Basketry Workshop at Biteabout Arts

Hello everyone,

I hope you’re all well and that those of you disrupted by the storm last week, are okay.

I have to say that there was a fair bit of damage here. All the ridge tiles came off the conservatory / studio roof - thank goodness no one was in the garden when they landed - some were wedged into the grass at an angle 4 inches deep! chimney is ‘tilted’, drainpipes gone, some slates off roof, biggest tree down , electric cable yanked off side of house, main electric cable brought down by tree etc. you get the gist…..

All of this meant that from Friday tea time there was no electricity, which also meant no water as it gets to me from a borehole via an electric pump, no heating just nothing other than a cold shell of a house. Thanks heavens for the trusty log burning stove and my pile of logs ! I ended up collecting water from the broken drain pipe and after filtering it - I have a mega filter system that takes out all pathogens etc - heating it on top of the stove ! I then used my little single burner camping stove to cook food. Oh and also I couldn’t get petrol as there was none available anywhere in the area !!

Thankfully everyone (the 5 homes in the area) got switched back on on Tuesday night and I actually cried with relief ! It’s not that I couldn’t deal with it all - I’m generally quite self-sufficient, but I was actually worried about the contents of my freezer - thankfully my lovely neighbours let me have a turn of their generator on Tuesday morning and saved the day as a result !! I was just starting to get used to doing everything (in the evenings) by candlelight and going to bed earlier.

What a weird time it has been. Photos towards end showing some shots of candlelight the photos, (even without flash), make it look much brighter than it actually was. Then the poor tree and views from a beautiful 9 mile walk I did on Sunday, to get outside because it was warmer out than in !

Would also like to say that I do realise I probably got off lightly compared to some poor souls and those who are still without power / water etc. As a society we need to be more geared up to this sort of thing happening more often nowadays unfortunately

However on a cheerier note, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I did manage to attend (after it having to be initially cancelled due to covid) my basketry workshop with Anna Turnbull at Biteabout Arts. It really was a fantastic couple of days with a small group of x 4 other people - whom I didn’t know. Anyway, here’s my finished basket ! Can’t say it came naturally to me, but I did enjoy it and I do (now) really like my basket ! Not sure what I’ll put in it though !!

Have a lovely evening and hope you are all managing to stay warm and dry - somewhere !!