On The Familial Effects of Flooding

The whole of England appears to be underwater.

I find it very interesting.

Mainly because about one third of my family live in the South West.  My daughter lives in north Wiltshire, my sister in Bristol, my aunt in Cheltenham and my mum in Cornwall.

So far none of them have been directly affected or at least not very much.

Mum’s village was cut off by flood water and the local shop flooded. Mum’s house is two thirds of the way up the hill so she wasn’t affected but joined in with the community efforts to move the shop to the pub. She is very excited. She loves a good crisis.

My aunt’s backyard was filled with water by a squall a few weeks ago.  A truly torrential downpour of water swept over Cheltenham and then Bristol (where I was at the time). It set of car alarms in the my sister’s street. My aunt’s yard is a quite small courtyard and the drains were momentarily overwhelmed by the volume of water, but it didn’t quite reach the top of the doorstep and ran off down the hill on which she lives as quickly as it had come.

I think my daughter’s village has seen high rivers and a little localised flooding but nothing major. Again, she lives half way up a hill.

So I think everyone I know will be okay but I can imagine they are a bit tense.

I’m down in that part of the country this weekend. Following in the damp footprints of England’s Glorious Leader I shall bring hope to millions by promising to leave soon.

The politics is fascinating but that’s a post for another day.