The summer storms, running a bit late this year, are energetically continuing in central France. Last night they finished off my gazebo, the People Republic of China’s best. Not. It had sustained damage in a light breeze the first time we put it up. We erected it again a few days ago for a dinner party with friends, and foolishly left it up to enjoy for a few more days. This morning I retrieved it from very close to Denis’s field. It had travelled an impressive distance. It won’t be going up again sadly. Too much damage has been done to it now. We’ll have to recycle the various parts for other purposes. I think it must have been made by the same crowd that made our first and short-lived polytunnel.

 

Sadly I don’t have any photos of the gazebo in its glory i.e. actually standing up. Next year we’ll invest in a decidedly sturdier model.

We lost power again for a good part of the night. I was boiling water on the gas stove by candlelight to make coffee about 5 am while Chris braved the elements to check that the animals were OK. Power cuts aren’t a big deal really. Back in Ireland, where they were common, they were a nightmare since we had our own well, so when we lost electricity, we had no water either. We also had an electric oven so we were tea and coffeeless too, and that’s hard to cope with. Here in France we have mains water and a gas supply so the only hardship is being without the Internet while we’re powerless.

If you’re interested in tracking thunderstorms across France, then you can find a map of them here. It’s updated every quarter of an hour.

Shortly before the storms hit, Gigi the cat was up on the roof. She’s taken a liking to wandering around on the roof. But luckily she comes down when the thunder starts.