While listening to a pretty heated post-election radio debate (in Swiss German) on the new situation in Swiss politics (you can listen in at DRS2 webradio on http://www.drs.ch -- look for "Doppelpunkt"), I am keeping my promise of day before yesterday to post some impressive tree-wreck photos taken a couple of weekends ago in the Guggershorn/Schwendelberg/Guggisberg area:
This tree must have been damaged by a falling trunk that shaved off its living (?) bark right down to the older wooden core. It's hard to see in this photo but the tree is dead and the wood scored by map-like trails of bark beetles.The following photos show what I am calling tree wrecks. The sheer force of the hurricane slamming into these old trunks must have been frightening.
When "Lothar" hit I was up in Engelberg. The power went down, fallen trees blocked both road and rail access. About twelve hours later I passed through a gap the roadworkers and foresters had cut into a fallen tree -- the bus had less than two inches of air either side. Pretty hair-raising. In the plain at the top of Lake Lucerne, orchards looked as though a huge comb had gone over them: the root clumps of the trees grabbed at the air, their crowns and trunks were all stretched out in the same direction.
At home in Bern, a massive fir tree had come crashing down between the nearby church (Pauluskirche) and the adjacent house, narrowly missing the roof and slamming into a cast-iron fence. The church spire had lost some of its copper sheeting. On my balcony, a fairly substantial marble table had been toppled. All around, gardens and streets were littered with debris, tiles, flower pots, sheeting, plastic chairs, branches...
As we're heading for the winter holidays – this here blogger doesn't celebrate the christian holidays – I think the above is a fitting final point: I like the flame-shaped sweep of this wreck.Time to close for now. Thank you for your comments, and come again.
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