Nina:Definitely. It's a relief to know that the damage wasn’t severe. Anything I can help with around the deli or the High Street?
Birdie:Stay put where you are. We’re managing well here. x
Nina:No worries. xx
As she sat and drank her tea, Nina scanned the Lovely community Facebook page and read various posts about what had happened to Lovelies around the area. A couple of low-lying areas of the town had pools of standing water and a tree had fallen down on one of the main Lovely greens. Overall, it seemed as if most of the town had not fared too badly at all. As she scanned down and read further, she was pleased to see that there wasn’t too much damage and that no one in Lovely Bay had lost power for the whole night.
Nina sipped her tea, and caught sight of Jeffrey, her neighbour, stepping outside his house inspecting the aftermath of the storm. She could see him looking over the scattered debris near the harbour wall and the calm sea beyond. Spotting Nina at the window, he raised his hand and waved.
Nina opened the window to chat. ‘Morning! Quite the storm, wasn’t it? All that thunder and lightning!’
‘Morning. Yes, it was a wild one, for sure. I haven’t seen the likes of it in years. I thought we might wake up to more of a mess,but it seems we’ve been fairly lucky, all things considered. I’m surprised.’
‘I know what you mean. I was expecting the worst when I went to bed. But apart from a few branches and the odd garden chair in the harbour, it looks like we’ve escaped the worst of it.’
‘True, true. I just walked around the back. A tree has lost a branch, but it’s nothing we can’t handle. How did your place fare? Is everything all good with you?’
‘We're fine, thanks. No damage that I can see. Robby’s still asleep, but I think he’ll be relieved when he sees how little we’ve been affected.’
Jeffrey chuckled. ‘He’s still asleep after all that!’
‘I know. He sleeps like a log.’
‘Too funny.’ Jeffrey gestured up at Nina’s property. ‘You know, it’s times like these I’m grateful for our sturdy old houses and the sense of community here. Everyone’s already out and about, checking on each other, starting the cleanup.’
Nina nodded in agreement. ‘It’s one of the things I like about Lovely Bay. There’s always a friendly face around when you need it. Speaking of which, if you need any help with that fallen branch or anything, just let us know.’
‘Will do, thanks! And likewise, if you need anything, just holler. I’m going to get the saw and start clearing that branch now. Better to get it done before the day gets on.’
‘Okay, let me know if you need an extra pair of hands.’
‘Will do. Oh, and thanks again for the chowder. That did the job. It was delicious. You’ll need a speakeasy in your place one day soon.’
‘Ha, yes, you’re not the first to tell me that. By the way, thanks for the cheesecake.’
‘Rightio, well, have a good one.’
‘Yep, see you later.’
Nina closed the window and smiled, glad that everyone was safe in Lovely Bay.
10
Later on that afternoon Nina was strolling along to check up on June and The Summer Hotel to see how it had fared in the storm. As she spied a dangling gutter on a house near June’s and water gushing from a blocked drain on the opposite side, she wondered what she was going to find at the hotel. As she got closer, she squinted down to the end of the road to see Nancy waiting for her outside by the gate. The closer she got, at least from the outside, it didn’t appear as if there was much damage to The Summer Hotel, if any at all. The 'For Sale' sign was no longer standing upright and would need to be put back into position, but overall, on first inspection, the hotel seemed fine. On approach, she could see that the porch didn’t look as if it was showing any signs of damage, the fence at the front was intact, and the guttering and roof tiles were okay.
She kissed Nancy on the cheek, turned, and looked at the building, raising her eyebrows. ‘Doesn’t look as if there’s too much to worry about out the front here. I’ve seen a few things down the street but maybe it’s a bit more sheltered down this end. There’s a blocked drain down the road there. Who knows what we might find in here?’
‘There’s nothing much wrong here that I can see,’ Nancy said and pointed at a few hanging baskets that looked as if they had blown over from where they’d been stacked up. ‘I can see those there have fallen down, but that’s not a problem.’
Nina nodded. ‘Ahh, yes, right.’
Nancy then pointed to a couple of shattered plant pots, which were scattered on the path, surrounded by soil. ‘Looks like those have fallen over too, by the looks of it. Strange what things the wind likes to have a little play with. Could be a lot worse.’
‘Yep. It’s not too bad here. Over our side, there was a garden chair in the harbour floating around which was weird. The wind obviously scooped it up.’
‘I had a mysterious set of bamboo wind chimes on my front mat. Turns out they were from one of the cottages at the other end of the street. They must have flown along!’
‘Too funny. Yeah, we had a few strange things floating in the harbour and a good few branches down along the back.’
