The wost summer in the world EVER!

[runcible]

For those in the Uk this has been a truly fucking dreadful summer. The floods have been appalling and my heart goes out to those who have been affected so badly that they have pretty much lost everything.

I have never known a summer as bad as this and it freaks me out that the weather can only get worse.

When the first really heavy rain came I moved all my vinyl upstairs as I live near a river. A few days later the rain came again. I moved some more stuff. Then on THAT Monday I watched in horror at work as the rain bounced down all day. When I tried to go home my house was cut off. I took the picture below from the car while my kids sobbed in the back seat - we couldn't get home that night. But I'm lucky - my house stayed dry thanks to some sand bags. That's my garage you can see - sadly I had all my music magazines stored in there as well as framed photos and a lot of other irreplaceable stuff of purely sentimental value - all totally fucked. To the left of the garage is my garden which was 12 inches deep in water. My cat stayed upstairs, largely oblivious to the scenes outside.



Some people in Yorkshire lost everything and are still cut off. I really feel for them. Of course I worry every time it rains now as one day I'm likely to get completely flooded out. I don't think anyone here has mentioned the appalling weather - does anyone here live in one of the really bad areas? I'm curious (and sympathetic!).

[twentysixdollars]

Christ. Just horrible. I had no idea.

[G*]

Crikey. I had no idea that things were so bad, either. It's people's lives were talking about and the whole thing must be pretty awful. I live in London but I'm from West Yorkshire and it really seems to me that the media have now gone to sleep about the whole thing even though the misery has barely subsided. Disgraceful. I always thought that it was a load of crap that media folks can't think north of Hampstead but it seems to be true.

F*cking hang on in there.

[BzaInSpace]

Hey Runcible I hope it gets better. But I am glad you, guys and your cat, and your records are alright.

Mental...I can only confirm the weather has been shit so far up in Scotland. There was some minor flooding [is say minor compared with where you are] a few weekends ago.

As G* says there have been minimal news items on this which
is clearly still ongoing, it's all renegade doctors and that shit just now.

Best wishes mate...

[runcible]

All very kind but as I said I am effectively one of the lucky ones. My house stayed dry although the garage didn't.

The people in Hull, Sheffield, Doncaster and plenty of other places had it miles worse. Many are still away from their homes and left with nothing but the clothes they had on at the time. The inconvenience I felt at being cut off for just one night with what I was wearing (plus my children in their school clothes!) was really annoying - the idea of that for 10 days is inconceivable.

I have the loss adjusters coming tomorrow. Quiote what they will make of damp fanzines, old copies of NME etc. and ancient photos of The Damned that I took in frames is another matter as they are, in their minds, worthless.

As G* points out - if this had happened in London it'd be given a more senior news spot. The local news here is still full of it and rightly so. But then a BBC reporter saying to some dumbfounded resident who is surveying the rotting interior of their home 'how did you feel when you realised you lost everything you own?' fucks me off big time!

[ash]

We've got it down here as well. Unfortunately it's winter, so it's bloody cold to boot.



And no, thankfully, that's not my house.

[natty]

As G* points out - if this had happened in London it'd be given a more senior news spot. The local news here is still full of it and rightly so. But then a BBC reporter saying to some dumbfounded resident who is surveying the rotting interior of their home 'how did you feel when you realised you lost everything you own?' fucks me off big time!

I saw that report. I was fucking speechless. I reckon I'd have lamped the fucker. Unbeleivable. Sorry about your stuff fella. I hope you manage to salvage some of it.

My house got flooded when I was a kid and it's just awful. It's true what you say about the media too. We had terrible floods in Northampton about 10 years ago, probably about the worst in the country at the time, but not a blink of it on the national news. I actually had a row about it with my aunt, who said my mum was making it up because it hadn't been on the national news.

[clewsr]

it is shocking isn't it. - both the weather and the lack of attention its been given. I think the press were focussed mainly on their excitement of the new PM taking over. [despite no one else giving a toss] But really Brown should have been on the first plane up there to see what was going on. The fact that people are still flooded 10 days later with no support is disgraceful. There was someone on the news saying that she couldn't afford to feed her family on takeaways all the time, so clearly she didn't have the means to cook anything! Why aren't they getting any proper help?!

Sadly it sounds like the weather isn't going to improve any time soon.

[runcible]

We've got it down here as well. Unfortunately it's winter, so it's bloody cold to boot.

Where in Oz are you ash? My brother lives in Melbourne and there are the worst droughts ever. What gives? The weather is truly fucked up!

[natty]

But really Brown should have been on the first plane up there to see what was going on. The fact that people are still flooded 10 days later with no support is disgraceful. There was someone on the news saying that she couldn't afford to feed her family on takeaways all the time, so clearly she didn't have the means to cook anything! Why aren't they getting any proper help?!

Like Bush and the New Orleans floods?

[clewsr]

But really Brown should have been on the first plane up there to see what was going on. The fact that people are still flooded 10 days later with no support is disgraceful. There was someone on the news saying that she couldn't afford to feed her family on takeaways all the time, so clearly she didn't have the means to cook anything! Why aren't they getting any proper help?!

Like Bush and the New Orleans floods?

heh. ok, so bush's presence didn't help alot

[natty]

I was referring to his lack of action...

[ash]

Where in Oz are you ash? My brother lives in Melbourne and there are the worst droughts ever. What gives? The weather is truly fucked up!

