Winter 3

Season’s Greetings!

Thursday, 24th December, 2015.

Last week I was thinking about the way that gradual change tends to pass almost unnoticed . . . even important things like our children growing up and the days lengthening or shortening.

In November we drove to the Cottage Hospital for Tim’s monthly blood test and the sun had already risen over Maughold Head while I was waiting in the car park.  In December we drove there in the dark.  There was heavy cloud so I wouldn’t have seen the sun rise even if we had been there at the right time.  The only sign of the approaching day was when the car park lights switched off . . . and the sky gradually turned a slightly lighter shade of grey.  While I was waiting, I saw two small birds swoop past and a little later there were some larger birds circling overhead.  It wasn’t light enough to see any more than their dark shapes but they were probably herring gulls riding the air currents over the Mooragh Brooghs.

I am not religious but it seems to me that the time of year in the northern hemisphere when the days start to lengthen again is significant (even if we don’t notice it) and really deserves to be celebrated.  The correct time this year would have been at 04-48 on Tuesday December 22 but there is no point in quibbling about a few days when it is easier to go with the flow and sacrifice the traditional turkey on the 25th.

So Happy Winter Solstice/Happy Christmas/Happy festival of your choice to all our family, friends and any unknown friends out in the blogosphere!

Winter 2

It is really starting to feel like winter.

Saturday 12th December, 2015

This morning I am happy that it is raining again - the more rain and the harder the rain the better as far as I am concerned.  It is not that we need any more rain.  It is more a question of schadenfreude.  A few minutes ago I saw a convoy of pheasant killers driving up the glen and anything which spoils their “fun” is fine with me.  

We have had another two and a half inches of rain since the end of last week but it has fallen in bits and pieces with almost dry days in between so there hasn’t been any major flooding although reports are coming in this morning of minor floods in the south of the Island - and snow on the mountain road.

I even managed to get some work done in the garden during the week and we took a load of garden refuse out to the tip on Friday morning.  I have also been collecting more wet leaves and piling them into the big leaf mould container that Tim erected at the bottom of the garden.  The trees have dropped all their leaves now although there are still a few left on the clematis and some of the shrubs.  

My main task involved the climbing rose by the summerhouse.  I have been thinking about tackling this rose since September when I took this photo hoping that it would help me to work out a plan.  

I decided that I needed to tie ropes  to a branch on the hawthorn, which is growing on the bank above the summerhouse, and then attach them to the trellis at the side of the summerhouse.  After that I could tie the rose to the ropes and hope that it would eventually grow tall enough to tangle itself up in the tree.  The main snag was that the only suitable hawthorn branch was rather high and I don’t like heights - so I kept avoiding the problem until the situation became critical after the gales last week when at least half the rose was blown free from the trellis. 

I didn’t want to tie the ropes around the hawthorn branch in case they chafed the bark.  During our shopping trip to Ramsey on Tuesday morning  we went in search of some tough cord/rope and a couple of sturdy plant straps to fix around the branches.  On our way up Parliament Street we inadvertently disturbed a young herring gull that was sleeping on the grass near East Street. He didn’t seem to be at all perturbed and after standing on one leg so that he could have a good stretch . . .

. . .  he posed for a photo.

Feltons didn’t have what we needed so we walked up to Market Square to see how the "regeneration" was progressing.  We had avoided this end of town for weeks because of the road works and were pleased to see that the work had been completed and that the square was available for parking again.

It wasn’t until we got home and I looked at my photos that I noticed the  words “electric vehicles” painted alongside two parking bays.  

Google obliged as usual, and I discovered that Ramsey was keeping up with the trend (or galloping ahead of it) and had installed a recharging station. I had even taken a photo which included the recharging station (the little black structure near the blue car in the foreground).

After inspecting Market Square, we walked down the quay towards the Farmers Combine.  The tide was high and some of the fishing boats were preparing to leave the harbour.

We stopped to look at the water birds.  We saw at least six adult swans but still no juveniles. There were also plenty of Canada geese and some mallard . . .

. . . and a huge gathering of black headed gulls which were relaxing on the water. These are just a few.

The Farmers Combine stocked strong nylon cord and plant straps so we managed to get everything that I needed to restrain the rose.  The only thing which delayed the work was the strong wind.  It was going to be a tricky enough job without contending with long thorny branches whipping around in the wind.

Wednesday morning looked promising.  There were still clouds around and they proved that not all clouds have silver linings . . . some have pink linings! 

But the wind was still strong so I did some clearing work at ground level and put off climbing ladders for another day.  

On Thursday the wind eased and I ran out of excuses.  I couldn’t find a suitable level place to stand the ladder so I wedged it above the hawthorn on the bank and tied it securely to the tree.  I wasn’t certain that the plant straps which I had bought would stand up to the weight of a wind-buffeted rose so I decided to recycle a couple of old nylon dog collars instead.  I climbed to the top of the ladder, clipped the collars around the branch, threaded the cord through them and then climbed down and got on with the painful task of attaching the cord to the trellis behind the rose and attaching the rose to the cord.  By the time I had finished my hands looked as though I had been wrestling with a wild cat.

