Flooding, flood projections and money to be made

13 February 2013

According to the News the fight is over - and has been lost by the local Weddington folk fighting to prevent 300+ homes being built on a flood risk green field site next to St James Church - or so it seems.  Yet there's still life in body of opposition.  The company concerned is called Hallam Land Management.  They have yet to buy the land and once they have it bought then they will sell it off to house builders.  I wonder if this is normally the way that house building happens?  It seems a long way round to me and of course the price of the land increases each time it get's sold off.  I wonder who actually owns the land right now; perhaps they might now refuse to sell.  Failing that the outline planning permission still has to be finalised by Dorktown council.  The local opposition group know as SWORD pledge to keep on fighting even as far as warning builders of the serious flood risk in that area. 

Last night I recorded a programme off telly called The Year Britain Flooded .  It was an interesting programme.  Part of the thrust is that the flood risk to Britain will continue to increase over the years.  They quoted the figures for when the Thames Barrier was raised from when it first opened in the 1980s.  From just eight time in the 80s it has steadily increased year on year and it was raised FIVE times in December 2012 alone!  That says a lot in and of itself.  The chances of Weddington Fields flooding again are will be a growing problem too, just as in other flood risk areas. 

The River Severn is a regular river to burst its banks, along with the River Avon.  The Severn areas of risk have had barriers installed which seems to be working very well for those areas that are protected.  But does that mean that other areas downstream are now likely to be flooded, areas which might not have been flooded before the barriers were installed?  And have the authorities thought about that?  I would hope so, but who can tell; they won't!

Now then - how is Jan doing?  She seems to be well even though she was in theatre for around five hours.  The hope was that keyhole surgery would be possible, it wasn't.  As she was being taken back to the ward at around 8pm she was feeling very sicky but this morning she seems fine.  Five to seven days before she can come home though.  The sooner the better.  A GP friend of hours once told us that if you have a hospital of two weeks you need three weeks to get over it ;-)))  So, as I said, the sooner Jan is home the better - then she can cook me dinner and I can have a rest ;-)))

And here she is ... 

the girl of my dreams.

And today's funny ...

A Pirate walks into a bar, and the barman says to him:
"Good lord John, it's great to see you but you look terrible, what on earth happened?"
"Aaaaaarrrrgggghh, but I feel fine" says the pirate.
"That's good to hear, but I'm sure last time I saw you, you had both legs. What happened there?"
"Aaaarrrgghh, I fell off the deck into the sea and a terrible sea monster chomped me leg clean off. But I feel fine now."
"That's good to hear, but I'd swear last time I saw you, you had both hands. What's with the hook?"
"Aaaarrrgghh, I was in a dreadful cutlass fight with another salty sea dog and he swiped me hand right off. But now I've got the hook I feel fine."
"That's good to hear, but last time I saw you, you definitely had both eyes. Why the patch?"
"Aaaarrrgghh, I was gazing up at the sky and a bird flew over and did its business right above me, had my eye out. But I feel fine now."
"What? How can you lose an eye because a bird shits in it?"
"It was my first day with the hook."