I'm in Melbourne as well - we do get a lot of rain, unfortunately most of it falls in the cities and nowhere near the catchment areas. Sales in water tanks, I presume, are booming. I feel for the farmers in the flooded areas who have lost a season or two of crops from drought, and now will lose another from flooding. And our country's venerable leader has only *just* started talking about carbon emissions and climate change, and realising that it *does* actually exist - but only because he realises that there's votes in it.

Hope everything turns out for the best for you, mate!

[spzretent]

In Detroit and practically the whole country except for Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, we are expereincing and major drought. Its sunny and hot every day.
The three above mentioned states are experiencing major floods.
It's bizarre dramatic differences in the weather is these days. It seems like its either unending rain or major droughts. Nothing in between.

[natty]

No, I'll admit any reference to New Orleans is a pointless aside. Fair to say.

It's like all the seasons have moved forward. April used to be the wet month, and in the winter it doesn;t get really cold until well into January these days.

[burningwheel]

that sucks Runcie. at least the family, the vinyl and cat is ok

[ro]

six feet high and rising, huh?
Hope you all are managing alright.

[twentysixdollars]

It's like all the seasons have moved forward. April used to be the wet month, and in the winter it doesn;t get really cold until well into January these days.

I've been saying that for at least five years, and everybody looks at me like I'm crazy! But it becomes really apparent to me when my wife and I visit Toronto (which we do at least a half-dozen times a year, and will be doing in a couple of weeks), where I grew up. It never snows at Christmas there anymore. Winter starts in the middle of January and is unrelenting until the end of April. And then it's hot as hell until October.

Anyway, I can only imagine how traumatic the cleanup process has been for those affected.

[Stuart X.Hunter]

It's like all the seasons have moved forward. April used to be the wet month, and in the winter it doesn;t get really cold until well into January these days.

I've been saying that for at least five years, and everybody looks at me like I'm crazy! But it becomes really apparent to me when my wife and I visit Toronto (which we do at least a half-dozen times a year, and will be doing in a couple of weeks), where I grew up. It never snows at Christmas there anymore. Winter starts in the middle of January and is unrelenting until the end of April. And then it's hot as hell until October.

Anyway, I can only imagine how traumatic the cleanup process has been for those affected.

Yeah...so surely now we all see the need to change to energy efficient lightbulbs!

What...you don't say...more to it than that?

[runcible]

NOW the media have forgotten all the flooding in Yorkshire:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6911778.stm#london

Big surprise there.

Most people I know who were badly affected are a) not in the least bit surprised but b) well pissed off as anything south of Birmingham gets media attention on a level the north has no chance of.

Having said that I feel for people around Gloucester - it looks terrible. Hope everyone gets their homes sorted ASAP.

[Stuart X.Hunter]

This isn't exactly a new phenomenon now, is it..

Since the Beeb is de rigeur http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1815439.stm

Check the date...whats been done?

Sandbags at 10 paces anyone!

This country is in fucking turmoil, just look at todays top five UK stories on the Beeb website

Floods
Holding time for Terorist suspects
Hospital Bugs
Premium rate phone-in quizzes
Drugs

Somebody please take some responsibilty somewhere

Another shining example of poor governance in all places, aspects, facets of modern-day life...i mean they have absolute power, almost, to make decisions but they choose to tuck all the major issues under that carpet...I have/had high hopes for the Scottish Executive, pushing towards independence, re-inventing/introducing a new style of government...perhaps something democratic...similar to Rouseau' ideas...but alas, i doubt it.

Anyway, this thread aint about that...Runcible-keep strong as you are the foundation in the plight you find yourself and I commend you for adopting a "we'll work together" mindset with your fellow sufferrers.

How are the emergency services coping/helping out? The snippets I have seen on the news were of some half-daft fresh drafts, stacking sandbags like it was some sort of Team Jolly!

[runcible]

The spirit of people I've seen on the news is pretty good. Fuck knows how the people of Tewkesbury are coping as their town is effectively an island - but they all seem positive under the circumstances.

When it happened up here a few weeks ago people did gel together pretty well until they realised way too little was being done to help them. I am lucky in that where I live a lot of people worked hard with sandbags and the like to protect every home they could (including mine). Hull residents were justifiably furious as they felt abandoned as the coverage outside Yorkshire was so small. Look at it now! It's like what happened here a few weeks ago has been completely forgotten now it's closer to London.

It's worrying to see more heavy rain predicted over the next few days. I get nervous when it really hammers down now, as it did on Monday. A massive event, the CLA Game Fair, due to take place locally this weekend and which would have attracted 120,000+ people has been cancelled for the first time ever. I was going to that and it's very sad it's off - my kids are gutted. Plus that's shitloads of money lost for the people involved - £50m has been quoted. That's the other side to this - so many small traders are being wiped out by the lack of opportunities to sell their products at the normal summer events that have been cancelled. Add to that all the small businesses in waterlogged towns who can't trade at all.

Did anyone see that David Cameron decided this was the right time to take a politicians trip to Rwanda? Just as his constituency flooded the bugger pisses off overseas! Apparently all the local Rwandan journalists asked him about was why he was there and not back in the UK looking after his constituents! That's serious bad timing...

[Starfish]

I live in a first floor (that's 2nd floor in American) flat on a hill, but in a token empathetic gesture my washing machine decided to flood my kitchen while I was out on Friday.

And I thought household appliances didn't do irony.




(Apart from irons, of course)

[runcible]

That happened to me once - it's a fucking nightmare!

I also managed to flood my downstairs neighbours flat once through forgetting about a running bath - about 20 years ago. Then a year later a friend did it in the same flat and I had to take the heat for that too.

I'm telling you - this water stuff is destructive.