Drying out after the thunderstorm last night

Tremendous storm for two hours with heavy thunder and some almost continuous lightning - vinyard owners incredibly anxious as this is the week when the vines are in flower in many places and the hail just devastates the leaves too. I was told that in this area people don't insure their crop as it is a rare occurrence but in Bordeaux they all are insured as it often happens. I went south with a friend of A & E who has a job inspecting properties such as the vinyard chateau with gites today which is to go in a tour guide. What was so wonderful was that the owner was English and had bought the place 5 years ago and had stopped all crop spraying. He said there was a dearth of insects and butterflies and now the place is heaving with them and they import bees when the rosemary is out and get honey in return. The vines look well and happy and they can now say their wine is organic too. Had a fascinating tour of the operation and learned a lot about production - bought a few bottles (of course) and then we went off to have lunch in a village on the coast. Would you believe I left my camera card in my laptop and as I haven't brought my lead can't unload pics of the trip! How dumb was that?

When I came home I had to clean the pool as the storm last night had filled it with debris - this is what I found in the skimmer only the bright red insect was saved

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