Weeping it's a Willow

Through the pouring rain this morning, and in pitch darkness, I came across a fallen tree.
I had a little warning from a truckie on his Cb.

It had managed to block both lanes, and was just out of the Awakino tunnel.
Fortunately there was just enough room for traffic to squeeze past.

My truck has 3 flashing lights and is highly visible, something I have come to really appreciate.

Traffic that will ignore the smaller light work trucks, will pass mine gingerly, as it sits there flashing away looking like something from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

So I wandered around in the pouring rain guiding traffic and awaiting the Cavalry.

Our local policeman, Sergeant Snapper, arrived with more flashing lights, but no hot pies, (Police Brutality) and we saw in a soggy dawn.

Unfortunately I don't carry a chainsaw, which is a hassle, most trees seem to come down in the area I live, and I'm already an old hand at tree removal. I come across them often.
Usually it is pretty easy to cut away the head of the tree, and so get a lane of the road open quickly.

Our Loader is in Hospital, though it is not quite as old as Keith Richards, getting it's valves & plumbing done,
so we cut it up into manageable hunks and winched it onto the truck.

Alas it was a rotten old willow, so to the tip it went.

No firewood there...