Thinking of all who’ve had to cope with floods. Stay safe.
Huge thanks to those who’ve supported me through this crazy week of flood warnings let alone month of writing.. I’ve had enough priorities lessons to last a lifetime since Monday.. There’s this gene I have, which says ‘panic’ at the slightest emergency even when no-one else bats an eyelid.. Let’s just say I hope you’re able to laugh if you’ve spoken to me this week…
I’ve not blogged for a while, sorry if you enjoy reading them. I’ve been writing. It’s November, what else would I be doing? This week has reminded me that I’m always learning.. Whilst I participated in a learning and development workshop at work I was thinking of what I’ve learnt in this week alone. Instead of spending the last week manically writing during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), like I have done for the past two years, I’ve been worrying, madly. I got an automated phone-called flood warning at 5am Monday morning (there’s been 3 now this week) and since then I’ve been trying to work out what to do. I’m not the most practical of people, it’s not been an easy learning week.
Do you know how expensive it is to buy filled sand bags? Do you have a flood kit, if not what would you put in one? Have you tried working out how to cover your air bricks? I had to bear the brunt of a builders yard’s staff ‘helper’ showing me the air brick covers that aren’t designed for what I needed then telling me to get some plastic and fix it to the bricks. Apparently legislation prevents you blocking them. Not in a flood situation, when you’re being told to do so and you haven’t a clue how to, presumably. Sorry for the tone. It’s been a stressful week, not least because others living in this part of town seem not to be in the least bit concerned. I’m convinced I’m the only one working out where and how to get sandbags and I doubt everyone elses insides of their house look anything like mine does. For an unpractical woman that makes you feel rather overly dramatic and even more useless than I already do. The warning phone calls kept coming..
Each morning I’ve been getting a welcome phone call from a very close friend checking I’m ok. She’s got other friends who were closer to the river than I am, but I was the one who got the calls, thank you, Charron, I’m very grateful. Colleagues at work had to help me work out how and where to get sand bags. Thank you, Denise. Friends online have been asking if my toes are dry. Thank you, you made me smile. My local community may not be the closest but my friends, colleagues and online community have made sure I got through the week intact, with valued possessions safely upstairs, a flood pack ready and waiting and the house protected, to some degree, from water. In case you’re wondering, there’s a bag of sand waiting to be thrown over where the air brick is.. That will have to do for that one.
I finally decided to put sand bags inside my house.. I know.. don’t ask..
The river level’s expected to fall from today so my worry genes are busy packing ready to take a well deserved holiday.
I’ll write about writing over 50 thousand words next week. I am so glad I had a target of 75K and got to 50K on day 18. The *winners* certificate is something that went upstairs first! What else did I *save*? Christmas cakes; A friends book sent over from Wisconsin; Friends paintings; Photographs; whiskey and cheese (what else would you want to live off that goes with Christmas cakes.. ); portable hard drive with my draft novels and pictures on it; My passport (one day I’ll use it again); Dad’s ration book; Mums hand written home recipe book; A wooden box.. (that box has more memories than I can imagine); as the week went on they were joined by the TV and a few other items..
The photo’s are a bit dark (camera stressed too..) You might see the jazzy zebra patterned new wellies, bottled water and brand new first aid kit in one..
If your home was flooded, are you prepared? What would you save? If you’ve been unfortunate enough to have been flooded but fortunate to have a little warning what did you save?
lynnelives 
I’ve no idea what I’d save! Probably photos and the box that holds our most important documents.
I’m sorry about your floods – we are having one of the driest years I’ve ever seen here in the Chicago area, so obviously the planet is balancing itself out but not in a way anyone would like. Our nearest river has been so low all year that when I walked near it recently I noted that new, lower banks had appeared from plant life growing in the silted-up areas.
I don’t suppose that cheers you up much but wishing you all the best for a (relatively) dry Christmas! May the rain come our way instead.
I’ve been lucky. The warning gave me a chance to rethink my priorities in life. Always a good thing to do that occasionally. Even better when there’s no actual flood. Here’s to toes staying dry. We had a hosepipe ban only 7 months ago!
In my NaNo novel one of my characters has to make that decision during a tornado watch. Glad you’re okay…hope it stays that way (and congrats on the NaNo win!!!)
If you go into panic mode as I did it’s amazing what you save first.. Flood warning was bad enough. Dread to think how much I’d worry in tornado watch. Congrats to you too!