Storm Eunice.

What a day! We woke to a nice warm house having left the heating thermostat turned up to 18C/64F to keep more warmth in the house if the power went. (We usually leave it at 16C/61F overnight so that the heating can kick in if the temperature drops that low which it rarely does.) Outside the sea was rough but the hills behind and beside us were protecting us from the westerly wind.

High tide was at 9.05. Across the bay we could see the extra metre due to the storm was sending the waves up over the sea wall. Photos (below) from FB show that the sea defences about half a mile further along the beach have been torn to shreds. Perhaps if the council had fixed the small breach that happened back in November instead of just putting some plastic sacks filled with stones in the gap there might not have been so much damage.

Apart from the booming of the waves against the cliff and the occasional burst of spray we weren't being affected by the storm unlike the people in the houses along the beach. 

An hour later we were in the eye of the storm with wild seas but nothing too dramatic. Elsewhere in the country the highest ever recorded wind gusts of 122mph were recorded off the coast of the Isle of Wight and London and the South-East were under a red warning.

But then the wind veered and the storm resumed at full force this time with the wind blowing straight at us. In the sitting room we left the sofa in place against the French Doors and a box of books against the single door. There was a lot of clattering from on top of the kitchen roof and the frame of the big windows kept creaking as it flexed in and out. Peter was on the exerise bike and I was doing some floor exercises when there was a crash as a roof tile hit the window on its way down. Some time later when I was doing some DuoLingo in my study there was an even bigger crash which turned out to be a ridge tile smashing to the ground. My study's roof which is fibreglass also creaked most alarmingly throughout most of the day.

I took this photo later when the wind had eased off a bit from the 70mph Peter recorded on his anemometer. (The coastguard site also put the wind at 70mph.) It was only when I looked more closely at the photo that I realised ALL the ridge tiles on the left have been blown off. No wonder there was so much rattling around on the kitchen roof. Peter had phoned the builder when the first tile came down and thankfully he is coming tomorrow to do the repairs.

Storms are not so much fun when you know they are causing damage to your home. Most people heeded the warnings and stayed at home but there were a few cars out and some people heading down to the beach. A foolish thing to do as apart from falling trees or flying roof tiles there is always the chance of a rogue wave or shingle being thrown across from the beach. 

With worrying noises to be heard in both the sitting room and my study I was tempted to hide in our bedroom and watch tv to shut out the sound. (Since we've been here we've only watched one programme in our bedroom as it is so nice to watch tv in the sitting room.) However I didn't give in to my fears and first had a long DuoLingo session in case the power went. Then I unearthed my tub of sea glass collected in North Devon, sorted the glass into the different colours and chose pieces to make a mobile to hang in the kitchen window. Then, after a bit of a search I found the right fishing line and super glued the glass to the line. I picked out a piece of driftwood to hang the glass from but I may have another look on the beach as that one has a hole drilled in it. While the glue was drying I got out the sewing machine and hemmed the bottom of Peter's joggers, the ones I took the elastic off. Before putting the sewing machine away I thought I'd be adventurous and try some of the differnt stitches but even though I followed the instructions in the booklet all I ended up with with were very thick lines of tight stitches. So I'll go back to basics and stick with plain stitching. The wind is still blowing fiercely and is due to continue for the next couple of days so I hope nothing else falls off the roof.