The aftermath

I was going to go for a title as exciting as the Calm after the Storm but then I remembered Mrs Raheny in her pyjamas and wellies, running hysterically around the garden in search of the two missing swimming costumes (hers and Mimi's) and fancy Boden bath towel at 6.35 AM
I tried to tell her that the gale was over, that the swimming togs would not get much further now and that she had better wait for daylight and the calming effects of a hot cup of coffee and toast.
But she kept on rooting inside bushes and behind Wendy houses in her frantic search for the exclusive swim wear sourced in the sales.
Given the force of the wind last night, it could have landed anywhere between here and Navan...
I advised her to prepare some handwritten notes to drop in the neighbours letterboxes: "Hi, this is Mrs Raheny, the woman with the blue Saab and the three very loud kids. I was drying my swimwear in the gale last night and I was wondering if my Arena swimming costume had perhaps landed in your garden"

She was not impressed.

I told her that things could have been worse, that the clothes lines could have been ripped apart, which would have resulted in me having to fix yet one more thing.
She still couldn't take her mind of her disappeared items.

At 10 AM I got a text message saying that she had found them in the hotpress, where she had put them last night when it started pissing rain...

It was my turn not to be impressed.

I noted that the boys' gear was left on the line overnight, to get a good aul rinse.

My Speedos smell particularly fresh this morning, having been aerated down to the most deeply woven elasticated microfiber by winds of up to 120 kph.