25th January 2009

It's rare to experience heavy winds in this region. In fact, living in inland France the normally calm weather is one of the things we love here. How could we forget that the UK, being a tiny island, is forever battered by winds from the Atlantic meeting those from the North Sea, then churning with those from the North as they meet the Channel currents. How smug we felt with recollections of all those ruined umbrellas, blown inside-out in the ever-present English gales. Well, as you've probably gathered by now, pride often goes before a fall. On Friday an unusual storm hit us totally unprepared. Gale-force winds tore down our fences and very heavy rain swelled the nearby River Aveyron so that all the nearby houses were flooded up to cellar level. The cover on our pool tore free from the ropes that Him indoors had assured me were guaranteed to keep it tethered. I certainly wasn't going to hang on to all four corners as it flew up into the air. Paragliding is not my favourite pursuit. Life's hazardous enough. But that's not all. Suddenly our electricity went out. Of course, being in the country, this is quite a frequent occurrence for intermittent minutes. But not for 2 whole days! T.G. I'd implemented my plan B when we moved here: never rely on just one power source, just in case. We've got a gas hob, electric oven, microwave and open-fire. Therefore, if anything happens to one....... And if all else fails, I thought back then, we could always throw some jacket potatoes on the fire. Well, we waited and waited for the usual intermittent electric interruption to return...and waited...and waited. The worst is that living here, it's very difficult to find out what's happening. We could hardly turn on the TV/radio/PC etc. Eventually we found out that a giant pylon in the Aveyron region had been blown down. But TG, as you can see, it's now just returned. Just as well. We'd run out of candles, matches, hot water, residual heat and food. So, I live to blog another day. Hope to see you all next Sunday, electricity willing!