Read in full the submission of our Creative Writing Competition runner-up, Barbara Wood.
Exploring the aftermath of a storm from Lasswade to Roslin, Barbara’s intimate piece is a reminder our fragility when facing extreme weather events.
You can read the winners announcement here, as well as a full list of all submissions published.
After the Storm
by Barbara Wood
"We heard clattering on the roof above our heads and then the smash of something hitting the ground; just a few roof tiles. We count ourselves very lucky if that is all we have suffered this time."
There is a mangled trampoline in the middle of a farmer’s field. A great, metal hoarding, bent and twisted beyond repair, has blown from somewhere into the middle of a roundabout. The clear up has already started. Chainsaws can be heard working on the arboreal casualties blocking the roads. Human casualties clobbered by such flying debris would likely not have survived.
We did as we were told and stayed inside, pitying the poor emergency workers who were out there risking their lives. We heard clattering on the roof above our heads and then the smash of something hitting the ground; just a few roof tiles. We count ourselves very lucky if that is all we have suffered this time.
In this part of Lasswade I only see a few garden fences down and a few wheelie bins blown about. My daughter and her family in Roslin Glen lost half the glass in their greenhouse. They are staying with me at present as their power is not yet back on; three humans, a cat and a small tank of tropical fish. The latter are the few survivors from the big tank that got too cold when the heating went off.
My fridge and freezer are stuffed with their ‘stuff’ and my food waste bin has some that didn’t make it back into the cold in time. My daughter is in my kitchen making passata with a big bag of half thawed tomatoes grown in that sorrowful greenhouse last summer. I’ve made a crumble using up a bag of mushy summer fruits.
No major damage in Shawfair from where my son comes to join us for supper; an impromptu family gathering, so it’s not all bad. I messaged the roofer who says he will come tomorrow and replace the tiles.
"There are a myriad of other excuses we could fall back on instead of working towards reducing our own carbon footprint (...). Will it take a personal catastrophe caused by climate change to get us to care?"
We are very fortunate indeed compared to others who have been repeatedly flooded out of their homes and can’t get house insurance. We remember the record high temperatures of two years ago when a whole street of houses was burned to the ground in England, all because of the spontaneous combustion of someone’s compost heap. This is not to mention what we see happening in other countries. The recent storms are related to climate change, so we are told. They are just a foretaste of what is to come.
Do we accept that mankind is doomed because Trump is in the White House, or because we are a small country and it doesn’t make any difference what we do? There are a myriad of other excuses we could fall back on instead of working towards reducing our own carbon footprint and trying to make our homes resilient to extreme climate events. We can badger our local and national representatives to support green issues and make use of the franchise that our forebears fought so hard for. Will it take a personal catastrophe caused by climate change to get us to care?
