Sunday 8 December 2013

A Bit Blowy.

Wasn't it windy! With only ever being at home during darkness I hadn't realised how much we'd been affected, till the weekend...

The sometimes-flowering copper leaved tree which stood in the middle of our grass was blown over. It was obviously diseased and must have been ready to go at any time, so at least it fell without hurting anyone.

The view I like from the top of the garden will never be the same again! Oddly, the tree being down makes the garden look smaller. The holly tree which is to my right as I took the above photo is no longer obscured as I look out to the garden from the house, this makes it look closer and the garden therefore smaller. Still, it'll make games of tennis/football etc easier without a tree in the middle to negotiate.
 
One of my lanterns had blown down, I stuck it back up. One of our heavy wooden gates was blown off and the post supporting it is wrecked so that will need fixed. As will all the slates which blew off the roof at the front of the house. It's from the same area that lost slates in the last storm, I'll try a different roofer to fix it this time. I'm still trying to get in touch with the home insurance, I gave up after being on hold for 40 minutes at my last attempt. 
 
The big blanket is in use! The cat seems to approve. Generally she's not allowed on the bed. I let her stay for a photo or ten.

I have survived my first teaching placement. Here are the window stars the children made during my crit lesson, they did a great job. I'm pretty tired now. My class teacher was off for the whole of my last week, and covering another class for some of the previous week, so I was left to get on with it (I agreed to cover - my decision, though supply teachers do seem in short, ahem, supply!). Good experience I guess, but it would have been nice to have seen my teacher before I left. Still, I've been invited to the P7 Christmas dance so I'll catch up with her then. The dreaded folder is as up to date as I'm intending to make it (any teacher will remember the "joy" of completing their placements folders I'm sure!) and it will be handed in on Tues. At least we get a good long Christmas break, though they've kindly given us an essay to write for the first day back, and a book-chain task too, just so we don't get bored perhaps...

 

16 comments:

* said...

Its been pretty windy hasnt it? We had really strong winds in the middle of the week when I went to the beach behind our house.....i rounded the corner to go down the cliff path and I was nearly blown away...really no exaggeration.... If it wasn't so scary it would have been hilarious. I had to sit down and wait for my dogs to come back, they had a terrible time negotiating the path....by the time I got hack home, I was sore from struggling to breathe and shouting to our collie dog to get him back. Glad your teaching has gone well....it must be a relief to know you've done all you can....now hopefully a bit of rest over Christmas.

Linda said...

Oh poor you - loss of a tree is always sad. Hopefully you'll get your slates fixed soon with no leakage.

Teachers DO need longer holidays!

blueskyscotland said...

You must be getting into the swing of it now, as you sound more like a veteran teacher. A couple of my friends are lecturers in Glasgow and we've learned from experience not to ask them about work :)
Hope you get your roof fixed. I've noticed in the last couple of years how hard it is to speak to a human voice on the phone yet how easy it is to receive pestering phone calls at all hours of the day and night. Remember a time when phone calls used to be from people you actually wanted to speak to?

Julie said...

definitely no chance for boredom then. Well done getting through placement one though.
I'm sure the garden will soon seem like it never had that tree. Hope you get on better with a new roofer. we lost a few slates too.....but are having major work done in the next few weeks (I hope!) so i'm not doing anything in the meantime.
Enjoy your holiday. Juliex

Mereknits said...

Oh I feel so bad for that tree, I just hate it when they get blown over. Sounds like all of you had a heaps of bad weather, hope it has all calmed down. Good for you completing this semester.
Hugs,
Meredith

Mairéad said...

It's always sad to lose a tree. We lost two pear trees to high winds in recent years although thankfully the storm missed us this time.

primrosesattic said...

Shame about the tree. But maybe you can plant something else. When we had winds in Cornwall recently my greenhouse lost some of its glass and I had branches of trees came down.
I was very lucky that was all.
Rosezeeta.

driftwood said...

glad no one was hurt x our last house had slate tiles, I always feared for them when it was stormy...
lovely kittie/crochet photo!

Beth of The Linen Cat said...

Wow, sounds like you've had a lot of damage - I hope the insurance pay-up nicely! We had a huge, old 'conker' tree next to the farm house at home, it blew down in a storm on Christmas eve in the late 80's, luckily it went the opposit way to the house and it took out a barn instead. I always look at the house now and think it's missing something...I hope you get used to the tree being missing and enjoy the nice space for the kids to play in.

Good news on surviving your placement, I'm glad it went well and hope you get to relax over the coming weeks. Bethx

Lyn said...

We were very lucky here and the wind dint do much damage, it always makes me sad to see trees come down,.
Try to have a nice relax over Christmas...those stars look fB by the way! Xxx

Adele said...

You sound as though you are doing well with your studying/training. It is a tough job, but so rewarding. Keep ahead and hold the end goal in front of you when it gets tough. You CAN do it. Enjoy the Christmas break with your family.

Heldasland said...

I'm glad no one was hurt, poor tree. I have just found your blog and I have looked through your stunning photograghy .You have a fabulous eye, you seem to capture things perfectly.

Anonymous said...

How sad to lose a tree.

I hope you can find a relible roofer - I found one from a web-site called 'Rated People', I also found my plumber there too.

Mrs. Micawber said...

How sad to lose that tree - a tree can be like part of the family. So glad that no one was hurt. You've had some nasty weather over there. (Ours has been limited to deep cold - unusual for early December.)

I'm glad the teaching is going well - I don't know how you do it. I can handle up to 3 kids but not more! Hope you get a good restful Christmas break.

Neighborhood Watch said...

Oh my! I hate heavy wind like that. I'm always so paranoid of trees falling. Glad nothing and no one was hurt.

Claire said...

We've been hearing about your wild and woolly weather on the news in Oz......
So glad the tree didn't land on your home, but it is a shame to lose such a big tree.
Hope the roof tiles stay on in the next big wind, it must be very frustrating having to get the same place repaired again.
Well done on your first teaching placement, you must feel a great sense of achievement. All that study and essay writing is bearing fruit.......

Claire Xx

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