I have spent a week tidying up

this half term we had to clear up the hut after the flood last winter, and due to our other commitments and the bad weather it had been damp for a long time, so this meant tearing off wall paper which had been infested with black mould. People make a lot of fuss about black mould but I'm not sure it's really so serious that you have to wear all over body protective suits and masks. We didn't anyway.  We packed up the mouldy paper, (up to about 3 feet high, the rest was fine) and washed the walls. We painted over with anti-damp paint and then painted a top coat. That's where my contributions ended though next we are onto re-covering the floor with vinyl stuff and I will try to do some of that.

One day at the hut it was very cold and so we went out for sticks and wood and got the cast iron stove going. It was going well but the room filled up with smoke, and we had to lean out of the windows to stop our eyes from smarting. When we could see we found a huge great crack in the stovepipe! So husband bandaged it with a dustsheet.

We also had to clean up the caravan and sell it to my brother-in-law, who can keep it in his field in Sussex. So that was a whole day driving in a big strong truck to get the caravan, clean the caravan, which was filthy outside, not too bad inside, have a nice dinner with H & T and family, have one last sleep in the caravan bed (which was too hard: I won't miss it) and then rush home because I had a lunch date with my friend the vet, who told me she voted for UKIP. it doesn't surprise me at all. I belong to the social group who would vote for UKIP. But most voters for UKIP are in the 70+ age group. It's the older people who still believe that voting is a duty and a privilege, so all the parties angle for the grannie vote.

I have also tidied away piles of paper that were in the study, but I also have a bit more to do. I do feel that I can now see the wood of my desk again, which makes me feel as though I can think more clearly, but I am now re-writing a lesson plan, which makes me think I am more muddled than ever.

Today I went to help Helena, our friend who lives in Geneva and the man from the World Service, who were skiffing up the cut to clear up the rubbish - Helena's idea. We were pulling into the trees to pull off bits of plastic bag and other horrors. Very tricky skiffing, but just the sort of thing a skiff is good for. We got a huge blue tarpaulin out of the water that had been niggling Helena for weeks. So we actually tried to tidy up the Great Outdoors as well.

I also tidied up the garden today which was great. Very tired now.

The Wey floods in Weybridge, tree falls on boat trailer

This is as high as the Thames has come for many years.

This is meant to be a canal: the lock is completely submerged

Another tree collapses

This one has smashed a boat much needed by the rowing club

The weather in the suburbs

It is far too warm for winter (I still have Sweet Williams in flower and a patch of agapanthus hasn't died back) and we have had a really amazing amount of rain.

One of my students works for the Council in Guildford and he has had a terrible time with the flooding. Residents phone him to tell him (crying, screaming, swearing) how desperate they are that their homes have been flooded. He has been getting 3 hrs sleep a night and went to help physically clear up homes at the weekend. He can't see any end to the wet weather, unless it snows and becomes icy, which will be worse.

The River this winter

Around here, when we say "the river" we mean the Thames. We know it very well because we row on it and in the summer, occasionally we swim in it. We keep an eye on it and we get a feeling for beauty through it. The river is not a natural river, because at some point it was dredged, changing its profile from a saucer shape with a huge flood plain, to a flat bottomed U shape. On both sides, the banks were reinforced and people built nice homes alongside. They started as holiday chalets that the owners accepted would be flooded sometimes, but now they are brick and concrete houses that have to be insured for hundreds of thousands of pounds. So a flood costs the insurance companies millions.

My niece is in this picture - and friends of mine.
To avoid flooding, the river is carefully managed. The policy is to let the water out to the sea as fast as possible, reach by reach. This means that the bottom of the river is scoured of all the jelly-silt that used to build up, which was the breeding ground for all the water life, and it also means that we rowers cannot use the river, because the stream is dangerous. This winter we have had a lot of rain (and sleet and snow) and I have rowed on the river twice. A few years ago I rowed on it every week! But this winter has been awful.

Here you can see the new style houses on the other side of the river. They have replaced modest, flood-able dwellings. I resent the way the river is managed just to save the stupid people who invested all their money in a house on a flood plain. Get real, people! Have a look at the properties further down at Hampton and Sunbury - yes, they are floating. You need to get yourselves a houseboat.

Nice, huh?

Today there was a race at Hammersmith and my husband rowed in it - he said the wind was awful and there were huge waves. At least one crew capsized due to the river conditions, and had to be rescued by the safety launches.

Maybe it was a bit like this (the Boat race, 1912)

On the Tideway, the river is not affected so much by the rain and floods, but it is nearly always rough down there. the wind! the Waves!