Eyes and ears

HH joined me to walk the dogs today, and the gardener decided to join us too. Just as well. Way up the rather deserted road, we heard ghostly groaning from the bushes at the top of the bank. Getting no answer when we called out, we made our way round to the main gate (it’s a huge property) and rang the bell, feeling slightly foolish. When someone eventually appeared, he confirmed that there was someone down the garden and rushed off to look for him.

On up the road and found this little lad peering through the gate. Then he came out, we formally introduced ourselves and he graciously allowed me to take a couple more shots (but I prefer this one). On the way back down, we heard that the man had been practically unconscious and foaming at the mouth (epilepsy? stroke?) and his colleague had called the ambulance. Later, not having seen an ambulance go by, we went back up with the car, but found that the fire brigade had sent a car and the man was already on his way to hospital.

Meantime, I did something I’ve been wanting to do for ages – climbed down the rough wooden ladder the workmen left when they shored up the road and slithered down the bank to the river and the track the machines had made up the other side (the dogs were already down there – first time they’ve done that, they must have anticipated my wishes). Easy to cross on the stones, so I waved to a bemused HH and gardener at the top of the bank and carried on down the ravine formed by the floods and the side of the ruins that I hadn’t seen before. Hard to take in the extent of the destruction, although rampant growth has softened the lines. The whole area is littered with boulders, though most have been broken up and some have been cut into flagstones. Several smashed houses still hang off the hillside. Further in, some are still occupied, their owners waiting for compensation from the state to move elsewhere.