A spot of digging ...

I think this sums up today's weather and the problems it caused. Driven stir-crazy at the thought of being trapped indoors all day, Mr PB and I decided some time around 4pm that the rain was less heavy than it had been, and headed out round the back of town with the intention of ending up somewhere we could buy plums before going home. Really. We came upon this sight just below Holy Trinity church on Kilbride Hill: a huge puddle/flood  over half the road, and a lone figure scraping at the mass of sodden leaves that were blocking the one drain that would have cleared it. She turned out to be a former colleague, so I asked first if I could have her for my blip, and, assured that it wouldn't be a video (she was roundly cursing the council for not clearing the leaves), she said yes.

Actually no-one could have dealt with the leaf problem; there was a gale blowing for much of the day and the whole area above the road is wooded. Photos from elsewhere in Argyll show how much worse it could have been - great tracts of Oban underwater with stranded cars showing only their roofs; the Rest and Be Thankful road once again blocked by a landslip; the Loch Eck road flooded across half its width. And on the news the latest assessment of our global problems of rising temperatures and rising sea levels, while we fret about disengaging with the countries of Europe and the internal strife of the Tory party ...

Tomorrow is set to be dry, with some sunshine and warmth. Would that that could be a metaphor as well as reality.