Disaster struck

I left Fleurac for the UK on Thursday having made my land and caravan as secure as I could. I was very concerned, however, by the weather forecast for the following day which showed that there would be strong northerly winds with very fierce gusts of over 80 kmh/50 mph in the late afternoon and early evening which made me fear for the safety of my ‘tonnelle’ that was standing at the bottom of my land next to my caravan.

Nevertheless, I thought that it would be safe as the winds were expected to be from the south-west and the ‘tonnelle’ would therefore be relatively sheltered in its position at the bottom of the dip. But it turns out that I was too optimistic. My friend Victor said that he’d keep an eye on things for me and sadly on Saturday morning I received the news from him that my ‘tonnelle’ had been destroyed.

Here are some of the shots of the aftermath that he took and sent over to me.

The winds on Friday were so strong that they’d succeeded in destroying the ‘tonnelle’s’ metal frame bringing the whole structure down. I find this quite extraordinary being as the tie-down cords were still in place and until I return and am able to see the damage for myself, I find it difficult to understand how this happened.

But in any case, I’ve now lost the ‘tonnelle’ without it ever having been used for its intended purpose and it now leaves me with a problem. I had two ‘tonnelles’ of the same dimensions and design that I wanted to set up in the area outside my caravan to use for eating outside and the like and I’d even bought a second floor-covering that’s the same design as the one I’d put into the damaged ‘tonnelle’ so they’d both match. I need the two for my plans but if I just buy another they probably won’t match. I guess I’ll have to leave the decision as what to do now until I get back 🙁