28 June 2012
The early evening of the 27th hosted blue sunny
calm skies and Chris raised the cratch cover over the Bow so we could enjoy
open views and watch Dave, our smiling neighbour, throwing his maggots and casting
his rod.
Dusk turned to night, the air was humid and the Bow was
uncovered. I woke in the mid early morning (0330) and heard rain falling. I
commented to Chris (“It’s raining.”)And then I thought I should go and check it
out. It was definitely raining and I decided to let the cratch cover down and secure
it almost water tight. I won’t tell you what I rescued on the Bow from the
prospect of the Dryer. No heroics. There were minor measures I could make but I
figured it was no big deal. This morning I got it all sorted and the rain had
stopped. Feeling confident we were back to normal under these persistent rainy
conditions, I was not concerned about the darkening skies and a bit of thunder
and lightning don’t bother us, including Della. With the Electrical storm
passing, I did think I was glad we weren’t the tallest boat in the Marina , and we didn’t have
a mounted steel pole on the roof.
I’ve been in electrical storms that I remember spooked me
when we lived in Portugal
but they passed by. October 26 1997 was the mother of all storms.(One of the
worst floods ever recorded in our district) A 5 hour Mother Nature Extravaganza
resulted in nearly 280mm of rainfall that caused widespread destruction along
our region’s valleys. I remember waking up in the middle of the night being in
the midst of an electrical storm. I did have my earplugs in so the sound was
there but subdued. Lightning lit up 3 sides of the house. (The back wall didn’t
have windows!) Then throughout the night I woke to the sound of heavy unrelenting
rain and it was miserable. At first light Chris got up to investigate. He came
back perplexed as he described the state of our lower terraces. A massive river
raged and our Well (our water source) was buried, The uprooted floating trees
had had a hammer-like attack on any obstacle that was in their way. That was
some storm and our valley was temporarily decimated.
So, today, the storm that passed over the Marina was heavy but for me, not scary. It
has caused some damage in the local shires but not in our boat world. A nearby ‘Boat-
on -Wheels’, as I call it, car park is slightly under water and drivers need to
wear gumboots (yes I know you Poms call them Wellingtons ) or webbed feet to get to their 4
wheels. Feelings on the Marina
were grave as to the severity of the storm and some people I spoke with thought
it was the worst storm they’d experienced. We are lucky that Della doesn’t
react to the sound of thunder or fireworks. She’ll just sigh and go back to
sleep, although 5 November, last year, I remember she went outside to check the
boundaries while the mini explosions were in full swing. No negative
aftereffects for her!
The journey of the Olympic Flame is approaching us. It
arrives in Derby ,
tomorrow and then passes nearby us on Saturday. We’ll be pressed to catch it but
we are thinking a journey up canal to Burton-Upon-Trent
on Saturday is highly likely. By the time we get to Burton , the flame will be heading in the
direction of Melton Mowbray (Pork Pie land). We have Geoff & Jane arriving,
tomorrow, for an overnighter. So we are planning to give them a gentle
Canal-taster. If the weather can be a little kind we will pick them up by A.M.
in Willington and then head to Stenson Lock and a little beyond. Della is keen
to go to our local, tomorrow night, so we’ll ‘wind’ and return to the Marina . With favourable
weather conditions on Saturday we’ll head towards Burton and see if they can track down the
Olympic Flame. If the weather is infavourable we won’t go to Burton !
