Storm Ciara.

First thing this morning the storm despite all the dire warnings didn't seem too bad. With the gusting wind blowing from the south west the front of the house was sheltered by our neighbour's house. That gave the blackbird a chance to feed on fat balls in the feeder. (It's a fuzzy photo because I took it through an upstairs window.) However we could see the long grass between the houses blowing and rippling as the wind caught it.

With increasing wind we could see first the branches of trees waving and then their trunks swaying too. I have to admit to a lot of weather watching from the warmth of our home. Here the plastic bin stores have been most affected. The one on the right has moved in front of the house door. It didn't look as if it was blocking the door and when I looked later it had been put back in place. The lid of the other bin store, on the left, had blown open and sent the brown recycling bag and its cardboard contents across the grass. Peering through the sitting room window I could see that the wind was trying to lift the lid of our bin store so I found a couple of 3kg weights, the sort you thread on a pole, and put them on the lid. Earlier when the wind was quite fierce I had to get Peter to hold onto the front door while I unhooked the hanging basket and set it on the ground. The sun broke through for about half an hour after which more rain arrived. We haven't really been affected by the storm apart from the internet running at a snail's pace but across the county there have been power cuts and fallen trees while the New Bridge was first closed to high sided vehicles and then to all traffic. Looking out of the corner of the window I can see that cars are crossing once more.

Even Speedy watched for a while from my study. I'm not sure what he was looking at but his tail was lashing as fast as any dog's tail. He's spent most of the day sleeping in the armchair and has just come upstairs to remind me that it's nearly feeding time, well in an hour.

Speedy watching clouds?