Thursday 29 June 2017

Flash! Bang!

Was woken up early this morning.
Didn't want to be as had a hectic day yesterday. 
Doing what?
Shopping, that is what we were doing.
Now this is something that we are not fussed with doing,
 but sometimes it has to be done, especially after what happened the day before.
 
So there I was, in bed, afternoon nap time.
Heard the rain on the velux windows overhead.
Heard Lester come in through the double doors, saying he was soaked.
Flash! Bang!
Oh.
A lightning strike to the house.
And did you know that when a thunder cloud is immediately overhead, that its voice does not rumble and roll like it does when far away in the distance, but that it explodes with one huge crash of sound almost sufficient to knock your eardrums out. And that it joins up with the lightning it has just sent down to you to make quite an attack on the senses.
 
Not to worry, at least Lester was indoors this time. Last time a lightning strike arrived here he was standing outside in the Courtyard having a man wee. It was near to midnight. All was black. The lightning connected with the ground just the other side of the Courtyard wall, so quite close.
He said it woke him up very quickly.
 
As for the lightning strike a couple of days ago..... the only damage was to the Internet connection box and the circuit connections.
Oh, so no You Tubing, emailing, FaceBooking, etc, then.
So I went and washed the produce kitchen's floor, caught up with the washing up, and did other things which had become neglected. It was amazing how much I did without the teasing insistence from my computer to 'come and keep me company'.
 
Early evening, still light, storms still about as could be seen by the rolling black clouds jostling each other in the sky overhead. Lester worried about the possible damage to the computers. The sheep shearer man arrived. Did he come to shear the sheep? No. An argument followed, the cause of which I am not going into here, then there was an almighty cracking sound, not a 'fist on jaws' sound, but the sound of  the very ancient pear tree giving up its life.
 

 
So one broken fence to mend, and one broken tree to get off the fence first.
 
The day was not going well.
 
And so indoors we went, the rain coming again, the thunder too.
Time to finish the day and start again on the morrow, which is the best thing to do when the day is not going so well.
 
Yesterday went better, and everything became fixed.
Tree sawn up ( making good firewood), fence line fixed, trip to Tarbes to buy new Internet equipment, lunch at a pavement café, a quick rummage through two brocantes (antique shops), and a gathering of the necessary products from a supermarket so I can start jamming, canning, and pickling the produce which is starting to come in from our vegetable garden. The computers became fixed via the magic of Lester's hands and mind, and online we went again.
 
And so we are now on to today, and the reason why I was woken up early.
It was by the cheepings of the ten little hatchlings who came out of the eggs in the incubator a couple of days ago, and who are sharing the side barn with us overnight. They are outside during the day.
They are the cutest little bundles going. It is hard not to keep connecting with them. But it is not a good idea to let them bond too closely with us because we have learnt from past experience that tiny little  balls of fluff soon grow in to juvenile bundles of naughtiness who will hassle us every time they get near us, which is not good for them and not good for us. 
So the chicks are outside in the Courtyard, and instead of talking to us, they are talking to the birds.
 
Need to start work on processing the potatoes, courgettes, beans, and beetroot, but instead I am going to make some music with Lester.  Accordion for me, guitar for him.
Can't do much outside as ground is too wet.
The shearer man might appear again soon.
 
Bye for now,


Vx

10 comments:

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

That must have been something, hearing the strike / thunder so close! It is amazing how much we can accomplish without the lure of technology, isn't it? Will the chicks be laying birds or meat birds? -Jenn

Rhodesia said...

Lightning right overhead is frightening. I experienced once in Rhodesia and once in the Congo and I do not need to experience it again. Glad that all is well and not serous damage.
Not sure if you have realised that I have a new blog, the link is on the old My Life in the Charente.
Take care and keep well Diane

Vera said...

JENN, I think that technology in moderation is a good thing, but it is so easy to become addicted to it! The chicks which are female will be laying birds, and the male chicks will be meat birds.

DIANE, .....just popping across to your new blog!

Dawn said...

we had a cracking storm during the night the other week it knocked out the electric for most of the day, I do like a good storm.

rusty duck said...

Is it the same in France as Devon? The people you employ do things at exactly their own pace and if you try to rush them they simply refuse to turn up at all?

Cro Magnon said...

This weather is awful. It's just started pouring again here. We were struck once, many years ago. I lost my music system, lots of spot bulbs, and a fax machine.

Vera said...

DAWN, I used to like storms as well and would often stand outside to enjoy the magnificence of the storm fury, but not after the couple of lightning strikes we have had since we came here!

RUSTY DUCK, yes! And it is so annoying when you have stayed at home to wait for them!

CRO MAGNON, thank goodness we did not suffer the damage to equipment that you did. I would not have been at all happy to lose my music system, if I had one that is!

Vera said...

DAWN, I used to like storms as well and would often stand outside to enjoy the magnificence of the storm fury, but not after the couple of lightning strikes we have had since we came here!

RUSTY DUCK, yes! And it is so annoying when you have stayed at home to wait for them!

CRO MAGNON, thank goodness we did not suffer the damage to equipment that you did. I would not have been at all happy to lose my music system, if I had one that is!

Coco said...

We´ve wondered about putting a lightening rod on the barn or the house, but no one else seems to have one. And we get more steady showers than violent thunderstorms, but that is changing over time.

It has taken us a while to realize that around here it doesn´t matter when they say they´ll show up or call, they do it when they´re good and ready.

Vera said...

COCO, we do have a lightning conductor of sorts, and in the ten years we have been in France we have been hit twice to the house, once near to the house, and once on the river running beside us which was a ball lightning strike. Oh well, not to worry, it is as it is!