Sod you Storm Pia!

Just when we thought things would be watertight by Christmas, a bloody storm swings in and wrecks the plans (and bits of the roof).

After delivery, Ryan from CladProof arranged to fit the panels the following weekend. It did not go to plan. Ryan and his colleague Johnny were helped by Russ on tele-handler and a friend who was actually an electrician. The wind was getting up (but this wasn't Storm Pia) and work had to halt just after lunch. Five panels had been fixed and they were the longest and hardest to do. The plan was to come back at the end of the week (21st/22nd December). Things were not to be.

Overnight the wind got up quite strongly and a visit to site on Sunday morning found two long sheets of flashing flapping about in the gale. I got them back into place and weighed them down with stones. That would do the trick. I rang Ryan and let him know what had happened.

But then the Met Office issued a weather warning for high winds on Thursday 21st.

I went up the day before and added more stones and Ryan turned up to do the same! Good man!

Then we waited. Surprisingly, the forecast was accurate. 80mph gusts ripped down trees and took off ridge tiles (including those on our current row of houses) so I headed up to see what the damage was at Folly Wood.

Another piece of flashing had been totally ripped off and had come to rest in the room below. The other one was, once again, flapping like a chilli soaked tongue. I did my best to weigh it down but the worst of the wind was yet to come.

That night Ryan texted to say they wouldn't be able to do it on the 21st. Not surprising, really. It took the storm a long while to move off. His team would be back straight after Christmas.

A visit today found things in one piece but Ryan was there again too. I really admire his dedication.

Now another storm is heading our way on Christmas Eve. Let's hope the neighbours don't get some surprise roof panels for Christmas!