Storm Eunice
Mar. 10th, 2022 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnHmm. I need to work out where I'm going to put photos now. I did try sharing them across from my Google account, since that's where my phone puts photos anyway, but I kept finding things were unexpectedly locked. I really hate the way that Google likes to hide options in the most unlikely places, presumably in case people should actually find and use them. Maybe I should go find my old Flickr account.
Anyway, this post is not about that. It is about the Great Storm that came rolling in from the west on 18th Feb, which the Met Office christened Eunice, which sounds genteel. It was NOT GENTEEL.
Proceeding up the estuary at about 80mph, Eunice blew the window at one end of our sun room in, then it came INTO the sun room and lifted the roof off, jamming it vertically against the wall of the house. Poor Gothmog kitty was in the room at the time, but fortunately she ran to the door, and Pp managed to whiz in and grab her.
For several hours the sunroom roof was wedged upright against the main house roof, while my various sketches and bits and pieces that were in that room got whirled away into the Cleddau, and we wondered if it would break all the windows as it bounced against the wall. Fortunately, it then exploded, raining bits of itself all over the surrounding area and nearly slaying an incautious neighbour who had ventured outside wondering if the worst of the wind was dying down. Luckily, it just missed him.
The insurance company was overwhelmed with people trying to claim, I think, and was very little help. They told us to ring round to try to find someone to fix the broken rooves locally that they could pay, but of course everyone was doing that. Fortunately, our neighbour Yvonne, who seems to have 99999 useful cousins, has a cousin who is an architect, and was in touch with a small roofing contractor who seems to have absolutely zero 21st century presence. He does hand-written quotes, has no email, and barely even answers his phone. BUT that was fine, because it meant he actually had time to arrange to come fix the missing tiles on the main roof, which finally happened today, and to quote to replace the blown-off roof, which is planned to happen over the next two weeks.
Unfortunately, in the meantime rather a lot of water has run through the sun room into the rooms underneath, which we were getting converted into additional shop storage and a place to keep the canoe, and were SO CLOSE to being finished.
The Canoe itself flew over a 4foot fence to visit the nearly-slain neighbour. We haven't been over to get it back yet. It seems like tempting fate to move it back outdoors to the place it took off from.
Gothmog is now in residence in our bedroom. Thankfully, her litter box issue seems to have resolved, so I think maybe that was a medical thing that the antibiotics have helped with. She seems quite happy now.
Fankil the no-longer-missing grey kitty is living in the living-room. A lot of his fur has fallen out and having been super sweet and cuddly and delighted to be home, he's now going through a bitey phase. I think the steroid injection & the lotion the vet gave us is helping him, but I am really not sure how much longer we can keep him in one room, he really wants more space.
Nenya and the dogs continue to be fine, though Nenya is annoyed that she has been excluded from rooms she considered her own, and would also like the sun room back and is a bit shouty about it.
Still, things are moving forward. As interesting times go, the war in Ukraine makes anything in the UK feel very small.
Anyway, this post is not about that. It is about the Great Storm that came rolling in from the west on 18th Feb, which the Met Office christened Eunice, which sounds genteel. It was NOT GENTEEL.
Proceeding up the estuary at about 80mph, Eunice blew the window at one end of our sun room in, then it came INTO the sun room and lifted the roof off, jamming it vertically against the wall of the house. Poor Gothmog kitty was in the room at the time, but fortunately she ran to the door, and Pp managed to whiz in and grab her.
For several hours the sunroom roof was wedged upright against the main house roof, while my various sketches and bits and pieces that were in that room got whirled away into the Cleddau, and we wondered if it would break all the windows as it bounced against the wall. Fortunately, it then exploded, raining bits of itself all over the surrounding area and nearly slaying an incautious neighbour who had ventured outside wondering if the worst of the wind was dying down. Luckily, it just missed him.
The insurance company was overwhelmed with people trying to claim, I think, and was very little help. They told us to ring round to try to find someone to fix the broken rooves locally that they could pay, but of course everyone was doing that. Fortunately, our neighbour Yvonne, who seems to have 99999 useful cousins, has a cousin who is an architect, and was in touch with a small roofing contractor who seems to have absolutely zero 21st century presence. He does hand-written quotes, has no email, and barely even answers his phone. BUT that was fine, because it meant he actually had time to arrange to come fix the missing tiles on the main roof, which finally happened today, and to quote to replace the blown-off roof, which is planned to happen over the next two weeks.
Unfortunately, in the meantime rather a lot of water has run through the sun room into the rooms underneath, which we were getting converted into additional shop storage and a place to keep the canoe, and were SO CLOSE to being finished.
The Canoe itself flew over a 4foot fence to visit the nearly-slain neighbour. We haven't been over to get it back yet. It seems like tempting fate to move it back outdoors to the place it took off from.
Gothmog is now in residence in our bedroom. Thankfully, her litter box issue seems to have resolved, so I think maybe that was a medical thing that the antibiotics have helped with. She seems quite happy now.
Fankil the no-longer-missing grey kitty is living in the living-room. A lot of his fur has fallen out and having been super sweet and cuddly and delighted to be home, he's now going through a bitey phase. I think the steroid injection & the lotion the vet gave us is helping him, but I am really not sure how much longer we can keep him in one room, he really wants more space.
Nenya and the dogs continue to be fine, though Nenya is annoyed that she has been excluded from rooms she considered her own, and would also like the sun room back and is a bit shouty about it.
Still, things are moving forward. As interesting times go, the war in Ukraine makes anything in the UK feel very small.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-10 11:07 pm (UTC)Glad you, Pp, and the animals are all ok, and fingers crossed you get things repaired soon!
no subject
Date: 2022-03-10 11:44 pm (UTC)I think the insurance will cover most of it, but of course all the art and some of my ancient dog-eared books of music have no real replacement value, but were still sad to lose. On the other hand, it was about time I had a clear-out.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-11 12:12 am (UTC)Hope you didn't lose too much that can't be replaced.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-10 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-10 11:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-10 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-10 11:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-10 11:28 pm (UTC)I have been very happy with Flickr, and have not had issues with settings or anything like that.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-10 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-11 08:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-11 05:37 pm (UTC)Glad Gothmog doesn't seem to have suffered long-term trauma as a result & poor Fankil and his fur falling out :( Hope he recovers from that and also passes through his bitey phase soon. Floss is sometimes bitey when she's feeling playful, but it's not too bad with her as she only has about 3 teeth left now. Poor Nenya with her kingdom being reduced in size, I can see why she'd shout about it.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-12 10:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-13 04:49 pm (UTC)