Après le déluge

The storm was still raging when I went to bed last night. At 0500 I woke to hear rain and wind, although not as strong as previously. At 0800 the sun was shining, the skies became blue and it was a beautiful, relatively calm day.

I had a walk around the village and visited one or two people to see that they were OK. The playground is under water and the roads were still running with water. I had to avoid the tidal waves from passing cars.

The river North Tyne was very full and fast flowing . The weir had disappeared and water had swept over the banksides into neighbouring fields.

One of our friends at the bottom of the village lives in an old mill conversion and her ground floor was flooded during the night. It's very upsetting for her.

I've chosen to blip the seed head of hogweed, reaching up to the blue sky as a sign of normality returning, but I know that there are large nunbers of people in Cumbria for whom this is not the case.

Otherwise, I've filled 3 bin bags with clothes that are too large, to take to the charity shop, before I weaken.