Thursday 1 August 2019

Life returns to normal.

It is a pleasant day - nice breeze, blue sky with clouds scudding across now and again, keeps looking a bit like dropping a shower but then passing over.   I drove into town and parked in the Car Park - I needed to call for a few salad and fruity things, call at the jeweller to have a new clasp fitted on a necklace I have bought, buy some Bonios and then go to the Hairdresser for my weekly hair-do.

Everywhere is getting back to normal unless you were really affected.   There are heaps of sand which has been washed down everywhere and some shops are closed as they were flooded and are still clearing out.   My garden is looking very battered, especially my poor foxgloves, but will no doubt recover.   In town there is still water  draining off but I understand from the lady in the Pet Shop that Langthwaite in Swaledale is really badly affected with some houses almost washed away.   Bales of silage waiting to be collected in the fields have been washed miles downstream.   Swaledale is much more upland than Wensleydale and they are mostly lucky to get two crops of silage a year -this will be second crop and will be an awful loss of winter feed.

My son still can't get his car out and his wife is marooned indoors until the lane is repaired.   When he came out this morning the water had all gone but he found a dead goldfish in the middle of his drive so somebody's garden pond had been swamped obviously.   But that is nothing compared with the dead sheep up in Arkengarthdale.   All such a tragedy.   But life is returning to normal everywhere.    Hardy folk us Yorkshire folk.  (only 30 years for me)

15 comments:

the veg artist said...

And now it's the turn of the poor people of Whaley Bridge to be worried about a dam collapsing. Not much of a summer for some!

Terra said...

What a mess the rain leaves behind and tough for the farmers and their hoped for second crop. Now I will look up what Bonios are.

angryparsnip said...

Flooding is always so sad for the people and animals.
parsnip

Derek Faulkner said...

That's all pretty grim Pat but no doubt people will see it all through as they normally do.

Sue said...

Especially sad for the animals.

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Flooding causes such a mess. Some young friends of mine had their new-build house flooded twice within a couple of years of moving in. They were fully insured first time but then the insurance company put up the premium to such a level that they could no longer afford it.

Rachel Phillips said...

It is dreadful for the loss of livelihood for this year for the farmer who lost his entire stock of lambs born this year and the winter feed for the rest of his animals. The banks will be needed to take kindly to a request to top up the overdraft.

Penhill said...

It looked anything but back to normal looking at the local news tonight.The poor farmer who had lost his lambs and all his silage and the poor residents of Bellerby whose homes had been flooded. I am sure the resilient Yorkshire folk will get back to normal,but it will take a while yet.

Heather said...

What a catastrophe for some farmers and shop owners. It must be soul-destroying for them and will take a while for them to get back to normal. I hope everyone is safe, even if the livestock, silage and possibly crops have been lost.

Librarian said...

It definitely wasn't "Happy Yorkshire Day" for many.
What is a Bonio?

thelma said...

Listening to the farmer early this morning also stone walls have been broken, great boulders splayed across the fields, even the wire fencing has gone up on the Dales. Now there is Whaley Bridge and the dam to contend with. Farmers will no doubt be calling for help from the government.

Derek Faulkner said...

In answer to the Librarian, Bonios are a popular dog biscuit made roughly in the shape of a bone.

Gwil W said...

At school we were taught about rivers meandering and constantly changing their courses and evolving and flood plains, estuaries and rainfall and dams and why villages and churches and graveyards were built on higher ground and other such things. Some houses were washed away and their ruins ended up in a lake or under mud on the lakeside between two mountains. Someone had the bright idea to build a road and houses in a place named 'slippery slope' (as it would be in English). A lot of problems could be avoided with a little forethought.

Bovey Belle said...

I can imagine such dreadful rainfall has affected farmers worst of all, with the loss of livestock and foodstuffs (with not much chance of replacing them unless bought in). More rain due for the North on Sunday too - let's hope not so heavy this time and also that the Whaley Bridge reservoir holds. We used to drive through WB on our way into Derbyshire, so know the location quite well.

I'm glad you were able to drive into town and do the things that needed doing. Sorry about your garden being battered but things do come back with impunity sometimes, when you fear the worst.

Ruth said...

It seems, though, that "normal" isn't what it used to be for so many places around the world. Extreme weather is really changing life with such tragic losses everywhere. We can only sit tight and somehow cope with what comes. You are blessed to have been in just the right spot, Pat, to be spared damage to your home and car.