A windy night doesn't go well!

It was windy through the night. In fact very windy. Just how windy woke me at 9 minutes past midnight when I heard a bang. I knew what it was but still had to get up and stick my head out of a window just out of curiosity. I was right in that two of the pillars had blown down. Nothing I could do and from what I could in the light of the moon there was not going to be any further damage so I went back to bed! No point in getting cold!

The morning light revealed this.

Not good but it could have been a lot worse like ending up going through the window if it had fallen the other way.

To have strength the block work needs to be secured by the outer layer of bricks. I thought that the bricks and blocks would go up in parallel supporting each other until the mortar dried. However I am told that insulation regulations require the insulation fastened to the blocks and a gap between it and the bricks. This means, I am told, that the blocks have to go up first. I am no expert but I have given the builders, who turned up today, the 'benefit' of my advice on how it might be prudent to proceed from now. Either they humoured me or it made some sense to them as I am still here to tell the tale without having disfigurement from bricks and blocks! The builders are back tomorrow as the wind is supposed to die down so I will find out if my advice is of any use!

To get out of the house and away from the carnage of collapsed pillars I did take Mrs. Woody out this afternoon to the Rocks By Rail Museum Members Day. Well she is a member too! As last year, it was raining. Seems that is a common occurrence but I guess if you hold events in January the weather is unlikely to be your friend! However a bit of wet was going to stop me having a good look round as I have not been there since mid December. Mrs. W. perhaps had other ideas and found the café the place she wanted to look at. We did actually have a good look round and had a brake van ride hauled by one of the steam engines. 

As a development, (and with my lack of technical expertise I cannot believe this even works!) WMD now has a YouTube channel and a video of the Members Day has been uploaded. You can either go to YouTube by clicking here or watch it on this page by clicking on the picture below.