The Tai Peng Community Garden got well and truly zapped by Typhoon Koppu, as these photos show. On a brighter note, some of the taller weeds were felled as well.

That's quite surprising damage to your garden surrounded on all sides by dense, tall forest!

My own new rooftop garden, exposed 360 degrees and unprotected from the extreme winds, survived pretty well, even the tall bushes, besides just a few broken, soft-stemmed plants.

But our big canopy wasn't so lucky and got Koppu'd and is now kaputt. It had to have an emergency total amputation by the local experts - by C-section with a boxcutter - as it was impossible and way too dangerous to roll it up in the high winds.

See photo below,just before I removed it to the rubbish bins, awaiting a probably massive quotation to replace it....

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Same here - another body for the canopy graveyard

Two more pictures of Koppu'd streets up in Po Wah Yuen, submitted by gargoyle.
There were so many broken branches all over YSW this morning, the VVs are still cleaning them up...

I put a message into my Facebook status about my Koppu'd, kaputt canopy and got 5 friendly comments about it within hours, to my surprise as I don't have a lot of Facebook Friends yet, using it only occasionally, unlike so many Lammaites using it all the time.

My favourite comment, from an ex-Lammaite Friend:
"I think it is fairly safe to say that you are Koppu'd!
L-G, I'm still reading the website from all the way over here!"

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Canopy material is tough, long lasting and eminently re-usable. I don't think it is bio-degradable. If it is not shredded then it could well be used to cover outdoor furniture or any other items which need some protection from the elements.

Then again, why not offer it to a domestic helper? They could send it home and re-use it. Good plastic tarps are very hard to come by, and costly too, in the developing world.

I really don't think it would be worth shipping a torn up canopy overseas.

Plenty of uses here:

Washing machine covers, say, since most people have to put them outside.

Baby (or elderly, or alcoholic) mattress covers.

Barbecue covers -- (mine is now shrouded in a ragged black bin liner).

Could always put it over a large area of the garden to stop the weeds growing. Would make a change from old mattrasses and fridge doors

I've saved half of the canopy, venturing into the swamp besides our house to retrieve it yesterday. The other half was easier to retrieve from the G/F wall two days ago; I'm sure somebody picked it up for their own use from outside the waste bins within hours.

If somebody would like to cut and take away a piece of it from my place for free, let me know. I'll keep only some of it for my own use:
Very strong and thick, about 5 metres long, less than 2 years old and not damaged in any way as it was removed by cutting along the edges of the canopy and along the middle.

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Well, no takers for any or all of my huge rooftop canopy....

I've just been informed that our landlord will pay for the entire new canopy, despite initially rejecting it, as expected. Mr Dollarful told him that we're "good tenants" and he relented. They've just installed a "PrePainted Steel" permanent canopy, no more rolling up in a typhoon necessary!

These permanent steel canopies are becoming more common all over the villages. Might they actually be cheaper than the tarp canopies and also much quicker to install (ours took less than 2 hours to put up today)?

But how safe are these steel slates in a typhoon 8? Anybody's got experience with any damage caused by a dislodged one?

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And even more illegal, as they can't pretend they are temporary, as they do for the fabric ones.

Not that anyone seems to care.

Next step is to put some walls up and rent it out to some IIs.

Great idea! That could help to pay our new, high rent!

Know any IIs who need a place to stay and have cash to pay for a sublet?

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