As John Aliss would say: 'It's been a funny old week'. We have had torrential rain, sleet and snow, coupled with gales which made movement difficult. I spent much time collecting up scattered, fallen branches from our trees, blown off by the high winds, as well as retrieving the three wheelie bins which careered off down the lawns scattering bags everywhere. A large iron bar, which is very heavy to lift, had been weighing down the sheeted up garden bench, had also blown away! The old elm next door which my neighbour and I estimate to be about 200 yrs old and stood at the front gate, came down in the gales, knocking over the street lamp standard and putting the road into darkness. A telephone call to East Ren Council brought the 'Polis' who closed the road both ends and then the Council brought in a crane, a JCB, an arboretist and support staff. In three hours the tree was taken down expertly and stacked across the road in an unadopted cul-de-sac. The Council then re-opened the road two days later, by which time they had cleared away all the tree remains and brushed the roadway clean. They then removed the damaged lamp standard. Then I noticed that my neighbour's tree had demolished our connecting wall with its heavy coping stones. Stuart said that he would claim on his insurance for everything although I registered a possible claim with my insurer too - though never heard further from them despite assurance that they would write to me. A solicitor friend advised I switch insurance from this large insurer in England to a Scottish firm as it would be extremely costly to engage an English solicitor in England in any dispute with them. We shall see what happens first, but the friend does have a point, which extends to buying anything from an English firm too.
Met up withCon Kelleher from Cork, Eire, over here in Scotland as a Photographer to the Celtic Connections annual International Festival in Glasgow. His b& w photos of stars, musicians and performers are of a high standard. He used to be a commercial photographer but gave it up to photo musicians and the like, so he makes a living that way and does a fair amount of travelling. Anyway we had good 'craic' and a laugh and had a good meal at the Bay Tree, which is a Turkish bistro almost opposite our St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow. Then I drove him to the re-furbished City Halls for a 9.30pm performance. The City was 'hooching' with people and cars and progress to the venue was slow but we made it in time. Earlier I took the girls shopping for groceries as the weather was too bad for them to undertake it all on foot. Then spent longer than usual with both of them. They are good company and both have a good sense of humour.
Here is Con Kelleher from West Cork -
