the other hand had 73% possession, 10 goal attempts and 6 corners.  Fortunately they didn't score any goals.  Newcastle played better in the second half.  They had a goal disallowed on the 77th minute which was disappointing  - but Bruno Guimaraes got the ball in the net on the 81st minute to get the win for Newcastle.

After the match finished I decided to refill the bird feeders in the back garden ... and I got a surprise when I stepped outside of the back door.   I was faced with a fallen lilac tree. No idea when it had fallen down as I hadn't really looked out of the kitchen window any time during the day.  Its an old tree and it was already starting to lean over a bit.  I had in mind getting someone round to take it down ... now I will have to get someone to chop it up and remove it.

As it was blocking my route to the bird feeders ... and the back gate -  I felt I had to do something about it so I decided to try and cut off some of the branches so I could get by.  Luckily I have quite a good hand saw so I set about cutting as many of the branches that I was able to reach - and that I was able to cut through.  Some of them were quite thick and tough and took a while to remove.  The older wood was easier than the newer.  I worked for 2½ hours and achieved quite a lot.  The collage shows the fallen tree, the tree after I had done some work, some of the branches I had cut off piled up ready for removal ( there are more piles around the garden ) ... and my saw and leather gloves.

I've tagged my blip for Silly Saturday as it was rather silly of me not to get the tree sorted earlier.  However it would probably have stayed upright for a while longer if we hadn't had the fierce wind we had today.

Steps today - 12,093