I haven't been washed into the sea. Later.
I was in Tenerife. There were big storms and half of the island was flooded. Gran Canaria suffered pretty badly too. I kind of assumed that the news might have reached foreign shores. Obviously not.
Good grief, no! It's been a tad windy here too, so "foreign" doesn't get a look in. In the same way that hundreds of Johnny Foreigner can be killed in a disaster but the news will generally cover the Briton that broke their fingernail in the same incident.
As far as that "their" is concerned, get yourself over to alt.usage.english for a sound thrashing. But yes, same here. Boat sank, 7000 victims, but it's ok, there weren't any spaniards on board. In other news, Rafa loses a match, but it was because of the foreign bat he was using, and Alonso only crashed because someone looked at him funny. Oh, and Lorenzo would win, if it wasn't for that pesky foreign Rossi chap, who's foreign by the way.
I'm currently sitting in Kendal and the town is almost cut off due to floods. It's actually looking pretty grim regarding getting out tomorrow if the forecast remains the same but never mind, I'm on company expenses and I don't mind driving home at the weekend on double time.
A friend in Kendal just sent me a txt saying they were pretty much trapped in work. As they ride an F650 I suggested they were lacking an adventurous spirit.
That'd depend on exactly where they're working. About 200 yards from our office is a 5 bar gate that had water halfway up it at 3pm. The access road into the business park was flooded to a point where cars couldn't get through and my normal route back to the pub was impassable even for 4x4 vehicles. I think it was expected to get better early this evening before another downpour overnight so when you consider that the A6 was shut in both directions coming out of the town, the bypass was shut and the railway line is fucked due to an earlier derailment it doesn't look particularly good. The worst bit is that my boss has borrowed my van and left me with a hire car because he had to go to Barrow and was told a 'normal' car wouldn't get through.
Andy Bonwick posted: The rescue helicopter just flew over here, as it happens, heading roughly ENE at a guess.
Of course, it would have been correct had I specified that the Briton was male. I suppose "the Briton that broke *a* fingernail" might have been a tad better.
I've got a mate who lives in Cockermouth - haven't heard anything since last night: at that point the water was 6 steps below the floor level of his 1st floor flat. Oddly, he still had internet.
Cockermouth certainly copped more than its fair share, from what I saw on the news this morning. Here, Clonmel residents were staring gloomily at the so-called 'flood defences' and waiting for them to be overwhelmed, as they were. It's not just the amount of rain, it's the unfettered amount of land drainage, too. It's got to go somewhere, and it's usually some unlucky bugger downstream that pays the price.
