Not waving but drowning

I couldn't believe what I was seeing on the approach up through the woods.  Trees and branches strewn everywhere.  We've had some wild gales in the past but this seems to have ripped through in just the wrong direction.  I think the rain may have had a disastrous effect, weakening the ground at the same time.  One fallen tree just had a lake underneath its bare root ball.  There were a good dozen down.

I put my arm around a few still standing ones and whispered a few words of encouragement as they wait for the next storm to arrive.  I'm not sure they felt any better, but I did.

I managed to fit in a bike ride and had to double back near the end of my ride as they were mending the road that had washed away last weekend.  I'd walked over it yesterday and saw they weren't fixing it until the 1st March.  Seems they changed their minds without adding any signposts!  

It's usually possible to walk around a road block on your bike but the guy was having none of it today which upset a fella who was waving his arms (and almost his legs) and had driven 'all the way from Otley.'  The poor guy on the barrier wasn't to blame, so I couldn't resist making light of his temper, chuckling, "At least you're not cycling back, buddy!"  He didn't run me over, at least, when he eventually drove by having given up on his rant.