Arwen she was called. The first named storm of the year. She brought with her winds and snow from the north. The snow around here didn't last, it never does. Soon washed away by the rain. The wind however left its mark. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't exactly horrendous. The usual unplanned trampoline moves and a few uprooted trees. A couple such were on my daily dog walking route. One had crossed the little path I take near the river. It's three damp, moss covered limbs sprawled across the leaf covered path. To get past you needed to climb over them. They weren't particularly large, it was more how spaced out they were. The top of the uppermost trunk was about 4 feet in the air. I had no issue getting over but others could not. As is usual with dog walkers, you become nodding acquaintances with those who came out at a similar time. Some even give up some conversation to you. Others would have to take a detour to get past and it was unlikely the council would be in a hurry to do anything about it. It had to go.
I had three days left to take before years end and I decided to have a bit of a long weekend with them starting Wednesday. I had been climbing over the tree for the last four days and so I planned to take care of it unless anyone else had done so. If the weather kept off then Wednesday would be D day for the tree.
Wednesday morning came and I finished my morning routine. Breakfast was had and the dogs were walked. Take one last look tree, today is your day. I packed a couple of saws into my old Land Rover along with some straps incase anything needed pulling out of the way. A pair of old mechanic gloves were thrown in and I got changed into some scruffs that I usually wear in the garage. An old army t-shirt from an exercise in Canada, a black hoody and some old jeans that had an assortment of rips. You know the usual, on knee gone and holes in odd places. One tear in particular ran from the seat at the back, around the inside of my right leg and almost to the front. I wasn't particularly bothered about it, even though I was in my usual commando state. It's not like anyone was going to be looking there. A water bottle was filled and I was ready to go.
Where I needed to go required a little rule breaking. The section of path I needed to access wasn't for vehicles. The nearest access to it should have been protected by two wooded bollards. One of those had disappeared long ago and I knew I could fit the Landy through the gap. It was a 40 yard or so trip along the path through some other trees and a left turn at the bottom. The main path followed the route of the river so it was a T junction at the end. Turning right allowed me to reverse back up the path to the tree so my tools were at the back and so was the tow hitch if anything needed pulling out.
Keys in my pocket I surveyed the scene and started to plan my cuts. Taking off the smaller branches and working towards the main trunks sounded reasonable. The gloves went on and the tools came out. The smaller stuff was chopped off and dragged out of the way. Slowly the cuts I was making were getting bigger as I closed in on the bulk of the matter. It wasn't a particularly cold morning in spite of the recent weather and I soon began to feel hot. The hoody came off which left me in the T-shirt. Frequent gulps of water were taken in rests between the cuts as they became more intensive. I was left with the three main trunks bare of boughs and branches. At their common root they were about a foot in diameter and around 20 feet long. The top one still held itself aloft stoically above the others. There was still a lot of mess around so I decided to clear all this so I could concentrate on the big cuts and not worry about footing.
It was at this time I heard footsteps behind me. "Oh, is this blocked?" Came a very pretty voice behind me. I turned to see a very attractive brunette taking in the scene. I guessed she was in her 30's. She wasn't much shorter than me in her ankle high, fur topped brown boots. Her very shapely legs were sheathed in light blue denim with only the waistband hidden beneath a brown button up jacket. Shoulder length hair framed her face which wore minimal make up. Not that she needed it though. Her natural looks were quite bewitching with hazel eyes that you could just get lost in for eternity. Even through the jacket it was clear by how she held herself that she looked after her body.
"Err.....Yes it is. It won't be soon though," Come on Dave sort your head out, it's a simple bloody question!! "A tree came down in the storm and I'm getting it out of the way." I was still catching my breath from clearing a load of branches out of the way. Her eyes seemed to go right through me with a deep intensity, surveying me and the Land Rover.
"You're not from the council though are you? I thought they would be clearing this?"
"Well, you'd like to think so wouldn't you. I come round here with my dogs and got sick of climbing over the damn thing. So what better to do on a day off than come down here and get it out of the way!"
A smile came over her smooth lips as she cocked her head ever so slightly. "Well aren't you just a pillar of the community." The words flowing out of her mouth like silk. He gaze narrowed slightly as her eyes locked with mine. A shiver went down my spine, I must have been cooling off, or was it her having such a profound effect on me.
"I wouldn't go that far really. It's not like I'm trekking supplies in a disaster!"
"Don't sell yourself short, no-one else is here doing it are they? And it seems you have a lot to do. I should probably let you get on with it."
"Yeah, there is a lot to get on with and it's all the bigger stuff now so it's about to get a bit harder." Harder, now there's a word I definitely would associate with her. I wouldn't mind seeing what was going on under that jacket she was wearing.
"Well don't go hurting yourself, and thank you for kind efforts." She gave a cute little wave as she turned to walk away.
Cutting more wood was the last thing on my mind as I watched her walking away. Her gorgeous arse moved in such a sexy way. It was almost exaggerated in such a subtle fashion. Nah, can't be. Why would she do that? Only one wood came to mind right then, and it certainly wasn't the tree. I turned back to the job I was there to do in case she looked back and caught me staring at her.