Houston, we have a problem…
The morning of Christmas Eve, a little earlier:
The dog won’t be happy.
Hmmm. Not looking good now.
Not looking good at all.
Photo above used by kind permission of the missus.
The rescue:
And yes, before anybody over in Canada asks, the dog, as you can see, and all the cats were safely in the boat with us.
No, this is not a river. Usually.
There is a river here somewhere – the trees in the centre grow along the bank.
The next morning – Christmas Day:
Note the high water mark on the radiator.
The following photos are not for the faint hearted. Be warned.
And Baldrick will be not at all happy about this:
Nonetheless, still time for Christmas lunch:
Keep smiling. I mean, what else can you do. Happy New Year all.
Oh, dear.
I am sorry.
I grumble at Sheffield hills, but I’m glad I live on one!
Magic photos MJS but how utterly devastating – it must have been scary too. My condolences and I hope you salvage everything that really matters (for me that would be everything). Hmmm – the missus in nicks (ah, being practical).
Where I am in sunny Southwestern Australia we had clear blue skies and the coolest Christmas Day for years at 28C. So much for global warming.
Thanks for sharing
Oh man, what an unfortunate mess. Do let us know if there’s anything we can do to help. As you know, one thing is already in the process of being taken care of.
Happy New Year, despite everything!
This too shall pass.
Oh man…
I was imagining something like that but to see the pics – it’s really striking…
Like I told you before I’m just glad you guys are fine, and the animals too. People may get hurt from such a thing!
We’ll be waiting for youze at Baldrick Towers for a proper PAMPERING weekend in the next weeks. If there’s anything I can do to help just let me know. Hang in there!
Much love your way from The Belgibums
I feel sad see all them books on WW1 ruined , all that happened to us was fence panels down.
Joe
Heart felt condolences, Old Friend. Much love, and positive vibes being sent your way!
Absoluting devestating! All I can say is Aldershot has just been extremely soggy. Happy New Year to the pair of you and remember “things can only get better” as the song goes!
Thank you all for your kind words. It really does make a difference to know you guys are out there and that we are not alone. Normal service will (hopefully) be resumed in due course.
I have been away from the internet for a few days so forgive my tardiness but my family sends it’s greetings and relief at your safety, and regrets at your library losses. Nicole is quite relieved that Amelia and her cohort are ok. Her oldest sister (Nicole has four sisters) Chrissy is a budding medieval history buff, and noticed the Lord of the Rings box set, and The Black Adder. She was actually teary eyed at the book damage. Nicole’s favorite military character is General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchitt.
I’m assuming that you can see my email address as the site Admin? If you would be willing to send me a safe dry shipping address by email we will pack up a box of books of the relevant era this weekend, and send them to you asap. Nicole has a cat book picked out already for Amelia. She knows “cats hate the water”.
My dear John,
First of all, the easy bit. We are currently staying in a hotel and it may be six months before the house is fit to return to, so we will have to find somewhere to live in the meantime. At the moment I have about 50 black sacks on the patio, quite a number full of ruined books – the insurance assessor has yet to earn his wages – and quite honestly I am expecting to find the house flooded again when I get there tomorrow if the flood warning I have just received is anything to go by. So internet access is as and when I can find it, hence the delay in seeing and responding to your post. The easy bit is I would be delighted if you feel inclined to respond to people’s comments in my absence when appropriate, as you clearly have recently to Christine. Much appreciated, my friend.
Now the difficult bit. When I told the missus about your wonderfully kind offer she didn’t respond, and it took me a few seconds to realize that your generosity had made her somewhat teary-eyed. Of course, being the missus, she then told me that I couldn’t possibly accept. I, being me, begged to differ!! But, on a practical note, at the moment one of our main priorities is to get all our belongings away from the house into safe storage, and I simply do not have an address that I would feel comfortable giving you where I could guarantee safety. Much of the ground floor of the house will have to be torn apart over the next few months, and before that it seems it might take six weeks just to dry it out (the weather has remained pretty appalling ever since the flood). I would feel awful if you went to all this trouble (and I am overwhelmed by your generosity) and the delivery went awry. And I think I should mention that although the WWI collection has suffered a devastating blow, far more survived than was lost. I do not want you to think otherwise.
Please tell Nicole that the cats are safe (and a little confused) and are being well looked after in a nice cat’s home. We went to see them today.
John, I have just had a chance to check and I actually don’t appear to have your email address – does that mean you are not an official follower of this blog!!? Lol! Btw we are hoping to get re-homed at the weekend, so maybe normal service will be restored blog-wise in the not too distant. Apart from the fact that Baldrick and I have our little trip planned for the end of next week and I have no intention whatsoever of changing my plans for that, flood or no flood. And I need, nay deserve, a few days off after the last few weeks.
Greetings, and again I must send regrets at my absences, but tis the “escape the Canadian deep freeze season”. That sends my workload into it’s annual pre-March Break amplification.
Is there a sort of blog “membership” I’ve missed out on all these months? I just have put my first name and email in the comment/reply form, for each post, and I assumed that as the site administrator you could see it? … though it does state the email is not published to the world?
If you have an idea how I can get my email to you securely I’d be more than eager to provide it. The Great War book box is ready to be taped, and Nicole is tapping her feet for her cat book to be on it’s way to be pawed by Amelia. As long as the paws are dry 🙂
I must admit I was getting a bit concerned about your absence! And yes, of course I have your email – I was just looking in entirely the wrong place. Stress perhaps. Anyway, as you will know by now I am off to Belgium later today so I shall be in touch when I return next week. Which is when the cats will finally come ‘home’ from their extended holiday.
A quick update, if anyone is out there. Things will be going quiet here for a couple of weeks, mainly because I won’t have the internet in the house we are temporarily moving to until February. By which time I will have returned from Belgium, doubtless with more adventures to relate, should you be interested.
You bet!
Got to tell us the train and time arrival. We are looking forward to seeing you!!