Tree felling

One of the trees on our mooring has started to fall over and as this meant it would fall on our back cabin, sadly we had to take it down.  Our neighbours. Alain (in the tree) and Francois, very kindly offered their help...

We are sorry to lose it, but couldn't risk damage to the barge if it fell during a storm.   Also it was easier to do it before the leaves came out.  But we have taken some cuttings and will grow some new ones!

Fire!

We had a fire in the little port where we moor last night.  At 2am we heard some strange popping noises and when we looked out we saw that the building behind us was on fire...

This building was used to store reclaimed doors and windows and so, luckily, was uninhabited.  But it certainly created a blaze.

Picture courtesy of  Alain

The Pompiers (firemen) and several fire engines arrived and after a few hours the fire was under control.  But we have not had much sleep and at one point were wondering if it would spread to the other buildings and we would need to move the barge in the pitch dark which would not have been fun!  You can see our barge in the foreground...

Picture courtesy of  Alain

When daylight arrived, the Pompiers were still wetting everything down using water from the river.  The building looks a bit like a write-off with the roof mostly gone and the floors all collapsed into the bottom floor and as the electricity for the whole area came in via this building, we are without power at the moment!
(thankfully now restored).   You can see all that is left of the floor on the upper level...

Picture courtesy of  Alain

What a night!