A blustery day

... well, week, really. The recent appalling weather has taken its toll. I went up the allotment for the first time in a couple of weeks today to find.... disaster!

The wind had picked up the extremely heavy, solid wood roof of my shed and chucked it halfway down the allotment. Fortunately - since the shed is quite close to my neighbours' - the only damage done to anything else was the kids' sandpit, which was clobbered quite badly. The roof was still pretty much intact, which goes to show how solidly built it is.

I gave myself a small hernia lifting it up and manoeuvring it back towards the shed by a series of slides and shunts, and then somehow or other levered it back onto the top. I don't quite know how I did it - the first time, when we were building the shed, it took me, my husband and another bloke from a few allotments along, plus a stepladder, to wiggle it into place. The only disadvantage of carrying on visiting my allotment all through the winter is that there aren't that many other people around to rope in!

Everything inside is sodden, of course, as torrential rain accompanied the wind. Next week I'll take up a box of matches and light up the primus stove to dry things out a bit. Worse is that I now know the same thing will happen next time it gets really windy - and that means I'll have to think about how to build the shed a new roof. It already needs a new door surround - the current door fell off its hinges a few months ago and has been propped up by a bit of scaffolding board ever since.

If this was my garden I would, of course, be looking for a new shed. However, in the spirit of allotmenting, I'm going to make do and mend. Harder work, but far more rewarding in the long run (and you do get a wonderfully esoteric shed at the end of the day that's not quite like anything you've ever seen before!)