Bearing gifts

The three young men working on our bathroom arrived bearing gifts from far flung parts (Swindon) this morning. How thoughtful of them!

Two weeks ago, they began work to refurbish our en suite bathroom and have very nearly finished. I wonder when we will be able to try it out?

We are managing quite well, considering, and have got ourselves a good system for not wasting a drop. Just off to m-i-l's for showers and hairwash and we will be just fine.

24 hours later

Twenty four hours after our water supply dried up I thought that I should perhaps go in search of an alternative source. Unlike the city centres, water bowsers and street-corner tanks have not been forthcoming in this area and there was no issue of free bottled water announced so I headed for our local Waitrose. I guess they anticipated the needs of their customers.

A timely two-for-the-price-of-one offer on wipes means that we won't be quite as smelly during these times when we can't shower and our household surfaces are not going to become sources of disease and infection, thank goodness.

I managed to buy enough water to keep us and our immediate neighbours - all elderly - going for a couple of days and now we have these large containers, we can visit friends and relatives living in nearby villages to refill them as necessary. Not so much "cupboard love" as "tap love"! Confused messsages report that we could be water-less for anything from two days to two weeks.
A couple of dilemmas remain: what will happen to the millions of plastic bottles which are being issued - I'm hoping someone will begin a collection point to recycle them! And once our water-butt water is used up, how can I possibly use spring water to flush the loo?!

Whilst I write this blog entry, I have our local radio station playing, Can't quite believe the music right now - "Message in a Bottle" by Police! At least someone hasn't lost their sense of humour...

Dry

As the warning came over the radio that water in our area was likely to run out during the next 24 hours, we realised that we no longer have running water.

At least we are dry.

It seems as though they are trying to replenish the reservoir which supplies our village. Fingers crossed.

Home and dry, thank goodness

So many friends from far flung parts are concerned for us, having seen the news reports of Gloucestershire which have been shown around the world. We really appreciate your kind thoughts and thank you for your concern.

The situation in parts of the county is grim, so many of our friends are without power and water and some of their homes are/have been flooded. Some roads are still impassable and many shops/offices are closed as a result of the power/water cuts.

Having said all of that, we are counting our blessings, for the sun is shining this morning and we are fortunate to be in a part of the county unaffected by the flood. We are hoping that the next few hours will see a turn in the tide and the water will begin to recede, for we are very aware how lucky we are.

Sunday afternoon

Around twenty miles from here, there are floods, power cuts and no fresh water. Hard to credit that when the sun is shining and this chap is sunning himself by the edge of our pond. We are ok on the top of our hill, but thinking about all those friends in more challenging circumstances right now dealing with the aftermath of torrential rain last Friday.

We are counting blessings.