Restless in France: Storms

Last night I was thinking how absolutely terrifying for people experiencing, for example, the Japanese tsunami (I was visualising January 2012) - to be in that wind with the sea and sounds and one's home floating to wherever and destiny disastrous ... knowing the frailty, and preciousness of life, in that very moment, moving towards certain death, dying or surviving, makes all other matters in life irrelevant and inconsequential....

Last night the wind whipped up at the start of the storm. The sheet lightning was not as ferocious as the night before but even so the éclairage was as bright as light from the sun and difficult to look at. I had to pull the shutters tight amidst the rain falling fast and furious. I returned to bed and a clap of thunder immediately above my house made me swear aloud whilst my horizontal body jumped in the air in some form of death throe, but hey, mercifully, I am still alive.

The night before, the storm was also immediately overhead. Wide awake in fear, telling myself I was safe and secure, I wandered around my house, peeking through shutters, peering at the garden, amazed and overawed by the brightness of the electrical charge, the loudness of the thunder, the sound of the rain, which combined to make a storm of a kind that I have never before witnessed. I had previously disconnected the laptop from a power source. I don't trust parafoudre sockets. Then the electricity was tripped, the lights went out and a huge clap of thunder caused me to scream..... and this from a person who likes thunderstorms!

This morning all seemed ok in the courtyard though chairs and tables were blown over. But in the garden three fence panels were toppled ... this was on account of several factors:
a) a branch from the neighbour's old apple tree fell but as it was still attached to the trunk it dragged on the fence panel, pushing it over into my garden.
b) two panels either side came down because the wobbly fence posts were never cemented properly into the ground.
c) In May a friend dug a hole to investigate why the posts were wobbly. The man did not return on two mornings as arranged to correct the poor workmanship.
d) My face and self-esteem were still injured and the ground became dry so we decided to leave the hole and the posts until the Autumn!

So the storm won. I spent 9 hours collecting and returning my former partner and his tools to do the work, buying and returning extra fence posts which in the end we did not need, helped to dig two large holes, fill with concrete and put the fence panels back level vertically and horizontally. The installer had not used enough screws, used nails because he ran out of screws. Three other posts are still wobbly but we ran out of time and energy. It was unbelievably humid and hot. The treats were coffee and almond croissant, Salade Niçoise for lunch, afternoon tea and almond croissant (the best in this region are from Yzeures sur Creuse), a happy me and a happy (I think) neighbour. It all looks reasonably good again! And now the lawns need mowing!