Xynthia did not disappoint.
I must have fallen asleep at around 10pm, thinking that maybe we had been spared the worst, but at 3am the howling outside signalled that I was wrong. I have never experienced such high winds and was, first time in ages, really quite scared of what might happen. In an old house, with a dodgy roof, I shuddered to think of what the storm could achieve.
For the next 3 hours I laid listening to the howling wind and random bangs, crashes, scrapes and snaps that it was causing.
When the sun began to rise I dared to risk a look outside. There I found the result of the mornings madness.
– Half a dozen tiles scattered and smashed on the floor
– The postbox lifted from its position on the wall and dumped in the flowerbed
– The tarpaulin over the swimming pool half-submerged in the water and half flapping around in the gale that was still continuing to rage.
– The trampoline once again up-ended, having tumbled halfway across the field, wiping out one of our pear trees. Both tree and trampoline are beyond repair
– The huge old tree in our neighbour's garden fallen across the lane, totally blocking the way out

A fair list of damage, but then again, given the events in Chile just 24 hours earlier, we should really count ourselves lucky. No-one was hurt and all most of the damage can be easily fixed.

It certainly made my journey to fetch Lisa and the kids form the airport an interesting one. For some reason I chose to take the forest route towards the motorway and thus spent half an hour weaving around the dozens of fallen trees on the way. Not one of my better decisions.

Luckily all was well, the flight arrived ahead of schedule and we all got home again safe and sound.

That was one of the longest nights I have experienced and not one I would like to endure again for a long time.