30.07.2025 Half hour cloudburst!

 ~o~

  Wednesday 30th 58F/14.4C [7.15] A rather wet day is promised. With the risk of cloudbursts, hail and thunder. Windy too in the south. 1859 lightning strikes were recorded overnight in Denmark.

 Up at 6.20 after a fairly quiet night. The last dream I remember was being at school in Denmark. Which is total nonsense. I was 50 when I moved to Denmark. We were asked to produce a poem. 

 The boy genius decided to write a poem. On a battle between a mouse and the family cat in front of a roaring, medieval fire. In the style of of Robbie Burns but based on the song "Good Company." The class, of Danes, was suitably impressed with my Scottish accent. 

  Rainy morning. 

 10.15-45 The sun came out so I put on a rain jacket and went for a walk. Most of the vehicle which passed were electric. The set-aside flowers in the front field continues to evolve. Sunflowers are becoming dominant as the purple fades.

 13.00 Pouring down. Expected to get worse during the afternoon. 

 I went grocery shopping in the car. Sunshine and showers. 

 18.30 It is absolutely persisting now! Torrential rain mixed in with loud hail! The gutter is overflowing by the front door. It has never done that before. Not ever. I'll have to check it isn't full of leaves when the rain stops. The drive is solid with flowing water. Still tipping down at 18.46. And at 19.00. A full half hour of torrential rain and still going strong.      

 The gutters were blocked by years of moss rolling off the roof. With a seasoning of leaf fall. To which was added several, self seeding weeds. I dragged a ladder over and cleared a bucket full of sludge. Then flushed with several large watering can's worth of rainwater. Before the gutter could flow normally. 

 I'll have to check the front gutter. Though it isn't so prone to moss growth on the sunny side. Which is fortunate. Because it is so impossibly difficult to reach. With the lean-to greenhouse in the way. The angle of the greenhouse roof is so flat that it would probably take a 10m long ladder to match the slope. With the bottom of the ladder on the ground somewhere out in the field. Beyond the front, boundary hedge.

 I once used numerous timber props inside the greenhouse. So that I could lay plywood and planks on the greenhouse roof. To safely support my weight. Sadly I have no memory of what I was doing up there. Perhaps working on the plastic gutter? There was a joint in the middle. The rubber gaskets in the joint leaked from the very first shower. So much for buying quality!      

 Dinner was mackerel in tomato sauce on toast. No pictures please. 

 

  ~o~