Thursday 4 November 2010

Rain, rain...go away!


Come again another day.
Little Tommy wants to play! Remember the Nursery Rhyme?

How I wiahs it would go away. It has rained incessantly here for about the last twenty four hours and everywhere is soaking wet. There are huge puddles in the road ways, the fields are standing in water, the gateways are deep in mud and the rivers are overflowing.

Up here in The Yorkshire Dales, just below the Eastern watershed of the Pennine Chain of Hills, we have the greatest respect for our rivers. The river in our Dale is the River Ure. It rises within yards of the River Eden which flows Westwards, through Carlisle. The Ure flows into the River Ouse and then into the Humber Estuary and out into the North Sea. So it goes without saying that any water in excess that we get up here goes down the Ouse to York and then down to the Humber. If we are flooded today then York gets it tomorrow.

I went down to Ripon this afternoon. The photograph was taken just before we reached the village of Middleham at about 2pm. this afternoon. When we returned at 4pm there was no green field left to be seen, the water had covered it all. I couldn't take a photograph as it was almost dark.

The power of the water is quite awesome - and quite frightening too. I am glad to be home with the curtains drawn, the log-burning stove glowing bright in the sitting room, Tess asleep in her bed, the farmer just taking a new jig saw out of its box and Nigella on the television at 8pm. I watch the programme for her excellent recipes - I don't need to tell you why the farmer watches it (or rather her). Have a warm and cosy evening and let's hope the sun is shining in the morning.

15 comments:

jeanette from everton terrace said...

Wow! We don't get much rain here in Phoenix but when we get our monsoons, we also get flash floods, they are scary. There are always cars getting carried away and such. Hope it ends for you soon.

Rosaria Williams said...

I'd be doing the same thing; except, here, it rains for days, incessantly. Rivers get swollen; passes become snow covered and impassable; and our mood becames dour, or sullen. What we think about is how the salmon is having an easier time going up stream with so much water, to find its nesting ground and start life all over again.

We can watch Nigella too; and that's enough entertainment to forget the rains.

Heather said...

I do hope you don't get any more rain for a while Pat. Flooding can be so damaging and the power of water is truly awe-ful. We live about 30miles from Tewkesbury which gets flooded quite often and I must confess to a fascination with pictures of the area under water. Floods have their own beauty as long as they are not too severe. The medieval builders knew a thing or two as the Abbey never gets flooded. The water gets near but never to the door.

Rarelesserspotted said...

Despite the forcasts giving us constant rain over the last few days, we've had a bit of occasional drizzle on the north bank of the Humber, and that's been about it. I do think the forcasters do tend to give the worst case scenario in every case and I do worry that forcasters are doing this to hedge their bets instead of going for as accutrate a forcast as possible. I recognise it's not an exact science, but forcasters get it wrong regularly.

Totalfeckineejit said...

Glad you had such a nice trip on your birthday Weaver. Sick of the rain here too and the fact that it never really becomes daylight at all is kiling me. Love your new header!

steven said...

weaver i love rain - it's raining tonight - but then i'm on top of a hill. i appreciate nigella's approach to food but really ... watch her?!! naaaaah! steven

Shirley said...

I too like the new photo on your header. I hope this is it for rain for a little bit. Is fall typically a rainy season there?

Hildred said...

If I could Weaver I would send you some of our glorious and incredible November sunshine - I know it won't last and November will turn dour and nasty, but right now the sun and the brightness of the valley is keeping him happy.

Windsmoke. said...

We are slowly coming out of a ten year drought in Australia so send over any rain you don't want, it will be welcome.

Bovey Belle said...

I can sympathise Weaver. We live by a biggish river too and it can rise and fall feet in a very short space of time, and quite often we find it up across the road so we have to go out the top way. We know it in every mood, but when it's in spate, it really is pretty frightening. the Towy joins it a little way downstream and the watermeadows between here and Carmarthen are regularly flooded over the winter months.

Unknown said...

Hello Weaver,

I've been catching up a bit with your 'doings'. Pity about all the rain. I hope it has eased. I enjoyed your armchair travelling; there always seemed to be more romance then but, with a retinue of servants, I suppose one can endure certain deprivations! Hope Tess' blissful pastime continues!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thank you for your comments. Even more rain is forecast along with strong winds. I think we can say that Autumn has arrived with a vengeance.

Crafty Green Poet said...

gosh sorry to see the flooding, it's raining hard here too, the rivers are probably rising.

I find Nigella quite annoying, with her coy looks to camera and her habit of gently swishing her hair away from her face. The recipes though are sometimes very good, i was certainly impressed by her recent couscous. (I don't even actually watch the programme, biut it's on just before Autumn Watch so we cath the end of it!)

Titus said...

I think we share the same weather system, Weaver, and I'm sick of this. Longing for the crisp and cold!

Golden West said...

We've had a heat wave, a record breaking 100 degree in San Diego day before last, with a huge swell running and surf topping ten feet. We live about 5 blocks from the shore and I could hear the waves breaking while I was out giving my poor dry garden a drink.

I have 2 cords of firewood at the ready, just waiting for a chance to build a fire and pull on some socks!