This is the semi-tamed rose.  I hope it doesn’t try to break free again during the next gale.

And this is one of the recycled dog collars.

It has stopped raining now so I may go out and collect more leaves . . . or maybe not.  It is rather cold outside.  It is five degrees C in Ramsey - but factor in wind chill and it feels like zero.

Winter 1

A wet and wild start to winter

Monday 7th December 2015

The weather - and its aftermath - were the only topics of conversation last week.

It started with Clodagh, our third named storm, which passed over the Island on Sunday.  We were able to do the shopping in the morning before the rain set in and the wind strengthened.  This was fortunate because it was our last chance to shop before waiting around at home for a heating oil delivery early in the week.  We weren’t even aware that the fairly normal winter weather in the afternoon had a name until I read about it in The Guardian on Monday morning.  We congratulated ourselves on surviving unscathed in the glen after the onslaught of yet another storm - until we received a hand-delivered letter from the Department of Infrastructure in the afternoon which informed us that the road up the glen would be completely closed to all traffic and pedestrians from 09-00  on Tuesday until an “unstable tree has been removed and the area has been made safe”.

Tim phoned Manx Petroleum to let them know about the road closure and they rescheduled our delivery from Tuesday to Wednesday.  Then we walked down the road to inspect the offending tree.  It was a huge beech and did look rather hazardous.  The roots had been torn out of the ground and the only thing stopping the tree falling onto the road was the neighbouring tree.

We walked down again the next morning to find out whether the oil tanker would be able to get up the road on Wednesday.  One of the men working on the tree told us that the road would still be closed officially but that they would be allowing traffic to get through.  Work had already started on cutting back the top branches of the tree - a skilled and dangerous job requiring a good head for heights.

When we got home I decided to make a start on clearing old leaves out of our stream/ditch.  Bearing in mind last week’s resolution, I made the decision and stuck to it and this turned out to be more fortunate than I could have anticipated.

We walked back down the glen road in the afternoon to check on progress and on the way we met a couple going for a walk with their pet.  At first glance I assumed that they had a large dog - but that only goes to show that we don’t really look at things and tend to see what we expect to see.  This is the “dog” which was going for a walk.

The tree men had done an incredible job and the area had already been made safe.  Most of the tree had been removed and the road was completely clear and open to traffic.  

The huge trunk, which had been leaning towards the road, plus a few branches, had been left at the edge of the field.  They must have used a tractor and ropes or chains to get the trunk to fall into the field.

Wednesday started with a peculiar pink tinge to the morning light.  This isn’t a photoshop effect.  It really did look like this.  

They say that “Red sky in the morning is a shepherds warning” but in this case the sky wasn’t very red but the whole glen looked pink.  It heralded an uneventful day but perhaps it was an advance warning.  Our oil was delivered and then I spent a few hours working on the stream and removed most of the remaining leaves.

Thursday was wet, extremely wet.  The weather system wasn’t windy enough to be given a name although it really deserved one.  About two and a half inches or rain fell on our garden.  There was traffic chaos all over the Island with flooded roads, landslips blocking the mountain road and a semi-collapsed bridge in lower Laxey which dumped a school bus in the river.  Luckily the school children had already been delivered to their homes and the driver was advised to leave the bus before it toppled into the water.  The bridge had withstood two hundred years of Manx weather, including the notorious 1930 flood but Thursday’s weather was the last straw.  This photo is from the Manx Radio website.

The Auldyn River must have overflowed and filled up the glen road next to Milntown because we saw a lot of debris trapped under the fence and huge puddles in the Milntown grounds when we drove to the shops on Friday morning.

Our little stream managed to cope with all the water seeping out of the hillside above us but the main stream which flows through our neighbour’s garden on the other side of our mutual holly hedge clogged in a few places.  I spent some time clearing out the section above our top fence where a couple of big stones had slipped into the ditch and blocked the flow.  A bit of water had been diverted down the path above our fence, but not enough to cause any problems.  Further down the stream had overflowed and water was running down the edge of our neighbour’s drive as well as the usual blockage at the bottom of the ditch which causes a minor waterfall onto the road.  

So Friday was another day spent on removing wet leaves from ditches - but it would have been a whole lot worse if I hadn’t removed the bulk of the leaves before the deluge.

But the week wasn’t over yet.  On Friday evening and Saturday the next storm, called Desmond, arrived with warnings of severe damage, heavy rain and structural damage.  Islanders were warned to stay at home unless their journeys were absolutely essential and all the ferries were cancelled.  So we stayed indoors and waited for the devastation.  Luckily Desmond didn’t live up to the forecasts as far as the Island was concerned.   There were a few trees down but there was less rain than expected although the wind was strong and kept going for over twenty four hours.  Parts of Cumbria were not so fortunate and are still under water.

Sunday promised to be a better day with a glimmer of brightness in the east.

It lived up to the promise and there were even sunny periods.  I was able to clean out all the leaves that Desmond blew into the ditch.  This morning we are enjoying (?) ”Occasional rain &/or drizzle”  and winds of about Force 6 (strong breeze).  The next belt of rain (possibly heavy at times) is due to pass over the island this evening.