Anyone else had a near miss with storm Arwen and classic cars? Pics attached.
With a few branches cut away it was obvious we needed to rig a winch to both stabilise the tree as we cut away branches and to pull it slightly away from the car’s wing to take the weight off it. I was about to get my 4 ton hand winch from the shed when the power failed! It was just stupid to even consider carrying on in the storm trying to work by the light of a torch with only the bow-saw for cutting, so we decided to retreat to bed. We’d leave the main light switch on so we’d know when the power returned.
Don't know when it came back but the next thing I knew it was 7 o'clock. So we've spent today cutting up and removing the bloody tree! We actually got off lightly considering the size and weight of it. Bagheera ended up with a small dent in the passenger wing top (obviously the main trunk just clipped it), the passenger door mirror was ripped off and there is a tiny dent just above the gutter on the passenger side. More work obviously, but it could have been a write-off.
After some six months of a very weird part-year what with with dodging Covid, dealing with other illness, potential loss of the place where I park my other classics/projects the Frau and I finally decided that one priority was trying to expand our parking area by clearing away old garden features within a space at the side of the house. There is a large, well established 30 odd year old pine tree right in the centre of all this. I’ve considered removing it, but a) it’s a lovely tree b) the roots (or so I thought) probably go down to hell and c) it looks lovely when the Chrimbo lights run through it each Christmas.
On Friday we’d reached a point where we could actually start the several days digging and levelling of a section of said parking area to ready it for covering with gravel to comply with SUDs regulations. Starting that digging etc was going to be today’s task, before storm Arwen intervened.
At about 23:15 last night the Frau, having just exited from her long bath, announced that whilst soaking up the bubbles she had heard a weird noise outside. A weird noise amongst the end-of-world cacophony that was raging outside? Anyway, as you do under “I heard a noise” events, I went to check. Arwen had brought down the pine tree in the parking area and it was sprawled over Bagheera our beloved Jaguar Sovereign Series 3 V12, almost completely hiding it! Talk about Action Stations! By 23:30 we were both out there, with Arwen still trying to blow us off our feet, working under the outside lights with the electric chain-saw and a bow-saw, beginning to cut away some of the branches so we could see the extent of the problem. The main trunk, some 12” thick, had missed Bagheera by a fraction of an inch but it was leaning hard against the passenger wing. We couldn’t check for actual damage to the car as she was residing under a cover as I’ve taken her off the road for some much needed tlc inc having dropped out the entire rear axle assembly. The cover was now pinned in place by the pine tree’s canopy.
With a few branches cut away it was obvious we needed to rig a winch to both stabilise the tree as we cut away branches and to pull it slightly away from the car’s wing to take the weight off it. I was about to get my 4 ton hand winch from the shed when the power failed! It was just stupid to even consider carrying on in the storm trying to work by the light of a torch with only the bow-saw for cutting, so we decided to retreat to bed. We’d leave the main light switch on so we’d know when the power returned.
Don't know when it came back but the next thing I knew it was 7 o'clock. So we've spent today cutting up and removing the bloody tree! We actually got off lightly considering the size and weight of it. Bagheera ended up with a small dent in the passenger wing top (obviously the main trunk just clipped it), the passenger door mirror was ripped off and there is a tiny dent just above the gutter on the passenger side. More work obviously, but it could have been a write-off.
Had the tree fallen 6 or 7 feet to the left it would have hit squarely both the Jaguar and the Rover 75 Tourer we are using as temporary transport whilst Bagheera slumbers, so def a case of thanks for small mercies.
