It's over

The storm has finally passed. The wind has dropped, the rain stopped. It’s been quite a weekend.

Yesterday was Carnival Day in Morecambe. Certainly on Saturday the prospects looked bleak. The rain slashed down almost nonstop. Nonetheless the stalls started to go up. The funfair put up its rides. A stand was erected for live music. The workers all looked like drowned rats.

However, yesterday, was much better, just intermittent light showers. We didn’t go down to the carnival. As a wheelchair user I hate crowds. I was never a great enthusiast before I became a wheelchair user but now, having had numerous people trip over me, back into me, almost sit in my lap, certainly not making way so I can see anything, I abhor the idea of crowds. But I am pleased for the event organisers & those who did go for a day out to watch the procession & shows.

Instead, yesterday, we were visited by the local water authority, checking if we were flooded inside the house by Friday’s thunderstorm. I was surprised at that. They’ve never been before even when we did get flooded in the laundry room several years ago. Apparently some houses down the street, including next door, did get water in this time. They were here to pump it out as well as provide disinfectant for flooded backed up sewage drains. We were clearly lucky. Personally I think it is a reflection of what a good job they did in improving the drainage in the garden.  We certainly would have been at risk of flooding if all that work had not been done.

So today is sunny, still & dry. I was somewhat surprised to discover the central heating had come on. In August! I had switched off the central heating before we went to Norway in May. However, in June, the boiler (also used to provide hot water) played up & the plumber must have switched the central heating back onto auto with the result the heating was on this morning. Although it is undoubtedly cooler today, I don’t feel you need heating on. Once the day is fully arrived it would soon warm up again. I even quite appreciate a bit of chill first thing in the morning. It encourages me to wake up & get a move on.

Time for nostalgia

We seem to have had a time of nostalgia.

It began with the new cleaner coming – this one is just a cleaner rather than a carer, though, as a former carer, she is happy to do caring duties as well. We’d been talking about my mother & she asked to see a photo of her. My mother died in 1978, so any photos of her are old. I got out the old wooden box of photos & found one of my family from Brunei days when I was only about 2.

While I was hunting through the box for a picture of my mother I came across one of my brother & I stood on top of Laxey Wheel (Isle of Man) with the valley behind us. I would have been about 10 I guess then. Later in the evening the Fox had a good rummage through these old photos together. Childhood memories came flooding back.

Nostalgia continued as yesterday I completed a jigsaw entitled “1950s Sweet Memories”. Needless to say it was a collage of various chocolates & other sweets from the 1950s, my early childhood days. As a confirmed chocoholic I remember so many of these brands etc., some long gone now. Some of the designs have just changed. So there were boxes of Cadbury’s Roses along Milk Tray, packets of Rowntree’s Smarties & Fruit Gums, Fry’s 5 centre as well as peppermint cream bars. Bassett’s jelly babies & liquorice allsorts, Mackintosh’s Rolo & Munchies. Some things I remember only in different form. So Terry’s Milk, with its distinctive wrapper, blue with a jug of milk/cream on it I remember from boxes of Neapolitans. As for “Lucky Bags” I’d totally forgotten them until I saw the pack illustrated. They were sealed bags containing various sweets, the sort of thing you used to get on the penny or halfpenny tray. It was pot luck what the contents were hence the “lucky” in the name. I don’t remember them having anything to do with the Range Rider– I was a fan of that programme on children’s TV in those days – as the one illustrated was. Other brands & marques I had totally forgotten – Terry’s Oliver Twist plain chocolate, Cadbury’s Vogue, Fry’s Bristol chocolate, Frollies, Caley’s anything let alone their Sky Bar & Double Fruit. I wonder if some of these brands will bring back memories for any of you as they did for us.

So wet

Both yesterday & today I woke to the sound of rain slashing against the bedroom windows. Yesterday the rain continued falling hard for about an hour and a half. It then brightened up into a sunny day but it remained sultry. There were the odd showers. By the time we settled down to dinner in the evening, it was to the accompaniment of lightning & rolls of thunder – all very dramatic.

Soon the stone bench under the small pergola was just about disappearing under water. By the time we’d finished eating the rain had stopped. In one spot there were circles appearing in the water as though there was something breathing underwater. As the spot was quite deep, I hastily got my wellies on to check there was nothing there that needed rescuing before it drowned but I could find no creature to rescue. Fortunately, since we had the garden redesigned, improving the water drainage in the process, the water soon started to go down. & the path reappeared.

The small pergola one day shortly after it was erected

Small pergola earlier this summer

While we were at the golf club yesterday there was some discussion about the big match today. Every year there is a competition between Morecambe, Lancaster & Heysham golf clubs. It’s due to be played today. This year it is to be played at Heysham. Even yesterday it was being questioned whether the competition could go ahead. Heysham golf course is prone to flooding at the best of times. After last night’s thunderstorm I suspect it’s off, especially since it’s been raining most of this morning so far.

At least we had the good fortune not to lose the electricity yesterday as I gather so much of the country did. It came as quite a shock to realise the extent of the power cut when we put on the evening news. The story still dominates today’s morning radio news programmes.