Well that was lucky. Over the last few days/weeks the area where I live has been battered by copious amounts of rain. Global warming has ensured that not only is it freezing (by English rather than Scottish standards) but also, large portions of the country are under water.
The countryside around the city I live in has been quite badly affected. The city itself seems not as bad. Admittedly it didn't seem that way when I had to walk into work the other day - buses weren't running because one of the main roads was flooded.
What was really worrying is that my house is near the river (about 50m), the river in question being about an inch and a half from bursting it's banks. One heavy rainfall would have been enough to have it over flowing.
Wanting to shore up our position and show that we were responsible mature tenants I was on the phone to the landlord (well estate agents) asking for sandbags. They won't stop a flood but they would hopefully slow things up enough that any flooding would be minimal. Helpfully, the council told us about the council giving away sand bags... in a yard two miles I way. I gently suggested that since it wasn't our property and we didn't have transport (the car is being repaired this week) perhaps they might like to step up for that one.
Last night I set about mitigating any potential flooding as much as possible. We are lucky in that the downstairs of our house is an open plan kitchen and dining room and, crucially, is tiled so if water did get in the damage would be largely cosmetic. With this in mind, I moved everything that could be damaged by the water upstairs and began crossing my fingers. If you think I'm being hyperbolic, I'm not. A few streets up from us (and geographically further away from the river than our house) basement flats were being pumped out by the fire service. According to the next door neighbour, the water in the houses was up to three feet deep. According to my girlfriend, the firemen were very good looking!
Fortunately the worst hasn't happened. We woke up this morning to find that the kitchen was still nice and dry. Reassuringly the river level had dropped an inch or two as well. Weather reports are saying that the worst is over and I very much hope that's true. The estate agents also called me to say that they are actively keeping an eye on all the properties they manage in that area so I suppose I should be reassured by that.
An upshot of all of this, as I discovered last night, is that it's almost impossible to buy wellies. I went into town to get some last night (they had been on the list for a while) and was told that I had a choice between size 9 and size 12 and that was it (unless I wanted to shell out the guts of £100 a pair on Hunters - not just yet methinks!). There were other ones with hideous designs on them but even they were scarce in the size I was looking for. In the end I think I got the last two pairs of size 9 in the shop.
Fingers crossed we won't get any more rain any time soon. That would be most frustrating; especially as one of the main reasons we were labouring the point about being responsible tenants is that we're trying to convince the landlord to let us have a pet and (if he does) I don't think a rabbit would much appreciate being damp!
Anyway, things seem to be OK at the moment. I'm off to check the weather forecast with trepidation...
JR
The countryside around the city I live in has been quite badly affected. The city itself seems not as bad. Admittedly it didn't seem that way when I had to walk into work the other day - buses weren't running because one of the main roads was flooded.
What was really worrying is that my house is near the river (about 50m), the river in question being about an inch and a half from bursting it's banks. One heavy rainfall would have been enough to have it over flowing.
Wanting to shore up our position and show that we were responsible mature tenants I was on the phone to the landlord (well estate agents) asking for sandbags. They won't stop a flood but they would hopefully slow things up enough that any flooding would be minimal. Helpfully, the council told us about the council giving away sand bags... in a yard two miles I way. I gently suggested that since it wasn't our property and we didn't have transport (the car is being repaired this week) perhaps they might like to step up for that one.
Last night I set about mitigating any potential flooding as much as possible. We are lucky in that the downstairs of our house is an open plan kitchen and dining room and, crucially, is tiled so if water did get in the damage would be largely cosmetic. With this in mind, I moved everything that could be damaged by the water upstairs and began crossing my fingers. If you think I'm being hyperbolic, I'm not. A few streets up from us (and geographically further away from the river than our house) basement flats were being pumped out by the fire service. According to the next door neighbour, the water in the houses was up to three feet deep. According to my girlfriend, the firemen were very good looking!
Fortunately the worst hasn't happened. We woke up this morning to find that the kitchen was still nice and dry. Reassuringly the river level had dropped an inch or two as well. Weather reports are saying that the worst is over and I very much hope that's true. The estate agents also called me to say that they are actively keeping an eye on all the properties they manage in that area so I suppose I should be reassured by that.
An upshot of all of this, as I discovered last night, is that it's almost impossible to buy wellies. I went into town to get some last night (they had been on the list for a while) and was told that I had a choice between size 9 and size 12 and that was it (unless I wanted to shell out the guts of £100 a pair on Hunters - not just yet methinks!). There were other ones with hideous designs on them but even they were scarce in the size I was looking for. In the end I think I got the last two pairs of size 9 in the shop.
Fingers crossed we won't get any more rain any time soon. That would be most frustrating; especially as one of the main reasons we were labouring the point about being responsible tenants is that we're trying to convince the landlord to let us have a pet and (if he does) I don't think a rabbit would much appreciate being damp!
Anyway, things seem to be OK at the moment. I'm off to check the weather forecast with trepidation...
JR
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