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Batten down the hatches


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Crickey, it is blowing a gale at the moment on the coast west of Bordeaux and it is going to get worse. I have placed the children's beds strategically around the house away from the chimney areas. Structural damage in the area must be a near certainty.

Take a look at the winds on:

http://www.xcweather.co.uk/FR/forecast

Scary stuff...
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Lots of wind and rain in the East too with flooding reported on the A3 (I think) and A6 into Luxembourg.

Heavy rain has caused some instability to a road at a major junction at the Kirchberg (Honeysuckle will know this area [:)] )

and this is causing huge tailbacks in the direction of Germany 

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Quite a night, but thank Bobo the Goat that the wind did not coincide with very high tides or half the Vendée would be floating off the Spanish coast by now. Seems a tiny bit quieter, so I guess we will see a slow improvement.

The measures I took to stop flooding in the downstairs have worked much better than could have been hoped, so good news there. Now to try and get to town and see what is what.

I do hope everyone else is OK, too.

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After seeing your post Wooly ...I have just been speaking to my neighbours in our bit of the Vendee...After Hurricane Xynthia I imagine many were very worried indeed . It seems the power was off up to 11 this morning and they could not sleep .The only matter of great concern about the tempest from my neighbours seems to be they had to wait so long to brew their morning coffee... They have checked over my place and garden and there is no damage.... We all got away with that one it seems .
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When it blows really hard we move into the downstairs bedroom which is very quiet. At least we can sleep without listening to the maelstrom in the roof. Then out with the dog in the am to check the damage (none this time, thank goodness).
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Quote: Idun

*When it is blowing like that, do any of you manage to sleep at all, or do you stay awake all night 'listening'?*

Yep that's me ... I become so anxious when the wind starts to blow like that any sleep is impossible.

Sue

Edit: Not sure what has happened but, overnight and using Firefox, I find I cannot quote correctly. Will try later with IE.
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Went to Bordeaux this morning to drop someone off at the airport ... criminy, it was blowing a gale and the rain was chucking it down. Flight delayed for an hour .. I'm surprised it even took off as it was so blustery.

Back here, 80 mile east, it's windy and drizzly and not as bad although one of my chickens ran across the courtyard and a gust of wind picked her up and deposited her about five feet sideways.
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It's very difficult to sleep during these storms. The house seems to take off in the gusts.

I moved the children's and our beds so that they were in 'safer' areas. We have chimneys that are solid but you never know. We stow everything away that is outside on the verandah or in the garden, we switch the boiler off and have candles and matches to hand.

I was exhausted by daybreak when I needed to get everyone out of the house to school or work etc. I told them to avoid large trees.

The storm died down at about 11am and so I tried to catch up on sleep in a chair by the fire but then one of my daughters woke me up asking if another had gone to work (why doesn't she just look in the bedroom?) and then my husband phoned up to ask if I needed anything - yes I said, some sleep...

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[quote user="idun"]

When it is blowing like that, do any of you manage to sleep at all, or do you stay awake all night 'listening'?

 

Sounds like it could have been much worse.

[/quote]

I don't want to sound smug because I know how worried and scared some of you are.

In our house here, we have a double-glazed verandah that runs the whole length of the south side of the house.  On the north side, there is a big, raised, solid earth bank over the road that shields the house from the north winds.

Our bedroom has double-glazed windows on the north side plus good, solid wooden shutters and on the south side (opening on to the already double-glazed verandah), there are double-glazed doors and yet another set of solid wooden shutters.

It's like living in a house within a house and when it's wild weather outside, I secure all the shutters, inside as well as outside ones, so that we are in a relatively sound-free cocoon.  No sound, no light, hot water bottles and OH in the bed, dog also in the bed for short periods if she gets worried.....

But, heaven help us if there is an explosion or earthquake outside because I doubt we'll notice anything [:-))]  

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It's all gone quiet here for the moment.

My biggest problem last night (apart from the electricity one described on the twin thread elsewhere) was the cats, who refused to go out and thus spent the night on my bed.  At about 3 o'clock this morning, Cooper left his place next to my feet and mosied up for a cuddle.  Once he'd re-established himself on the pillow next to me his purr sent me to sleep and we both dozed off again until Mr C appeared with the tea at 8.30!

Yes, Sweet, the combination of double glazing and a terrace (ours is open but nevertheless protects the house from prevailing winds) helps a lot.

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What a todo! I have just seen the strangest thing. An old lady, small, round was caught in a violent gust of storm. Being bowled along by the storm she used one arm to hold her shopping bag and the other to hold on to a protruding tree branch. But the wind then blew up her skirt and exposed her drawers. So, she took the branch in her mouth and used her hand to hold down her skirt. Then suddenly she seemed to let go and fly off down the street. As the wind lessened I thought I'd better go find her so started at the branch where I found, clamped deep into the wood, a pair of false teeth. These I loosened with a hammer and chisel and following a logical route, was able to find her, none the worse and slurping a large hot drink, in the local café where the wind had blown her. The return of her teeth made her face light up with glee as she mentioned that she would not have been able to enjoy the Fetes without them. Ain't life grand![:D]
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