The storm

Last night, around 7pm, I settled down to playing mahjong on the laptop, half watching the news. Suddenly the heavens opened. Water slashed against the windows.

By half past the Fox was looking out of our lounge window. The street was a river, with the water coming downhill our way.

By 8pm we were looking anxiously out of the kitchen window. Over half the garden was a lake. Water was obviously entering the garage. Rapids tumbled down the path around to the walled garden. Bins & boxes floated, spilling empty cans & bottles everywhere. The rain was easing up.

From a different window you could see our neighbours’ gardens were in an even worse state. We just hope their homes weren’t flooded too.

By nearer 10.30pm the rain had stopped. We ventured out to retrieve bins, bottles & cans. Yes, the garage was one giant lake. The laundry room carpet was sodden in parts, though fortunately the wet didn’t extend to the freezer & washing machine.

I went to bed, worrying. I slept very poorly. I was too worried about what the daylight would reveal.

At 6.30am I was up & out. The water had gone down. I retrieved a bin & box lid, collected various bottles & cans from the flowers beds. Water butts needed standing up again. The water in the garage doesn’t seem to have got too deep. Hopefully my electric mobility scooter & the lawn mower are okay. The garage door is now open to let the wind blow in & hopefully dry things quickly. The tide mark on the pedestal of the bird bath in the walled garden is about mid-calf height. Gravel & soil is everywhere.

I’m telling myself at least all that water didn’t get into the house. That would have been so much worse.

The only creatures that really seemed to appreciate the storm were the frogs. As we tried to tidy up a bit in the dark we had to be very careful not to step on leaves (as we thought) that suddenly leapt off as they turned into frogs. They seemed to be everywhere. We can’t help thinking they would really have loved a pond being built into the garden. We just didn’t think we were up to keeping it clean, leaf-free & healthy.