Thursday night was a tad windy here. I went into the kitchen and was somewhat surprised to see a blizzard of red sparks and glowing embers dropping from the sky and blowing around the garden. I looked up at the chimney through the ceiling window and saw an effervescence of red sparks and glowing embers streaming out of the chimney like a large Roman candle. We decided that we didn’t have a chimney fire – no flames and no roaring in the chimney. The wind was probably so strong that it was causing the soot in the chimney to smoulder, and then drawing the burning particles out of the top. I went outside (in lashing rain) and was perturbed to see that most of the burning material was landing on the flat roof at the back. It’s as well that it was raining heavily. We shut down the log burner, which caused the volcano-like display from the chimney to subside. You can tell we were a little concerned at the time – we took no photographs.
Huncote Bridge was flooded during the week, and when I returned from work after 2.30am this morning further torrential rain was causing lots of standing water on the roads. I avoided Huncote, taking the longer route through Croft instead. I decided to drive down to the bridge from “our side” before going home – there were no floods, not even a big puddle.
By 10.30am, when I walked down with the dogs, the river was in full flood – the deepest that I have seen it. Occasional 4-wheel drive vehicles were going through, but no other cars
After the dog walk, and after Chantal returned from shopping with her mum, we walked down again. By now the water level had subsided slightly, and some vehicles were confidently ploughing through
While others crept through very carefully.
More rain forecast for tonight. It may be a longer route to work tomorrow.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
