My Plans in Tatters

The wind woke me around 4 am. I could tell by the sound that it was as bad, or even worse than the big storm we had last month. I got up to close my window to prevent hedge debris coming into my bedroom. The power was off. I made tea on the little camp stove and waited for dawn. When it was light enough I looked out the kitchen window and saw the trees thrashing about. The tall firs were swaying.

I went to the back of the house to see how things were out there. It looked all different. The greenhouse had gone! There was no sign of it. I rushed out and looked at the place it had been. Practically everything was as I'd left it, but the greenhouse had gone from around them. I went to the corner and looked over the bank. No sign of it. I dashed along to top of the bank peering through bushes. I climbed the fence and went along the road and found it in several pieces in a paddock. It had flown over two fences, and some trees!

Returning home was a bit hairy. I had to struggle against the gale, branches were flying off trees and small fragments stung my face.

When the wind eventually dropped the thunderstorm began. It went on for about four hours. Some of the thunderclaps shook the house. Then there was heavy rain. I went to the paddock in the pouring rain, but there was nothing I could do. I felt so helpless.

The rain had stopped when my son finished work. We worked on the job together, negotiating the deep, sticky mud to collect all the scattered pieces and bring them home. Most of the aluminium frame is all right, but the polythene canopy is a write-off.

My two grapevines are now exposed to the weather. The green one has 10cm shoots, but the black one's buds are just beginning to open. This one was wired to the frame of the greenhouse and a significant part of it was ripped off. I'm hoping the remainder will recover. Protecting them from the cold will be a big problem.

I was amazed to find the two freshly washed frost cloths that I had rigged up behind the black grapevine. They are no longer clean. And also my little knife that I cut the vegetables with. That had been poked into the wood base by the door.

The power came on mid-afternoon, which was a relief.

This is such a minor affair compared with the storms in India, but I loved my little greenhouse.